( CNN ) -- A group of women in a violence-plagued area of the Philippines came up with their own weapon to end the fighting -- a sex strike . The women withheld sex from their husbands until they promised to quit fighting . Their stand helped end clashes in July between villages in rural Mindanao Island , a recently released U.N . Refugee Agency report says . U.N . Refugee Agency report . A separatist rebellion has been underway on the Filipino island of Mindanao since the 1970s . Families of Dado village had been displaced because of it since 2008 and are working to rebuild their community with the help of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees ( UNHCR ) and other aid organizations . Women of the village came up with the idea of a sex strike as a way to help rebuild their village and to bring peace during a UNHCR sponsored sewing cooperative . Many of the women were fed up with not being able to deliver their products due to the violence that closed down a main road between two villages . UNHCR Spokesperson for Asia , Kitty McKinsey , said she witnessed the women quietly implement the solution to withhold sex from their husbands until the fighting stopped -- and it worked . `` I told them , if you do n't agree with me , you will get no salary from me , '' says Aninon E. Kamanza of the Dado village sewing cooperative in a UNHCR video report . Within weeks of the strike starting , the UNHCR reports that the main village road re-opened and the fighting stopped . The women of the sewing cooperative along with other villagers were able to deliver their goods and start to rebuild the economy . `` Women wanted their husbands to not fight anymore and by using their feminine wiles they were able to enforce their wish , '' said McKinsey . The idea of withholding sex for a cause is not a new one -- the ancient Greek play Lysistrata tells the story of women who organized a sex strike to end a war between Athens and Sparta . More recently , a strike was launched in 2006 in the Colombian city of Pereira , known for its drug trafficking and violent crimes . The strike was implemented by wives and girlfriends of gang members to get them to change their lifestyle and hand over their guns . A similar campaign was carried out by women in Kenya in 2009 to protest the growing divide in Kenya 's coalition government . Sporadic fighting is still present in Mindanao near Dado village , but it is very localized , McKinsey said . The sex strike is just one of the ways the people in Mindanao are using to implement change . `` I was really touched by how people did n't want handouts , '' she says , `` They were all really happy and eager to help themselves . ''
A separatist rebellion has existed in the Mindanao region since the 1970s . UNHCR says women created a hunger strike to get men to stop fighting . The strike helped end clashes in July between villages on Mindanao Island .