Situational Vulnerability

Women. This word creates an image- an image of a mother, a sister, a daughter. Women are of the basics part of life, they are essential not only to society, but to the human species. Therefore, women should be treated with equal importance and given the same rights regardless of gender. Society has come a long way since 1920 and giving women the right to vote. However, there a parts of the world where women are treated unequally in respect of men and are fighting for that equality- a basic human right. Women especially in the developing world struggle with unjust inequalities. Common abuses that claim women are sex trafficking and forced prostitution; gender-based violence, including honor killings and mass rape; and maternal mortality. Reportage and storytelling of these horrible abuses are combined in the nonfiction book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, where Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn argue that the oppression of women is the worst current global issue that calls for change.

Another negative effect of gender inequality is the increased fear of violence for women. Women are often portrayed as weak and helpless beings that can easily be taken advantage of. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon states that, “Violence against women and girls continues unabated in every continent, country and culture. It takes a devastating toll on women’s lives, on their families and on society as a whole. Most societies prohibit such violence –yet the reality is that too often, it is covered up or tacitly condoned” (Unite to End Violence Againist Women, 2006). Violence against women in the form of rape, spousal abuse, child abuse or spousal killing has become routine behavior over the years, so it rarely even makes the news anymore. “Women aged 15-44 are more at risk from rape and domestic violence than from cancer, motor accidents, war and malaria, according to World Bank data”( Unite to End Violence Againist Women, 2006). Women are often blamed and questioned about their actions if they become the

The future of genocidal intervention must allow us to move beyond a definition affixed to body counts, and particularly when we don’t gender those victims. By gendering the way violence impacts both men and women, we can both detect genocidal acts earlier as well as paying attention to the act of rape as genocidal in and of itself. While those who committed these acts certainly are evil, to understand the gendered logic (if it can be called such) of violence is conducted provides us better perspective in identifying it within conflicts, and understand which populations are at risk and in what ways.

These shows that most of time males are the victims of assaults not females. According to Russell Wynne in his article "Sexual Violence against Men and Boys," Sexualised violence against men and boys can emerge in any form of conflict – from interstate wars to civil wars to localised conflicts – and in any cultural context. Both men and boys are vulnerable in conflict settings and in countries of asylum alike. Both adult men and boys are most vulnerable to sexual violence in detention. In some places over 50% of detainees reportedly experience sexualised torture. However, both adult men and boys are also vulnerable during military operations in civilian areas and in situations of military conscription or abduction into paramilitary forces. Boys, meanwhile, are also highly vulnerable in refugee/IDP settings. He also starts with a wonderful quote “It is well known that armed conflict and sexual violence against women and girls often go hand in hand. What is less widely recognised is that armed conflict and its aftermath also bring sexual danger for men and boys.” This explains that society considers sexual violence against women’s and girls more rapidly than that of men’s and

This paper will in essence put forth the view that historical experiences of oppression defines women’s vulnerability to the acts of war

Women between the ages of 15 to 44 are at a greater risk of rape than cancer, malaria and a motor accident (Wood, 2009). According to Amnesty International (2014), 40 women are raped everyday in South Kivu regarding the on-going armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Sexual violence during armed conflict has historically been known as one of the legitimate spoils of war (Brown, 2011). Spoils of war result from defeating a population and claiming benefits due to its instability. Thus violence towards civilian’s asserts dominance, however the implications involved must be rooted to deeper consequences to a nation. In this essay I will argue that rape is perpetrated against women

In our modern, 20th century society, we must deal with crimes by nation states. This involves governmental crimes, democratization, and transnational forms of policing. However, under this broad topic of crimes, it can be narrowed down to focus on particular topics. One I would like to focus on is genocide- the mass murder of a group of people that eliminates the social vitality of a group. And in delving deeper into this topic, I want to focus on the role and experience of gender, specifically women, in the case of genocide. In 20th century lives, genocide occurs often in times of war. The problem that is over looked is the consequences of genocide on women during times of war. The issue of gender, women’s rights, and violence against

Structural violence in every shape and form has rooted itself deeply into the soil of humanity. It can be seen in gender inequalities, economic stability, and family dynamics. All of the many ways structural violence perpetrates the continuing struggle for basic human struggle, the examination of refugees and migrants can remain obscure. The intensity of the violence committed against groups of refugees and migrants can be socially rounded to an individual’s inadequacy or greed; this, of course, refuses the acknowledgement of the true causes of this type of treatment.

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has continuously experienced increasingly brutal cases of violence against the female gender (Peterman, Palemo, & Bredenkamp, 2011). As Peterman et al. (2011) continue to state, this gender based violence against women in the Congo is mainly characterized by widespread sexual violence, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), gang rape, and the abduction of women for sexual slavery purposes among several others. As a matter of importance, sexual violence against women is reported to be more prevalent within families, the resulting consequence being the continuous destabilization of populations, aside from the destruction of both community and family bonds (Johnson, Scott, Rughita, Kisielewski, Asher, Ong, & Lwry, 2010). Recent reports from world bodies such as the United Nations indicate that a majority of the cases of sexual violence reported in the DRC are inexplicably linked to the ongoing armed and civil unrest in the Congo. The eastern parts of Congo that border Rwanda, i.e. North and South Kivu regions are reported as having been the most affected by the continued violence against women. This research paper seeks to argue that the violence against women in the Congo reflects a systematic, colonial-style gender based discrimination and violence against the female gender as it relates to space and power.

The first argument that my essay will posit how be wartime rape can be utilised as an instrument of conducting ethnic cleansing on a populous. Here I will be discussing the conditions which condoned the ethnic-gender based sexual violence in Rwanda and the aftereffects of the civil war in Rwanda. Secondly, my essay will be looking into rape as an expression of superiority, most notably seen through the German incursions where comfort women and prisoners of war were used to satisfy their soldiers needs. Moreover, my last section will be discussing sexual violence as retaliation against enemy incursions in war, my dominant discourse here will be the Soviet counterattack against Nazi Germany where an estimated 100,000 women were raped in Berlin alone as vengeance against Nazi Germany for invading

2016). The traditional views surrounding rape during war have long since lost their meaning, and the logical and accurate direction of the current discourse surrounding rape as a systematic weapon of war holds more sway among theorists today. It is rape’s ability to physically and mentally destroy an individual, without killing them that allows for it highly effective nature as a form of combat. When one single act has the ability to destroy gender roles, inflict serious damage upon the masculinity of a nation of men, and use reproduction to attempt to eradicate a particular ethnic group from existence, it is surely to be viewed as a worthwhile strategy to adapt during times of conflict, in order to win and dominant the opposing group in the most efficient, horrific and scarring means possible. Yugoslavia is not the only region of the world to experience the consequences of rape as a weapon of war, and with many incidents across history all displaying similar characteristics and ulterior motives of rape, it is impossible to deny its systematic nature in war. Rape during war is not just an attack on a woman in times of anarchy, it is a strategic approach to attacking all aspects of the nation and army that identifies with that woman; be it the religion, ethnicity, men, nation or culture, creating long lasting and severe consequences for all (Snyder, C.S.,

Holt explained, “For women such as Amma the situation is made worse by the Bosnian government's reluctance to recognize women as civilian victims of war” (Holt, 2005, para. 11). The law enforcement is negligent when it comes to proper enforcement, which can be seen in the case of the women within Rwanda, Bangladesh, and Bosnia. Moreover, it seems that within these countries there is not only a lack of enforcement within women’s rights, there also seems to be no education regarding these issues. While these concerns are of high importance, another daunting question remains, where are the global organizations when these crimes against humanity occur?

Have you ever looked at war as though women mattered? You often hear about the bravery of the soldiers who go to fight but what about the women at home, or even in war torn areas who are effected? Women are often victims of what the so called man created conflict and women are expected to stand back and let the fighting advance. War is more than a combat, its burden that increasingly falls on the shoulders of women. In some wars today it’s more dangerous to be a women than to be a soldier. A few women aimed back and changed the face of justice. Some of which are the texts I have analysed which present this issue of women being the victims of war these are, Tears of the Desert, I am Malala, I Came to testify and The Diary of Anne Frank. Even

The violence against women can be traced back to the deep-rooted inequality between the sexes and male dominance over the course of history which has resulted in the belief and behavior of men that they have the right to control women. Such beliefs can explain why one in three women has been abused or subjected by men while between 40 and 70 percent of female murder victims were killed by their intimate partners. Violence against women is just one of the many ways that oppression towards women has survived throughout history and manifested itself in different

Political agendas, especially in the United States, have a reputation of manipulating a movement for their own gains. As a result, these movements are negatively affected when these political organizations do not follow their own ‘ideals.’ From Hesford and Kozol’s (2005) Introduction, they used the example of the Bush Administration using feminist ideals to gain public support for the war in Afghanistan. These efforts from the government focus on class interest rather than the moral justice against “poverty, violence, and social inequalities (Hesford and Kozol, 2005, p. 6). Unfortunately, this reaffirms stereotypes onto the community, which the government was trying to help. Furthermore, Anzaldúa (2012) asserts that these stereotypes drastically harm more than help third world people. Specifically, with women, they are continually silenced by the ‘liberating’ group since they force their societal norms onto these nations. Thus, the evidence shows that these military and government organizations are only using feminist ideals for their benefit and nothing more.