The relationship between gender, conflict and violence is a particular issue that hits home to me having spent six months last year working in Iraq with a local NGO and UNHCR working with incoming Syrian Refugees and in particular undertaking project development for Combatting sexual and gender based violence (GBV) within Iraqi Kurdistan. The effects of conflict on women, and violence being imposed on women within conflict zones is one that needs to be discussed, promulgated, advocated for and addressed deeply within the crux of development programmes and equally by national governments alike particularly those affected by conflict/war, post-conflict and fragility. It is only through shedding light on the atrocities which are/have been …show more content…
Gender and Development more generally have overtly focused on women’s economic roles (Razavi and Miller 1995) to the detriment of developing a holistic body of theory that addresses the human condition in all its aspects and responds to the voices and the experiences of men and women at local levels.
Shifts in Gender and Armed Conflict
At the international level, there was a brief period of optimism that generated after the end of the Cold War, which inevitably ceased and gave rise to a new world order (Featherstone 1996). The new world order that emerged can be characterized by new regional conflicts and an escalation in armed conflicts and civil wars within states. The former classic form of warfare went out the window. There was now no longer two distinguishable armies on a battlefield fighting over territory and sovereignty. This classical view of warfare formerly offered protection to non-combatants, however with the transition from classical warfare to unconventional warfare, protagonists began deliberately targeting civilians including women and children. Unconventional warfare has seen a rise in technical capacity and the industrial
How does this program differ from the types of punishment that are typically used for violent criminals?
In our debate we discussed whether women are just as violent as men. The pro side of the debate said yes women are just as violent as men, and the opposing side said men are more violent than women. In the yes side of the debate violence was described as physical and emotional assaults. As in violent acts carried out with the intention of causing another person physical pain or injury, no matter whether actual injury occurs, and any unjust, cruel act, or maltreatment of another human being. In the no side of the debate violence was just described as physical assaults, and not emotional assaults. This paper will discuss both sides of the debate, and the pros and cons of the arguments made by both sides.
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.
The second half of the 20th Century saw the development of nuclear weapons, jet fighters and helicopters. The significance of nuclear weapons is illustrated in the Vietnam War, where the Americans, who were in possession of such weapons, posed a huge threat to the Vietnamese who lacked them. This drawback lead the latter to instigate guerrilla warfare, as it was the only possible way to oppose the Americans. This war demonstrates how the development of such destructive nuclear weapons lead to unconventional types of warfare. Irregular warfare due to advanced technology also had a huge impact on structure and organisation of forces. For example, in the Soviet war against Afghanistan, the occupation of the Soviets in major urban centres antagonised the civilians, and subsequently provoked uprisings. The Soviets found themselves drawn into fighting against the Ishtar and the Mujahedeen, which forced them to abandon conventional “front lines” and instead form disorderly groups to try and oppress the rebels. This irregular warfare was especially intense as the side that couldn’t compete technologically with the opposition waged ferocious wars. For example the Mujahedeen launched relentless ambushes and raids on the Soviets, keeping their initiative through offensive action. This type of fighting also affected the civilians, who were frequently targeted by the Soviets due to their support of the Mujahedeen.
Cynthia Enloe’s book titled Nimo’s War, Emma’s War: Making Feminist Sense of the Iraq War allows readers to enter the lives of eight women; four American and four Iraqi, in order to better understand the everyday lives of people, their struggles, and the outcomes of war by using particular stories of women to bring together issues present globally. Enloe wrote this book to analyze war from a feminist perspective. Analyzing war through a feminist lens by way of stories makes understanding the war more accessible for wider audiences (Enloe 2010:xii and 218). The use of stories allows for a better understanding of women in both countries and shows that there is no one group of women, whether that be American or Iraqi, there is no monolithic Muslim women or American women (Enloe 2010:xii). In doing so, Enloe (2010) allows for readers of all backgrounds to critically question the gendered aspects of war including the histories, feelings, struggles, and the ways in which women organize and resist war waging (p. xii). Enloe (2010) in both her purpose for writing this book and in the title, does not focus on one group of women which allows for a more serious and balanced engagement with the women in both countries. Enloe connects stories of women from two countries while at war. When women are taken seriously in all of their diversity, and their ideas and actions are explored, the world will better understand how upholding certain forms of masculinity at particular moments in time
In this essay it will assess to what extent feminism has added to our understanding of society.
Every day, women experience violence at the hands of men. Somehow, in our society, even rape and assault have fallen into a moral grey area. With the controversy surrounding [that], few pay much thought to the less extreme, but far more common acts of molestation. While smaller attacks are considered innocuous by many, they too can have long lasting effects of and we as women have no way to ever escape.
Women being prioritized over combat when injured is an issue that isn’t just because they’re women, but because it’s human nature to want to help those wounded whether they be men or women. James Gibson a master sergeant says, “if a girl gets shot in combat, all of the guys will be more focused on helping her than fighting.” The opposition argues that, guys will be way more subjective to this when a woman is wounded in combat, which is why there should be inequality. Men shouldn’t be distracted from their duties in combat. This is a valid argument, it’s also a partially faulty argument, owing to the fact that it’s human nature to want to help all people in need, regardless of their gender (Gibson). Nevertheless, men and women both need to
The books Child of the Dark by Carolina Maria de Jesus and Testimony by Victor Montejo describes the lives of two individuals from different societies. In both of these societies there was much hardship and violence. The two main characters who wrote these books describe life through their point of view and explains the hardship and challenges they had living in a society filled with violence.
Through this written piece of work, I want to examine the ways in which the dominant ideas of gender and war, from a Feminist perspective. I will be contributing an understanding to the role of the Kurdish female fighters in the field of war and politics, that have broken the taboos of gender roles within the community, and the national movement. The concept of gender, war, and conflict has lightened the issue of women in war. The image of war is associated to masculinity, and in many cases women are not welcomes in the field of war, as “she is exposed as a victim of war by drawing the idea of women being helpless (Sjoberg, 2014, p. 10).” Laura Sjoberg; Gender, War, and Conflict, states that “war-making and war-fighting have been traditionally
Martin van Creveld wrote The Transformation of War book in 1991 when he detailed a predictive hypothesis about the changing character of war into what he called ?Nontrinitarian War. There were conflicts arise as intrastate wars and were not based on the simplified version of Clausewitz?s ?remarkable trinity? of government, people and military forces (Van Creveld, 1991, pg. 49). In his book, Van Creveld offers an account of warfare in the previous millennium and suggests what the future might hold. The drive was that major war was draining and the emergence of forms of war ?that are simultaneously old and new? now threatened to create havoc.
In the year 2000 there are many problems with society. One of the biggest and most controllable is the issue of violence. Although we are subjected to violence everyday by simply turning on the news, other forms of violence for entertainment can be censored.
Talking about war tends to make people feel emotional, feel a sort of adrenaline rush, mad, and even proud. These emotions can at times, in my opinion, bring groups together and separate others because of disagreements on views and beliefs. While it is not easy to talk to anyone about delicate topics such as this one, it is important to acknowledge how war can influence societal behavior and culture. Many can argue that war unites people, particularly speaking of the United States; a country is known for its patriotism and pride when it comes down to its military forces and achievements across nations.
This study sought to determine the perception of the residents on the social acceptability of the various forms and prevalence of violence against women. The study supposed that when people perceived the various forms of violence against women as socially acceptable, their prevalence tends to be high.
Baserup (1970) suggested that women needed to reduce the work loads they had so that they take part in education, projects which will also extend their power in the economy. In addition, Baserup pointed out that women have to receive credit facilities for greater economic projects. For example, Baserup echoed the mechanization of “female farming’ in African women farmers and revolutionarize traditional forms of agriculture for productive efficiency extracted from Schech and Haggis (2000). Rogers (1980) also suggested for a complete overhand of male attitudes against women. Rogers explicitly challenged this in her survey of the FAO institutional arrangement. She concluded that no women were found in field officers in technical division. Rogers (1980) therefore, concluded that women were not only excluded from planning and decision making but were being ignored and overlooked. Furthermore, households were assumed to be male headed which also generalized women as housewives (Rogers 1980:66 in Schech and Haggis, 2000). This shows that women’s work was regarded as non- work due to male bias. However, the WID approach agitated for equity, empowerment, efficiency and equal participation of women in existing structures.