What Ways Is The Experiences Of War Gendered?

Women have been fighting alongside men on battlefields for centuries upon centuries, giving their greatest fight to lead their team to victory. Although women are given this opportunity, direct ground combat amongst women remains against the law till this very day, allowing a gender to define what a female can, or cannot do. The human race continues to evolve every day, yet a simple discriminatory law that decides what a woman’s capabilities are without being aware of just how empowering that specific woman is is the same as it first was. Despite the idea that women do not meet certain requirements in order to take place in combat units, women continue to provide an endless amount of support to men on battlefields, bringing a completely

Writer and activist, Rebecca Solnit, addresses the issues of gender inequalities and violence against women in her essay “The Longest War.” Solnit’s purpose is to shed a light onto the inequitable and often detrimental treatment of women, and to emphasize the need for change. She utilizes a compelling, matter-of-fact tone to optimize the effect her words will have on her readers, both male and female. “The Longest War” by Rebecca Solnit employs the rhetorical strategies of substance and context to highlight gender issues worldwide, and to inspire people to act in favor of equality.

For my rhetorical analysis, I read Rebecca Solnit’s essay “The Longest War,” which shed a light on the unequal treatment of men and women and the violence that women face throughout their lives, and around the world.

Many researchers have been drawn to the World War Two period because demands of the wartime economy necessitated a dramatic reassessment of women’s role in life (Honey,1984 p. 1). The form of female participation found least often is the isolation individual female solider who, without gender disguise, fights amongst her male comrades (Goldstein, 2001 p. 112). The decision to introduce large number of women into the armed services during WWII constituted a radical- arguably the most radical- break within the history of gender (Elshtain and Tobias, 1990 p. 107). As difficult as it is to make a difference with how one sees women within the history of WWII women have in one way or another affected how the nature of war is seen within participation (Elshtain and

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

Laura Sjoberg in her writings, 'In Gendering global conflict: towards a feminist theory of war', claims, “war cannot be understood without considering gender as a primary unit of analysis (Foster, 2014).” She further claims, “War is constituted by and constitutes gender and that gendering is a fundamental cause of war as well as a critical aspect (Sjoberg, 2013, p. 9).” In this extract, Sjoberg claims that gender and war are both patriarchy constructed, and the feminist approach to this studies should be acknowledging as a strength in which recognises the role of gender played in war. It is important to outline that the state, and war is a key culprit in the exploitation and control. The understanding of the nation-state intervention, and mainstream

The rebels taught the lesson that In Any situation we must stand up to face whatever conflict that stands before us. In this essay female specimens rise above the rest and take charge protecting and fighting In a world dominated by mostly Men.

As argued by McKay and Mazurana, (2007), in Bunch, (1987), the concept of feminism is seeking to challenge the very dynamics of such domination at all levels of society, and perhaps demand a world order that is premised more on cooperation than on conquest. For example, feminist peace theorist, Birgit Brock-Utne, (1989) argues that, authenticity of society requires positive peace, a society in which there is no indirect or structural violence such as gender inequality. While this is the most desired society, women have remained victims of negative peace, which is latent and occurs in the absence

One, due to violence, women became victims of war through human rights violation. Two, the main impact of conflict on women was sometimes overpowered by the core issue of fundamentalism. The privileges of women saw a decline as they faced a regressive patriarchal and theological society which jeopardized their lives. For example, as compared to the period between 1973 -1978, under President Mohammad Daoud Khan, the veil was abandoned and women received more freedom, which is in contrast to the period of the Afghan-Soviet War, where several women and children were mistreated and killed. Three, a gender unbiased and equal society was important during this turbulent time period, which was earlier reflected in the 1964 Afghan constitution, under the rule of Mohammed Zahir Shah, which gave ample rights to women, even politically. This paper will be concluded by marking the degree to which conflict is responsible in bringing about a change in women’s societal role and also by briefly summing up the other aspects that have contributed to the

'If not me, who? If not now, when?' These inspiring words spoken by Emma Watson at the U.N changed the whole world's perspective on women. However, the idea of women fighting in combat is still seen wrong or absurd by some people. Women deserve to fight in combat and should be allowed. Firstly, women should be considered to fight in combat, not based on their gender but on their capability. Secondly, although women are built differently, these differences could add to the diversity of the defence forces creating new possibilities and tactics. Thus, it is clear that women should be allowed to fight in combat.

When thinking of anything to do with the gender norm shifting or otherwise it comes to terms with masculinity and feminism and these are always a topic when we discuss the understandings of women within militarism and war (Riley, 2008 p. 1193). Of course war is considered and seen as the quintessential masculine activity, though which manhood is demonstrated and expected when engaging within war (McLaughlin, 1990 p. 193). However, when we think of this within the understanding of how women could have been or can be a massive influential element to the understanding of the nature of war one can say it could be inaccurate. It is well known and quite common within the descriptions of warfare in medieval texts were prepped with referencing and

Aretxaga adds not only to anthropology and feminist studies but also to research on ethnic and social conflict by showing the gendered constitution of political violence. She goes further by asserting that violence affects men and women differently by arguing that the manners in which violence is gendered are not fixed but constantly shifting, depending on the likelihood of history, social class, and ethnic identity.

Feminism needs to be more broadly defined in terms of gender liberation to encompass individuals from all walks of genders (or nongenders). Separating gender nonconforming issues from feminism is erasive; marginalized gender nonconforming individuals should not be told to fend for themselves and their own rights due to a multitude of oppressions experienced by these individuals (based on the prejudicial gender assumptions the patriarchy puts on them). In all, feminism should encompass gender nonconforming rights because to do otherwise would be to align with the patriarchal system in which feminists are fighting against; including gender nonconforming issues in the sphere of feminism will help strengthen the discourse of general gender equality as has been argued for centuries.

“Human rights are not only violated by terrorism, repression or assassination, but also by unfair economic structures that create huge inequalities” (Pope Francis). Just as women are victims of economic systems, they are also the victims of many, if not most, acts of terrorism and violence. These can include domestic violence, sexual slavery, emotional abuse, human trafficking, etc. In these ceaseless cases of oppression and violence, women and children bear the brunt of it all. In short, they are the casualties of war. The spoils of war. The victims of war. Two prominent ongoing acts of conflict which impact women are ISIS’s widespread regime and domestic violence in Papua New Guinea. Both these events emphasize the dire situations women

The traditional feminists want equal rights for woman with men. Traditional feminism is caught in the dilemma of demanding equal treatment for unequal functions, because it is unwilling to challenge political classification by sex. Radical women, on the other hand grasp that women as a group somehow fit into a political analysis of society.