Introduction
Conflicts cause and leave behind a myriad of problems and issues that impacts several spheres of a country. Conflicts affect a country economically, politically, socially and environmentally on a broader level while the micro level impact is what is immediately seen and felt. Conflict has gender specific impacts as well, although it is women who are mostly affected by conflict as they are affected in several more different ways than men, and at a higher intensity in most cases. In certain parts of the world, women face deliberate gender based violence and discrimination.
Women are affected by conflict during the time it takes place as well as in the post conflict period. It is during the post conflict period that these impacts are gravely felt. During conflict time women are direct victims of rape, torture, detention, they are victims as internally displaced and refugees while in the post conflict period women are victims as war widows and war survivors, sole income earners etc while grappling with psychological trauma. Men are also victims of direct armed conflict as most combatants are male and suffer from psychological trauma, loss of limbs/ being impaired, loss of mobility, difficulty in reintegrating into family life and so on.
Conflict and displacement cause demographic shifts that have further result in serious implications such as decreased male population and subsequent structural changes of households, decreased fertility and increased infant mortality, civilian dispersion and reallocations and increased rural to urban migration.
It is essential that governments, policy makers and all stake holders involved in post conflict early recovery takes into account the impact of conflict on gender and take...
... middle of paper ...
...ctive. November 2005
Mudrovcic, Zeljka. Sexual and Gender-based violence in Post Conflict Regions: The Bosnia and Herzgovina Case. The impact of conflict on women & girls – A UNFPA strategy for gender mainstreaming in areas of conflict and reconstruction. Bratislava, Slovakia. November 2002.
Thiruchandran, Selvy. The other victims – Women in post-terror, Sri Lanka – A seminar on female headed households in Southern and Eastern Sri Lanka. Women’s Education & Research Ventre (WERC). April 1997.
GTZ. Towards Gender Mainstreaming in Crisis Prevention and Conflict Management. (2001)
Gender sensitive program designing and planning in conflict affected situations: workshop reports. Round table report: Gender and conflict: Understanding the dynamics of violence – London, October 2001
USAID. Women and conflict – An introductory guide for programming. (2006)
Violence against women is a gender based violence because it is targeted specifically to women just for the fact that they are a woman, this can be due to many reasons like the attacker feeling empowered because they think of women as being the weak gender. The United Nations advocates against violence towards women in their Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women. They annotate that violence against women is a “manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women” It is something that happens more often that many people realize. Many times this type of violence happens behind close doors and goes to the extremes that many of the victims would not speak
An elemental point made throughout the book is the shift away from the linear and sequential methods for healing transformation and reconciliation to a dynamic and circular process. From their perspective, the linear method is not equipped to handle post-conflict environments where the end of the conflict does not signal the end of violence. As Lederach & Lederach point out with their story of Sierra Leone, the disturbing reality for women is that the sexual debasement and the silencing of their voices increase after a peacekeeping agreement has been made. The ebb and flow of violence found in a multifaceted experience of protracted violence requires a process that can correspond to a f...
As a result, they are targeted by rebel groups and become victims of rape, aggression, sexual and physical violence (Kamau et al., 2004). They are exposed to torture and emotional trauma leading to mental disorders unlike men.
United Nations Population Fund (2008-20011). Strategy and Framework for Action To Addressing Gender-based Violence. UNFPA: New York
The previous two paragraphs have outlined how rape as a weapon can be used to reinforce the masculinity of an armed force in several ways and the dominance of that force by relegating the opposing force to the feminine (Enole, 1998). This section of the essay will outline how this ideas come together to result in a political strategy (Buss, 20009, p.149). Rape in this context serves to achieve the political goal of ethnic cleansing or genocide (Kirby, 2012,p.12). While this section is looking at nationalist war it is also important to note that rape is used in a weapon in interstate wars too (Wood, 2010, p.125 and Pankhurst, 2010, p.151). Also important to note, is that rape as a weapon is not used in all wars that have an ethnic
Violence is prevalent throughout the world, and millions of people die every year because of this. There are many forms of violence, such as violence in war, domestic violence, violence against women (VAW), children and intimate partner violence (Krug et al., 2002:3). This paper will investigate aspects of domestic violence. Many scholars use domestic violence and violence against women interchangeably, but VAW is one form of domestic violence. The United Nations (UN) defines VAW as "any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life" (WHO, 2013) (Cheung et al., 1999: 2). Women are being harmed physically, emotionally, economically and psychologically on a daily basis, and reports filed regarding VAW each year are increasing rapidly. However, these reports do not represent the complete scenario, as most of the cases go unregistered or disregarded every day (Cheung et al., 1999: 2) because VAW is usually excused, allowed and overlooked (Amnesty International, 2009) (Merry, 2009: 5). Intimate partner violence (IPV) is one pervasive form of violence against women, which is usually committed by the husband or intimate male partners (Krug et al., 2002:89). This paper aims to explore patriarchal norms, social constructions and structural inequalities, which support IPV through the lens of masculinities, honor, and gender ideologies, as well as the concept of women as property in the context of Muslim communities.
A woman’s life in Afghanistan is one of the most shocking and devastating truths. It wasn’t until September 11th 2001 that the world awoke to the relevance of women’s issues to international peace and security. However, it’s been two years since and the lives of Afghan women have improved only slightly. Harassment, violence, illiteracy, poverty and extreme repression continue to characterize reality for many afghan women.
Among the challenges Afghan women face, violence is the most common which has been a national concern in recent years. They have been subject to numerous forms of violence such as torture, burning, cutting body parts, acid-throwing and that's just the tip of the iceberg because most of the violence remains unheard for the fear of more violence. Violence can affect a woman’s mental and physical
Aggression and violence can stem from several reasons, often from a primal hatred for a person that is different than the perpetrator. These attacks can fall under several categories, like aggression towards a homosexual out of homophobia, aggression towards a member of the other race out of racism, and violence towards the other sex out of misogyny or misandry. It is a recognized issue though, that when it comes to gender based aggression, its fury “disproportionately victimizes women and girls” (MacKinnon). The term “violence against women” was created to fit this definition, a phrase that has in recent years recognized as a worldwide issue. A more formal definition created by the United Nations (UN) states that violence against women is “"any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life," (“Fact”). The World Health Organization (WHO) has found that as many as 35% of all women in the world have experienced some form of violence, sexual or not, and while 38% murdered women were killed by an intimate partner, only 6% male murders were committed by their counterpart (“Fact”) (“Violence”). The United Nations (UN) created the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) under which the general recommendation no. 19 states that participating countries should see that laws mandating violence against women provide adequate protection for the victims, and see that there are effective methods of legal action and punishment for perpetrators (Handbook, 5). Such international action cannot be ignored, and to say t...
Two courses that were critical in my intellectual development were the Sociology of Social Movements and the Dynamics of Domestic Violence. In the Sociology of Social Movements, I designed a research project, “Women, War, and Resistance”. In this piece I examined crucial issues surrounding wars on a global level, such as rape as a weapon of war, sexual trafficking, and various grassroots war-resistance groups formed by women on a local level. In addition, after taking the course on Dynamics of Domestic Violence, I had the opportunity of doing field work at a domestic violence shelter. For this independent study, I met with a professor of the women’s studies department on a weekly basis to discuss my experiences and to receive assistance in my research project: “The Effects of Domestic Violence on Adolescents.”
Conflict perspective deals with macro and some micro levels. Causes of poverty, health disparities, distribution of life chances via, social class, and gender.
United Nation (1993) Declaration on the elimination of violence against women: proceedings from the United Nation world conference on Human Rights G.A. res. 48/104, 48 GAOR Supp.(No. 49) at 217, Doc. A/48/49.https://www.unfpa.org/swp/2005/english/notes/page3.htm Accessed on April 2014
Fawcett, Barbara, Brid Featherstone, Jeff Hearn, and Christine Toft. Violence and Gender Relations Theories and Interntions. London: Sage Publications, 1996. 12-13. Print.
The perception of transformation is the change from one state to another. Conflict transformation in more specific terms is the transition through various stages. Primarily, conflict transformation takes place through the underlying stage to confrontation to negotiation to vibrant, peaceful relationships. The purpose of this essay is to choose a historical or contemporary situation in which conflict transformation has taken place in the past and/or continues to occur. In my assignment I will research the origins, causes and current status of the conflict. I will identify what has been done and/or is being done to address the conflict in a transformative manner today. I will assess this particular situation with reference to two of the structure or process models covered in this course. I will develop a plan for further action, based on structural and process models discussed in this course. Finally I will integrate Lederach’s time frame and see if I can bond it with this particular case.
Causes of conflicts: Why wars happen. The Economist, 16 Dec. 2008. Web. 16 Feb. 2014. .