Gender and Conflict
Question 1
Structure Inequalities and Institutional injustice may be some of the causes of Conflict on the African continent. Discuss other causes you have studied.
Introduction
Structure inequality is defined as a condition that arises out of attributing an unequal status to a category of people in relation to one or more other categories, a relationship that is perpetuated and reinforced by a confluence of unequal relations in roles, functions, decisions rights, and opportunities.
Institutional injustice refers to injury, wrong, grievance, acts or conditions that cause people to suffer hardship or loss undeservedly. An injustice is a violation of a person's rights, the term can also refer to unfair treatment of another or others. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" (Martin Luther King, Jr. 1968).
Conflicts refer to disputes, disagreements, quarrels, struggles, fights, and wars between individuals, groups and countries. All over the world, there is no complete agreement as to how wealth, among other issues like power and status among individuals and groups should be shared and how to use it to effect the necessary changes and reforms. Since we all have diverse interests both as groups, nations and individuals, our aims are bound to differ with one another. Conflict s occurs when the deprived group, nation or individuals attempt to increase their share of power and wealth or to modify the dominant values, norms, beliefs or ideology. Gesiye A (2003).
Conflicts arise where the parties come to have incompatible interests, values or goals. ‘Attitudes’ refer to the tendency for the parties to see conflict from their own point of view, to identify with one side, and to diminish the concerns of others and lastly, ‘behaviours’ includes gestures and communications, which can convey either a hostile or a conciliatory intent. Galtung (1996).
There have been over nine (9) million refugees and internally displaced people from conflicts in Africa. Hundreds and thousands of people have been slaughtered from a number of conflicts and civil wars.
The causes of conflicts in Africa are numerous, interconnected and interrelated, ranging from individual or group violations, to structural inequality and injustice. Factors like political corruption, lack of respect for rule of law, human rights violations and so forth do contribute to conflicts on the African continent. Some causes of conflicts in Africa are local while others are the result transformations in the international structure since the end of the cold war. Continuing economic decline and material insecurity are accompanied in many countries in Africa by increase in political instability and conflicts.
Both poverty and conflict are related. Poverty can cause conflict while conflict can lead to poverty based on the state of insecurity and bad governance Draman R (2003). Many communities in Africa most especially the conflict torn areas are suffering from hunger and starvation. Africa as a continent is seen as a poor continent (Rawls 1999)
Conflicts in Africa, as everywhere, are caused by human action, and can be ended by human action. Most of these conflicts has been characterized by extreme brutality for example in Rwanda alone, in 100 days, about a million people were massacred, a scale of killings that is unprecedented in world history. More than 30 wars have been fought in Africa since 1970, and most of these have been internal rather than inter-state wars (Anup Shah 2009). From the above one can infer that most of the Conflicts in Africa are based on internal wrangling, Example of this can be seen from the Ogoni land in Nigeria.
Hunger/famine has been another fundamental cause of conflicts in Africa which mainly caused by successive failed rains.
A famine/hunger is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has experienced a period of famine throughout history. Many countries continue to have extreme cases of famine which in fact cause conflicts in the long run.
A wave of protests has erupted in Africa. A combination of the global financial crisis, rising costs of living, high unemployment especially of educated youth, frustration from decades of living under authoritarian and corrupt regimes, various document leaks revealing more details about how governments around the world are dealing and viewing each other, have all combined in different ways in various countries, leading to a wave of rising anger.
However, despite successive failed rains, the crisis has been criticized as avoidable and man-made. This is because the situation had been predicted many months before by an international early warning system. Both the international community and governments in the region have been accused of doing very little in the lead up to this crisis. In addition, high food prices have forced food out of the reach of many people, while local conflicts exacerbate the situation.
Further electoral frauds have also caused conflicts in some African states. For example following elections in Cote d’Ivoire in October 2010, both President Laurent Gbagbo and opposition candidate, Alassane Ouattara, claimed victory. International observers agreed that the Ouattara had won, but Gbagbo refused to accept this. Negotiations failed and while the world’s attention was elsewhere, the situation became volatile and violent outbursts turned into the country’s second civil war. Forces supporting Ouattara have swept through the country and Gbagbo’s position looks precarious while he remains defiant. This has caused Gbagbo to face international criminal court (ICC) to answer questions against humanity.
More still the conflict in the DR Congo (formerly known as Zaire) has involved seven nations. There have been a number of complex reasons, including conflicts over basic resources such as water, access and control over rich minerals and other resources and various political agendas. This has been fueled and supported by various national and international corporations and other regimes which have an interest in the outcome of the conflict.
Further still, for Niger Delta in Nigeria there have been conflicts by environmentalists, human rights activists and fair trade advocates. The trial and hanging of environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other members of the Ogoni ethnic minority made world-wide attention. So too did the non-violent protests of the Ogoni people. The activities of large oil corporations such as Mobil, Chevron, Shell, Elf, Agip and so on have raised many concerns and criticisms hence ending up in violent conflicts.
Sierra Leone has seen serious and grotesque human rights violations since 1991 when the civil war erupted. According to Human Rights Watch, over 50,000 people have been killed to date, with over one million people having been displaced. There have been numerous factors contributing to problems such as the diamond connection, the gross abuses committed by both rebel and government forces, and the problems of the current peace treaty. This situation has resulted into a serious conflict there.
It should also be noted that 30 years of war and conflict as Eritrea attempted to gain independence, finally resulted in an April 1993 internationally monitored referendum, where 98.5% of the registered voters voted. 99.8% of the votes were for independence, although the borders were not defined clearly. While the two nations seemed to get on fairly well, relations deteriorated into war/conflict a couple of years after Eritrea introduced its own currency in 1997.
Finally, the conflict and subsequent Rwanda genocide has typically been explained as conflict resulting from ancient tribal hatreds, omitting many of the deeper and also modern causes, such as international economic policies, power politics and corruption of the elite and the like which are also common contributing causes of conflict in Africa in particular and elsewhere in the world today (Angaye, 2003).
CONCLUSION
Conflicts in Africa, as everywhere, are caused by human action, and can be solved by human action. Most of these conflicts have been characterized by extreme brutality. The conflicts in Africa could be minimized if there is an element of political will to fight political corruption, respect for rule of law and fight rights violations which are all common reasons for the causes of Africa’s conflicts.
African leaders should be held responsible for lack of progressive stewardships, accountability and bad governance. Democracy should be encouraged all over the continent so that everybody can participate in the government and the country resources properly distributed among all the stakeholders to avoid conflicts.
REFERENCES
Africa World Press Guide: Compiled and Edited by World Views: Conflicts in Africa: Causes and Prospects for Resolutions Retrieved on 11/11/ 2011.
Angaye, G (2003): Causes and Cures of Conflicts in Nigeria, Macmillan Press.
Boulden J (2003): Dealing with Conflicts in Africa: The United Nations and regional Organisation. Palgrave Macmillan Press.
Burton J (1990): Conflict: resolution and Prevention. The Macmillan Press.
Clayborne, C, (1968): The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Hawkins V (2008): Stealth Conflicts: How the World’s Worst Violence Is Ignored. Ashgate Press.
Jeong, H. (1999): Research on Conflict Resolution. Ashgate Publishing Company, England.
Nye J (2000): Understanding International Conflict: An Introduction to Theory and History. (3rd Edition) Longman Publisher.
Rawls, J. (1999): A Theory of Justice, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press.
QUESTION 2
Basing on militarization and gender identities, women face several vulnerabilities, prejudices and reassertions of palmarchy. Discuss
INTRODUCTION
Militarization refers to the process by which a society organizes itself for military conflict and violence. It is related to militarism, which is an ideology that reflects the level of militarization of a state. The process of militarization involves many interrelated aspects that encompass all levels of society.
Gender identity is the way in which an individual self-identifies with a gender category, for example, as being either a man or a woman, or in some cases being neither, which can be distinct from biological sex. Basic gender identity is usually formed by age three and is extremely difficult to change after that.
Prejudice refers to making a judgment or assumption about someone or something before having enough knowledge to be able to do so with guaranteed accuracy, or "judging a book by its cover". The word prejudice is most often used to refer to preconceived judgments toward people or a person because of race, social class, ethnicity, age, disability, obesity, religion, sexual orientation, or other personal characteristics. It also means beliefs without knowledge of the facts and may include "any unreasonable attitude that is unusually resistant to rational influence.
In a militarized society, violence is considered an acceptable way of solving problems in the international sphere and this affects the interpersonal sphere as well. Women are overwhelmingly affected by this violence. One of the basic values of militarism is domination or "power over the other," and through the glorification of the ideal of masculinity, and the belittlement of femininity, women quite obviously become the "other."
It often does not matter if the women are "our" women or "enemy" women, they are still "other" and thus subordinate. Men are socialized to believe that they have an inherent right to control and use women, particularly "their" women (wives and daughters). It is true that in most countries, most forms of violence against women are illegal, but the absence of enforcement of these laws, or the light sentences given to the perpetrators, perpetuates this idea of violence with impunity.
In some cases, the link between militarization and violence against women is explicit. The use of pornography in the military demonstrates the link between misogyny and military preparedness. The showing of pornographic videos to British troops heading to the Falklands and American soldiers before bombing raids during the Gulf War are only two examples.
In many countries there is a high rate of domestic violence in military families. A US Inspector General's report on domestic violence concluded that military service is probably more conducive to violence at home than any other occupation because of the military's authoritarianism, its use of physical force in training and the stress created by frequent moves and separations. Military training encourages men to be aggressive and violent, and then asks them to keep these tendencies in check until they are "needed." It is no surprise that this violence spills over into domestic violence and rape.
Violence against women grows out of the stereotypes/prejudices of masculinity and femininity discussed above and in turn, violence, and the threat of it, enforces these strict gender roles. Often female victims of violence are blamed for an assault, because they had not "behaved appropriately." Being too assertive, too sexually active, or simply in a place not fit for "nice" women can all be given as reasons why a woman "deserved" to be assaulted. This leads women to curtail their activities in order to attempt to ensure their safety.
The use of violence to control rigid perceptions of gender is also evident in "gay-bashing"--assaults on gays and lesbians. Homosexuals are a threat to the tidy categories of gender which serve patriarchal society, and attempts are made to silence them through violence.
Rape is a specific form of violence which is closely linked to masculine attitudes about women. It is not an aggressive expression of sexuality, but a sexual expression of aggression, and as such it is another symptom of a social order which accepts and rewards violence. It is a violent means of perpetuating women's subservient position in society, and it is excused by a militaristic culture which expects men to get what they want through intimidation and violence.
Further more, a more direct way in which the military affects women in "peacetime" is the presence of permanent military bases. Women in southeast Asia have held foreign military bases responsible for creating or exacerbating the conditions which promote prostitution. The influx of (in some cases) several thousand men with large amounts of money to exchange for sex, combined with the presence of local men willing to make money exploiting women and the poverty of local communities has contributed to a large sex industry.
More still, the military needs to marginalize women in order to reassert its masculine identity, and one of the ways to accomplish this is to assert that all women are only useful to serve men's sexual needs. Cynthia Enloe argues that the military's preoccupation has been with satisfying men's perceived sexual needs without losing military efficiency and "readiness." This has often involved a tacit policy of running brothels to ensure a steady supply of women and to attempt to control the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. The military of different countries have different policies regarding prostitution and these depend on the imagined racial or cultural gap between the local population and the military, the level of local hostility, and the level of economic hardship and social displacement in the local community.
In addition, A very contested area of debate about women and militarization is the role of women in the military. While feminists seeking equality with men are opposed to any occupational field being closed to them on the basis of their sex, the goal of having more women in the military is not without its problems. Greater participation in the military as an appropriate means achieving women's liberation must be questioned. To see it as such reinforces its centrality and to integrate women into the military only increases the militarization of society. The military itself uses the argument of promoting women's equality in its recruitment information however, an institution built on masculine ideals such as aggression can hardly be expected to play a sincere part in women's emancipation.
Despite the military's promises of equality and challenging non-traditional careers, women who join are concentrated in clerical and other service jobs which reflect the job ghettos of civilian women. Although women in the military are challenging gender roles by becoming soldiers, they are still judged by them. Military women are labelled either lesbians or prostitutes and are sexually harassed and slandered by their male colleagues. Although most militaries routinely purge homosexuals and lesbians from their ranks, women are much more likely to be targeted and discharged for this reason. This widespread sexual harassment (which affects women in armed forces all over the world) bolsters male egos which have been threatened by female competition and invasion of their previously male-only domain.
The exclusion of women from combat (which must constantly be redefined in an era of nuclear and high tech combat) is essential to preserving the masculine identity of the military and to justifying the continued male dominant position in the social order.
The situation of women who take up arms in situations of armed liberation struggles is often perceived to be different from that of women in the "peace time" military. However, the same ambivalence about women's participation exists in liberation armies. The men need the women, but they do not want to lose their masculine dominance. During the struggle, women's participation in actual combat positions is manipulated by the leadership to exhibit the justness of the cause being fought and the commitment of the population, as well as to exhort men to join a fight for which "even" women are willing to take up arms.
Finally, along with the violence of bombs and bullets, it is not surprising that personal violence against women increases substantially during war. The focus of war is the destruction of the "other," the ideologically, ethnically or sexually different. In armed conflict, it is not only "enemy" women who are targets of violence, often in the form of rape.
CONCLUSION
War and militarization may be "men's business," but women are undeniably affected by it, whether as prostitutes outside a military base, victims of a bombing attack, or mothers whose welfare cheques are getting smaller because of budget cuts. Traditional discussions of militarism and war deny women's specific experiences and reinforce existing power dynamics. A gender analysis of militarism shows that women are greatly affected by militarization and have every right to make opposition to it. Furthermore, as a gender analysis examines the very strong links between militarization and patriarchy it enables women to name their specific oppression and to make the connections between interrelated institutional forms of oppression.
Addressing the links between militarization and patriarchy is important for women peace activists and feminists to achieve their aims. Historically, women have been asked again and again to put off their own demands while "more pressing" problems in society are addressed. By making the condition of women a key part of the explanation of and opposition to militarism, women's oppression remains a central peace issue. For feminists, it is unwise to ignore an institution as large and influential as the military, when working against patriarchy. Women peace activists and feminists have common goals, and should educate people to see the links between institutional and personal violence and oppression. As long as the institutions of patriarchy and militarism are dominant in our societies, there will be no peace or justice.
References
Berit, A.(1983): "A Materialist View of Men's and Women's Attitudes Towards War,"Women's Studies International Forum, Vol 5 , No 3.
Bond, B.(1986): War and Society in Europe, 1870-1970. McGill-Queen's University Press.
Enloe, C.(1998): "Beyond 'Rambo': Women and the Varieties of Militarized Masculinity," in Women and the Military System, ed. Eva Isaksson, London: Harvester.
Gibson, J(1994): William Warrior Dreams: Paramilitary Culture in Post-Vietnam America Hill & Wang.
MacGregor, (1989): Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940-1965 U.S. Govt. Print Office.
Ute, F(2004): A Nation in Barracks: Modern Germany, Military Conscription and Civil Society.
QUESTION 3
Women have joined liberation movements. In Nicaragua, women hold positions of commanders and even full battalions, demonstrating greater gender, social justice and equality. Discuss the achievements of women that you know.
INTRODUCTION
World wide, women have fought for their rights, worked hard to be treated equally and made great strides in fields like science, politics, sports, literature and art. These are just a few of the remarkable accomplishments that historians not to mention people across the world celebrate.
The feminist movement also known as the Women's Movement, Women's Liberation refers to a series of campaigns for reforms on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women's suffrage, sexual harassment and sexual violence. The movement's priorities vary among nations and communities and range from opposition to female genital mutilation in one country or to the glass ceiling in another.
The movement began in the western world in the late 18th century and has gone through three waves:
The first wave was oriented around the station of middle or upper-class white women, and involved suffrage and political equality.
Second-wave feminism attempted to further combat social and cultural inequalities.
Third-wave feminism (1980-1990) which includes renewed campaigning for women’s greater influence in politics.
On Election Days women have exercised their right to vote in many nations save for few countries remaining in the Arab world. This took women activists and reformers many years to win that right, and the campaign was not easy. For example disagreements over this strategy threatened to cripple the movement of women many times but it was on August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was finally ratified, enfranchising all American women and declaring for the first time that they, like men, deserve all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
Further more women have achieved formal legal equality as men. Formal equality assumes that equality is achieved if the law treats all persons alike. However, when individuals or groups are not identically situated (for example a black woman versus a white man), the formal equality model tends to perpetuate discrimination and inequality, because it cannot address real inequality in circumstances.
In fact, by treating different individuals as equals despite unequal access to power and resources, formal equality creates an illusion of equality while allowing real economic, legal, political and social disparities to grow.
Additionally, married women have achieved the battle of being capable of holding property and of contracting as female soles. Here women have are given powers of acquiring, holding, and disposing by will or otherwise, of any real or personal property as her separate property, in the same manner as if she were a female sole, without the intervention of any trustee.
Women have also achieved in the field of military careers whereby they are now permitted to serve as full members of the armed forces.
It should be remembered that during World War I many women had enlisted as volunteers in the military services and they usually served in clerical roles. When the war ended, they were released from their duties. The same was true during World War II, when an even greater number of women volunteers served in the armed forces. For example these days women serve as permanent, regular members of not only the army but also the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force.
The current trends show that women have achieved liberation as far as women's bodies and sexuality are concerned. In some nations, safe, legal, and free abortion is available on demand for any woman who has reached the age of majority consenting age (in some countries it is sixteen years and others like Uganda it is eighteen years). Contraceptives are widely available, even to young girls, along with effective sex education which is more progressive and honest than that in most other nations.
However, the liberation of female sexuality, allowing young girls as well as boys to experiment sexually without social censure, has resulted in a high rate of pregnancy among girls under the consenting age.
During September 1994 Cairo conference, the United Nation's International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) fundamentally shifted its strategy to reduce world population. Studies indicated that increasing women's education, improving their access to health care and creating opportunities for them in the economic sphere lowered the birth rate. As a result, the ICPD shifted away from establishing target population rates for individual countries and committed itself to raise the health and socio-economic status of women. This indeed has been an achievement as a result of women’s effort to negotiate strategically for their well being.
Further still, women have achieved the battle against gender inequality as most world bodies have since defined gender equality in terms of human rights, especially women's rights, and economic development. For example UNICEF defines gender equality as "levelling the playing field for girls and women by ensuring that all children have equal opportunity to develop their talents."
The United Nations Population Fund has declared that women have a right to equality. "Gender equity" is one of the goals of the United Nations Millennium Project, to end world poverty by 2015. The project claims, "Every single Goal is directly related to women's rights, and societies where women are not afforded equal rights as men can never achieve development in a sustainable manner." Thus, promoting gender equality is seen as an encouragement to greater economic prosperity. For example, nations of the Arab world that deny equality of opportunity to women were warned in a 2008 United Nations-sponsored report that this disempowerment is a critical factor crippling these nations' return to the first rank of global leaders in commerce, learning and culture.
In some Muslim nations like Tunisia, some women's rights activists have already secured two significant achievements that is gender parity in the October 2011 elections for the Constituent Assembly, and the withdrawal of key reservations by the previous government to the international Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Important concerns remain, but these are hopeful signs of positive things to come.
The gender parity electoral law, which requires equal numbers of male and female candidates, was a breakthrough for women's political representation in Tunisia.
In Egypt's January 25th uprising, which led to the downfall of Hosni Mubarak, did not succeed through the efforts of men alone. In fact, women were as instrumental as men in mobilizing people to join the protests to demand an end to Mubarak's rule. For 18 days, women stayed in Cairo's Tahrir Square, vowing to remain there until their demands for justice and democracy were met.
However, after Mubarak was finally ousted, women seemed no longer welcome to participate in the deliberations to map out the country's future, or to continue to press their demands for equality.
CONCLUSION
The world in the past has been ruled by force, and man has dominated over woman by reason of his more forceful and aggressive qualities both of body and mind. But the balance is already shifting; force is losing its dominance, and mental alertness, intuition, and the spiritual qualities of love and service, in which woman is strong, are gaining ascendancy. Hence the new age will be an age less masculine and more permeated with the feminine ideals an age in which the masculine and feminine elements of civilization will be more evenly balanced.
Men have an inescapable duty to promote the equality of women. The presumption of superiority by men thwarts the ambition of women and inhibits the creation of an environment in which equality may reign. The destructive effects of inequality prevent men from maturing and developing the qualities necessary to meet the challenges of the new millennium.
REFERENCES
Freeman, J. (1975): The politics of women's liberation. David McKay N.Y.
Morgan, R. (1979): An Anthology of Writings From the Women's Liberation Movement (N.Y. Random House, 1st ed.
Hooks, B (2000): Feminist theory: from margin to center. Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Rochelle, G.(1987): American Women Since 1945. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.
Culture of Cuba - history, people, clothing, women, beliefs, food, customs, family, social http://www.everyculture.com/Cr-Ga/Cuba.html#ixzz1dMWRijPF/19/11/2011
QUESTION 4
Rape is a weapon of aggression by men against women. Discuss the effects of rape.
The definition of rape varies both in different parts of the world and at different times in history. Rape is defined in many jurisdictions as sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, of one person by another person without the consent of the victim. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The term is most often defined in criminal law. A person who commits an act of rape is known as a rapist.
Sexual violence is one of the most horrific weapons of war, an instrument of terror used against women.
There are various effects and aftermath of rape which include both physical trauma and psychological trauma. However, physical force is not necessarily used in rape, and physical injuries are not always a consequence. Deaths associated with rape are known to occur, though the prevalence of fatalities varies considerably across the world. For rape victims the more common consequences of sexual violence are those related to reproductive health, mental health, and social wellbeing.
The physical and psychological effects of rape perpetrated as a weapon of war are compounded by myriad accompanying traumas. Women subjected to sexual violence in war usually are also suffering the traumas of the death (often violent) of family and friends, exile and dislocation, and the loss of everything familiar to them, from homes and possessions to traditions and routines.
Rape survivors bear numerous physical and psychological scars. Rape is a violent act, and victims may incur broken bones, concussions, and wounds. Women who resist the act may bear signs of self-defense, such as hair torn from the back of their heads and bruising of the arms and chest.
Rape victims also suffer from bruising or tearing of the genitalia, tearing of the perineum and damage to the bladder and rectum. If the perpetrators use foreign objects to penetrate a woman, or if the rape is extremely violent, the woman may experience traumatic fistula. This leads to chronic incontinence of urine and feces, which causes chronic health problems and possibly ostracism from the community.
Rape victims are at risk of contracting HIV/AIDs and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and developing pelvic inflammatory disease, which carries a risk of long-term infertility. A woman who contracts an STI while pregnant is at high risk of miscarriage, spontaneous abortion and death.
Many women who become pregnant as a consequence of rape may attempt to induce abortion of the fetus, often at great risk to their own health. Women who conceive as a result of rape may not seek pre- or ante-natal care, and children they deliver are often neglected, abused, stigmatized, ostracized or even killed.
There are both immediate and long-term psychological consequences of rape in war for a woman, her family and the community. In the immediate aftermath, a victim may suffer from shock, denial, fear and a sense of loss of control over her own life. A woman may manifest the psychological distress in physical symptoms including headaches, chest and pelvic pain. In the longer-term, a woman might suffer from depression, suicidal ideation and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In addition to affecting her relationships with her husband and children, these conditions may render a woman unable to fulfill familial duties including taking care of the household and children or working.
Rape in war frequently entails more than one traumatic occurrence. In many conflicts, women have been captured and held captive for weeks, months or even years as sex slaves, and raped repeatedly. The psychological burdens for these women, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and suicidal ideation and attempts are extreme. The husbands and partners of women raped in war may experience profound shame feeling that the act has brought dishonor to them and the family. He may divorce the woman or begin to act verbally or physically abusive.
Widespread rape has profound consequences at the community level as well, as the violation ruptures social cohesion and entire communities feel vulnerable and traumatized collectively by the sexual violence.
Furthermore pregnancy may result from rape. The rate varies between settings and depends particularly on the extent to which non-barrier contraceptives are being used. A study of adolescents in Ethiopia found that among those who reported being raped, 17% became pregnant after the rape, a figure which is similar to the 15–18% reported by rape crisis centres in Mexico.
A longitudinal study in the United States of over 4000 women followed for 3 years found that the national rape related pregnancy rate was 5.0% per rape among victims aged 12–45 years, producing over 32 000 pregnancies nationally among women from rape each year.
Additionally as an effect of rape, experience of coerced sex at an early age reduces a woman’s ability to see her sexuality as something over which she has control. As a result, it is less likely that an adolescent girl who has been forced into sex will use condoms or other forms of contraception, decreasing the likelihood of her not becoming pregnant.
A study of factors associated with teenage pregnancy in Cape Town, South Africa, found that forced sexual initiation was the third most strongly related factor, after frequency of intercourse and use of modern contraceptives. Forced sex can also result in unintended pregnancy among adult women. In India, a study of married men revealed that men who admitted forcing sex on their wives were 2.6 times more likely to have caused an unintended pregnancy than those who did not admit to such behavior.
More still violent or forced sex can increase the risk of transmitting HIV/AIDS. In forced vaginal penetration, abrasions and cuts commonly occur, thus facilitating the entry of the virus through the vaginal mucosa. Adolescent girls are particularly susceptible to HIV infection through forced sex, and even through unforced sex, because their vaginal mucous membranes have not yet acquired cellular density sufficient to provide an effective barrier that develops in the later teenage years.
It should also be noted that being a victim of sexual violence and being susceptible to HIV share a number of risk behaviors. Forced sex in childhood or adolescence, for instance, increases the likelihood of engaging in unprotected sex, having multiple partners, participating in sex work, and substance abuse.
Self-blame is among the most common of both short- and long-term effects and functions as an avoidance coping skill that inhibits the healing process and can often be remedied by a cognitive therapy technique known as cognitive restructuring (Kopper, 1996).
Childhood and adulthood victims of rape are more likely to attempt or commit suicide. The association remains, even after controlling for sex, age, education, symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and the presence of psychiatric disorders. The experience of being raped can lead to suicidal behavior as early as adolescence as these victims feel embarrassed to talk about what had happened to them. A study of adolescents in Brazil found prior sexual abuse to be a leading factor predicting several health risk behaviours, including suicidal thoughts and attempts.
Finally, rape is especially stigmatizing in cultures with strong customs and taboos regarding sex and sexuality. For example, a rape victim (especially one who was previously a virgin) may be viewed by society as being "damaged." Victims in these cultures may suffer isolation, be disowned by friends and family, be prohibited from marrying, be divorced if already married, or even killed. This phenomenon is known as secondary victimization.
CONCLUSION
Much as rape is a negative act in society, it has been found out that some individuals may endorse rape myths and at the same time recognize the negative effects of rape. A number of gender role stereotypes can play a role in rationalization of rape. In the case of male-on-female rape, these include the idea that power is reserved to men whereas women are meant for sex and objectified, that women want forced sex and to be pushed around and that male sexual impulses and behaviors are uncontrollable and must be satisfied. In the case of female-on-male rape, the victim may either be perceived as weak or, in cultures where men acquire status by sexual conquest, as fortunate.
References
Boyer, D. (1992): "Sexual abuse as a factor in adolescent pregnancy". Family Planning Perspectives
Campbell, JC. (1995): "Health effects of experiences of sexual violence for women with abusive partners". Health Care for Women International
Jagger, C (1998): "A comparative study of women with chronic pelvic pain, chronic nonpelvic pain and those with no history of pain attending general practitioners". British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Mulugeta, E (1998): "Prevalence and outcomes of sexual violence among high school students". Ethiopian Medical Journal
Roosa, M, 2009): "The relationship of childhood sexual abuse to teenage pregnancy". Journal of Marriage and the Family
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape/12/11/2011
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia/rape/17/11/2011
QUESTION 5
Discuss the relationship between Conflicts, Poverty and Gender in the conflict of Sub Saharan Africa.
INTRODUCTION
Africa continues to be the region with the greatest number of conflicts. These internal conflicts pose a serious threat to economic development, especially for the poor African community members hence poverty becomes the order of the day (Galtung, 2009).
Conflict is generally defined as an interaction between interdependent people who perceive incompatible goals and who expect interference from the other party if they attempt to achieve their goal. According Galtung (1996) conflict could be viewed as a triangle with structure, attitudes, and behaviour as its vertices. By structure, it means the conflict situation, the parties, and the conflict of interest among them. Conflict arises where the parties come to have incompatible interests, values or goals.
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity. Sexologist John Money introduced the terminological distinction between biological sex and gender as a role in 1955.
Poverty is a denial of choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity. It means lack of basic capacity to participate effectively in society. It means not having enough to feed and clothe a family, not having a school or clinic to go to, not having the land on which to grow one’s food or a job to earn one’s living, not having access to credit. It means insecurity, powerlessness and exclusion of individuals, households and communities. It means susceptibility to violence, and it often implies living in marginal or fragile environments, without access to clean water or sanitation (Adebajo, 2002).
This assignment explores the relationship between Conflicts, Poverty and Gender in the conflict of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as here below presented;
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) stands out from other developing regions by the sheer number of conflicts and the massive impact on lives and livelihoods. In SSA, as the distinction between criminal and political violence becomes ever more blurred, has armed conflict become the major determinant of poverty.
A report from the Institute of Development Studies argues that war and poverty are in a dynamic and mutually reinforcing relationship. The conventional portrayal of conflict as a deviation from 'normal' life fails to comprehend situations where conflict splutters/re-ignites and is rarely settled by 'peace' agreements. Policy interventions will not promote sustainable peace unless built on subtler analysis of war economies and failing states.
No less than 28 SSA states have been at war since 1980. Increasingly, conflicts are regionally connected. It is a moot point whether in the Great Lakes, East and Central Africa there is a series of interlocking 'national' conflicts or a single zone of conflict in which national armies and non-state armed groups cross frontiers at will as seen here below; .
In Liberia Charles Taylor thrived from war entrepreneurs whose thinking was globally based but acted locally, using violence to exploit marketable natural resources without necessarily controlling the state. The resultant of this is country wide poverty.
It should also be noted that the spread of light weapons and the diversion of resource revenues to fund conflicts are things conflict mongers have cherished for long. This kind of lavish spending has sunk certain nations in poverty.
It has been found out most of these poverty causing acts are mainly done by men there a more nuanced gender understanding is required to understand the role of women in instigating or participating in conflict to address the situation.
Furthermore history has it that conflicts exacerbate inequalities in gender relations that existed in the pre-conflict period. Therefore the relationship between the variables of conflicts, gender and poverty do have an impact. For example armed conflict has a direct impact on gender relations. Analyzing the distinct ways that both women and men are affected by conflict assist us to define solutions to the effects of this which include poverty in society.
In conflict situations, interventions to address poverty must account for the diverse realities of women and men, who may simultaneously play the roles of activists and parents, soldiers and victims. Recognizing and addressing this diversity is vital to establishing more sustainable, gender-equal societies in the aftermath of conflict which is essential to address poverty in such communities.
It should be known that women experience significant disadvantage in the course of armed conflict, but it does not necessarily follow that men are always the perpetrators and therefore the winners, and women the losers. The situation where women are in such a disadvantaged position, leads to poverty since they are mainly the producers of wealth especially in developing nations where agriculture is the base for development.
The inequality that women experience during and after armed conflict in all societies derives from dominant understandings of gender roles. ‘Gender’ refers to the perceptions of appropriate behaviour, appearance and attitude for women and men that arise from social and cultural expectations. In the context of armed conflict, the perception persists of women as wives, mothers and nurturers, whereas men are cast as aggressors and soldiers. Although women and men do often assume these traditional parts, there is a tendency in the mainstream literature to exaggerate the extent to which they play stereotypical gender roles in armed conflict. The reality is that women are also active as soldiers and aggressors, while men may be both victims as well as combatants. Such a thing encourages the condition of poverty persistence in such a setting.
Further more the relationship between gender, conflict and poverty may be seen in terms of how power dynamics between women and men are affected by the distinct types of disadvantage that armed conflict imposes. Existing analyses of conflict and post-conflict resolution are weak in various ways as some ignore women while others take a gender-blind approach or define the role of women in stereotypical ways. Still others look at women without considering gender relations. This in turn encourages poverty to thrive in conflict situations.
Also where the term ‘gender’ appears, its usage often implies that women (and girls) are predominantly ‘victims’ who experience ‘special’ circumstances and have ’special’ needs, while men are depicted as the ‘perpetrators’. But the term ‘gender’ should not be used in such a limited fashion. Rather, it should allow us to understand that women and men function in a variety of roles, stereotypical or otherwise and to examine how changes in these roles affect gender relations in conflict situation hence exacerbates the poverty cycle in society.
In order for social upheaval to lead to more equitable relationships between men and women, it is advisable to first perform a gender analysis. This allows us to identify the nature of existing power relations between men and women in a particular society and to understand how conflict and its aftermath affect these relations. It also highlights the fact that marginalized groups who do not readily conform to female and male stereotypes, such as male pacifists or women in the military, experience conflict in diverse ways.
The destabilization of gender relations that frequently accompanies conflict and its aftermath also opens up potential opportunities. Following the upheaval of a conflict, is a clean slate to start again and ask some fundamental questions about what kind of society people want and how gender relations will function within it. In other words it is a time when social upheaval might open a door to the changes people hope for (Cockburn and Zarkov 2002). The reality is however, that sometimes these changes are not forthcoming. Otherwise once this is not given due attention, then poverty will obviously surface.
Conclusion
Although there are lots of Conflicts in Africa for quite sometime now, the Continent is gradually getting out of the madness called “Conflicts”, Africans themselves through the African Union (AU) which is doing much to check all these Conflicts situations and mediate where possible. Alternative approaches to prevent conflicts should always be sought by African leaders before they engage in senseless conflicts which affect social structures hence exacerbates the poverty levels in the continent. Both men and women have a task of addressing the conflict issues raised in this presentation and solve the rampant poverty affecting African States. The International community also has a role to play for Africa and also check the activities of the multinationals.
References
Adams, M. (1995): 'Conflict and Development: Organisational Adaptation in Conflict situations', Oxfam Discussion Paper No 4, Oxford: Oxfam
Adebajo, A.(2002): Building peace in West Africa: Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea-Bissau, Boulder, USA: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Anderlini, S. N., (2001): Women, Peace and Security: A Policy Audit. From the Beijing Platform for Action to UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and Beyond, London: International Alert.
Anderson, M. (1999), Do No Harm: How Aid Can Support Peace - or War, Boulder: Lynne
Rienner.
Benjamin, JA., (2001): Conflict, Post-conflict, and HIV/AIDS – the Gender Connections: Women, War and HIV/AIDS: West Africa and the Great Lakes, Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children, Presented at the World Bank, International Women’s Day, March
Galtung, J.(1996): Peace by Peaceful means: Peace and Conflict Development and Civilization, London, United Kingdom: SAGE Publications.
Wilkinson, S. (2004): “Which Group Identities Lead to Most Violence? Evidence from India”, Paper prepared for the Yale Conference on Order, Conflict and Violence, Yale University, April 30th – May 1st.
Zartman, W. (1995): Collapsed States: The Disintegration and Restoration of Legitimate Authority, Boulder.
http://www.globalissues.org/print/issue/83/18/11/2011
http://www.globalissues.org/issue/83/conflicts-in-africa/20/11/2011
Structure Inequalities and Institutional injustice may be some of the causes of Conflict on the African continent. Discuss other causes you have studied.
Introduction
Structure inequality is defined as a condition that arises out of attributing an unequal status to a category of people in relation to one or more other categories, a relationship that is perpetuated and reinforced by a confluence of unequal relations in roles, functions, decisions rights, and opportunities.
Institutional injustice refers to injury, wrong, grievance, acts or conditions that cause people to suffer hardship or loss undeservedly. An injustice is a violation of a person's rights, the term can also refer to unfair treatment of another or others. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere" (Martin Luther King, Jr. 1968).
Conflicts refer to disputes, disagreements, quarrels, struggles, fights, and wars between individuals, groups and countries. All over the world, there is no complete agreement as to how wealth, among other issues like power and status among individuals and groups should be shared and how to use it to effect the necessary changes and reforms. Since we all have diverse interests both as groups, nations and individuals, our aims are bound to differ with one another. Conflict s occurs when the deprived group, nation or individuals attempt to increase their share of power and wealth or to modify the dominant values, norms, beliefs or ideology. Gesiye A (2003).
Conflicts arise where the parties come to have incompatible interests, values or goals. ‘Attitudes’ refer to the tendency for the parties to see conflict from their own point of view, to identify with one side, and to diminish the concerns of others and lastly, ‘behaviours’ includes gestures and communications, which can convey either a hostile or a conciliatory intent. Galtung (1996).
There have been over nine (9) million refugees and internally displaced people from conflicts in Africa. Hundreds and thousands of people have been slaughtered from a number of conflicts and civil wars.
The causes of conflicts in Africa are numerous, interconnected and interrelated, ranging from individual or group violations, to structural inequality and injustice. Factors like political corruption, lack of respect for rule of law, human rights violations and so forth do contribute to conflicts on the African continent. Some causes of conflicts in Africa are local while others are the result transformations in the international structure since the end of the cold war. Continuing economic decline and material insecurity are accompanied in many countries in Africa by increase in political instability and conflicts.
Both poverty and conflict are related. Poverty can cause conflict while conflict can lead to poverty based on the state of insecurity and bad governance Draman R (2003). Many communities in Africa most especially the conflict torn areas are suffering from hunger and starvation. Africa as a continent is seen as a poor continent (Rawls 1999)
Conflicts in Africa, as everywhere, are caused by human action, and can be ended by human action. Most of these conflicts has been characterized by extreme brutality for example in Rwanda alone, in 100 days, about a million people were massacred, a scale of killings that is unprecedented in world history. More than 30 wars have been fought in Africa since 1970, and most of these have been internal rather than inter-state wars (Anup Shah 2009). From the above one can infer that most of the Conflicts in Africa are based on internal wrangling, Example of this can be seen from the Ogoni land in Nigeria.
Hunger/famine has been another fundamental cause of conflicts in Africa which mainly caused by successive failed rains.
A famine/hunger is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has experienced a period of famine throughout history. Many countries continue to have extreme cases of famine which in fact cause conflicts in the long run.
A wave of protests has erupted in Africa. A combination of the global financial crisis, rising costs of living, high unemployment especially of educated youth, frustration from decades of living under authoritarian and corrupt regimes, various document leaks revealing more details about how governments around the world are dealing and viewing each other, have all combined in different ways in various countries, leading to a wave of rising anger.
However, despite successive failed rains, the crisis has been criticized as avoidable and man-made. This is because the situation had been predicted many months before by an international early warning system. Both the international community and governments in the region have been accused of doing very little in the lead up to this crisis. In addition, high food prices have forced food out of the reach of many people, while local conflicts exacerbate the situation.
Further electoral frauds have also caused conflicts in some African states. For example following elections in Cote d’Ivoire in October 2010, both President Laurent Gbagbo and opposition candidate, Alassane Ouattara, claimed victory. International observers agreed that the Ouattara had won, but Gbagbo refused to accept this. Negotiations failed and while the world’s attention was elsewhere, the situation became volatile and violent outbursts turned into the country’s second civil war. Forces supporting Ouattara have swept through the country and Gbagbo’s position looks precarious while he remains defiant. This has caused Gbagbo to face international criminal court (ICC) to answer questions against humanity.
More still the conflict in the DR Congo (formerly known as Zaire) has involved seven nations. There have been a number of complex reasons, including conflicts over basic resources such as water, access and control over rich minerals and other resources and various political agendas. This has been fueled and supported by various national and international corporations and other regimes which have an interest in the outcome of the conflict.
Further still, for Niger Delta in Nigeria there have been conflicts by environmentalists, human rights activists and fair trade advocates. The trial and hanging of environmentalist Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight other members of the Ogoni ethnic minority made world-wide attention. So too did the non-violent protests of the Ogoni people. The activities of large oil corporations such as Mobil, Chevron, Shell, Elf, Agip and so on have raised many concerns and criticisms hence ending up in violent conflicts.
Sierra Leone has seen serious and grotesque human rights violations since 1991 when the civil war erupted. According to Human Rights Watch, over 50,000 people have been killed to date, with over one million people having been displaced. There have been numerous factors contributing to problems such as the diamond connection, the gross abuses committed by both rebel and government forces, and the problems of the current peace treaty. This situation has resulted into a serious conflict there.
It should also be noted that 30 years of war and conflict as Eritrea attempted to gain independence, finally resulted in an April 1993 internationally monitored referendum, where 98.5% of the registered voters voted. 99.8% of the votes were for independence, although the borders were not defined clearly. While the two nations seemed to get on fairly well, relations deteriorated into war/conflict a couple of years after Eritrea introduced its own currency in 1997.
Finally, the conflict and subsequent Rwanda genocide has typically been explained as conflict resulting from ancient tribal hatreds, omitting many of the deeper and also modern causes, such as international economic policies, power politics and corruption of the elite and the like which are also common contributing causes of conflict in Africa in particular and elsewhere in the world today (Angaye, 2003).
CONCLUSION
Conflicts in Africa, as everywhere, are caused by human action, and can be solved by human action. Most of these conflicts have been characterized by extreme brutality. The conflicts in Africa could be minimized if there is an element of political will to fight political corruption, respect for rule of law and fight rights violations which are all common reasons for the causes of Africa’s conflicts.
African leaders should be held responsible for lack of progressive stewardships, accountability and bad governance. Democracy should be encouraged all over the continent so that everybody can participate in the government and the country resources properly distributed among all the stakeholders to avoid conflicts.
REFERENCES
Africa World Press Guide: Compiled and Edited by World Views: Conflicts in Africa: Causes and Prospects for Resolutions Retrieved on 11/11/ 2011.
Angaye, G (2003): Causes and Cures of Conflicts in Nigeria, Macmillan Press.
Boulden J (2003): Dealing with Conflicts in Africa: The United Nations and regional Organisation. Palgrave Macmillan Press.
Burton J (1990): Conflict: resolution and Prevention. The Macmillan Press.
Clayborne, C, (1968): The Autobiography of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Hawkins V (2008): Stealth Conflicts: How the World’s Worst Violence Is Ignored. Ashgate Press.
Jeong, H. (1999): Research on Conflict Resolution. Ashgate Publishing Company, England.
Nye J (2000): Understanding International Conflict: An Introduction to Theory and History. (3rd Edition) Longman Publisher.
Rawls, J. (1999): A Theory of Justice, 2nd edition, Oxford University Press.
QUESTION 2
Basing on militarization and gender identities, women face several vulnerabilities, prejudices and reassertions of palmarchy. Discuss
INTRODUCTION
Militarization refers to the process by which a society organizes itself for military conflict and violence. It is related to militarism, which is an ideology that reflects the level of militarization of a state. The process of militarization involves many interrelated aspects that encompass all levels of society.
Gender identity is the way in which an individual self-identifies with a gender category, for example, as being either a man or a woman, or in some cases being neither, which can be distinct from biological sex. Basic gender identity is usually formed by age three and is extremely difficult to change after that.
Prejudice refers to making a judgment or assumption about someone or something before having enough knowledge to be able to do so with guaranteed accuracy, or "judging a book by its cover". The word prejudice is most often used to refer to preconceived judgments toward people or a person because of race, social class, ethnicity, age, disability, obesity, religion, sexual orientation, or other personal characteristics. It also means beliefs without knowledge of the facts and may include "any unreasonable attitude that is unusually resistant to rational influence.
In a militarized society, violence is considered an acceptable way of solving problems in the international sphere and this affects the interpersonal sphere as well. Women are overwhelmingly affected by this violence. One of the basic values of militarism is domination or "power over the other," and through the glorification of the ideal of masculinity, and the belittlement of femininity, women quite obviously become the "other."
It often does not matter if the women are "our" women or "enemy" women, they are still "other" and thus subordinate. Men are socialized to believe that they have an inherent right to control and use women, particularly "their" women (wives and daughters). It is true that in most countries, most forms of violence against women are illegal, but the absence of enforcement of these laws, or the light sentences given to the perpetrators, perpetuates this idea of violence with impunity.
In some cases, the link between militarization and violence against women is explicit. The use of pornography in the military demonstrates the link between misogyny and military preparedness. The showing of pornographic videos to British troops heading to the Falklands and American soldiers before bombing raids during the Gulf War are only two examples.
In many countries there is a high rate of domestic violence in military families. A US Inspector General's report on domestic violence concluded that military service is probably more conducive to violence at home than any other occupation because of the military's authoritarianism, its use of physical force in training and the stress created by frequent moves and separations. Military training encourages men to be aggressive and violent, and then asks them to keep these tendencies in check until they are "needed." It is no surprise that this violence spills over into domestic violence and rape.
Violence against women grows out of the stereotypes/prejudices of masculinity and femininity discussed above and in turn, violence, and the threat of it, enforces these strict gender roles. Often female victims of violence are blamed for an assault, because they had not "behaved appropriately." Being too assertive, too sexually active, or simply in a place not fit for "nice" women can all be given as reasons why a woman "deserved" to be assaulted. This leads women to curtail their activities in order to attempt to ensure their safety.
The use of violence to control rigid perceptions of gender is also evident in "gay-bashing"--assaults on gays and lesbians. Homosexuals are a threat to the tidy categories of gender which serve patriarchal society, and attempts are made to silence them through violence.
Rape is a specific form of violence which is closely linked to masculine attitudes about women. It is not an aggressive expression of sexuality, but a sexual expression of aggression, and as such it is another symptom of a social order which accepts and rewards violence. It is a violent means of perpetuating women's subservient position in society, and it is excused by a militaristic culture which expects men to get what they want through intimidation and violence.
Further more, a more direct way in which the military affects women in "peacetime" is the presence of permanent military bases. Women in southeast Asia have held foreign military bases responsible for creating or exacerbating the conditions which promote prostitution. The influx of (in some cases) several thousand men with large amounts of money to exchange for sex, combined with the presence of local men willing to make money exploiting women and the poverty of local communities has contributed to a large sex industry.
More still, the military needs to marginalize women in order to reassert its masculine identity, and one of the ways to accomplish this is to assert that all women are only useful to serve men's sexual needs. Cynthia Enloe argues that the military's preoccupation has been with satisfying men's perceived sexual needs without losing military efficiency and "readiness." This has often involved a tacit policy of running brothels to ensure a steady supply of women and to attempt to control the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. The military of different countries have different policies regarding prostitution and these depend on the imagined racial or cultural gap between the local population and the military, the level of local hostility, and the level of economic hardship and social displacement in the local community.
In addition, A very contested area of debate about women and militarization is the role of women in the military. While feminists seeking equality with men are opposed to any occupational field being closed to them on the basis of their sex, the goal of having more women in the military is not without its problems. Greater participation in the military as an appropriate means achieving women's liberation must be questioned. To see it as such reinforces its centrality and to integrate women into the military only increases the militarization of society. The military itself uses the argument of promoting women's equality in its recruitment information however, an institution built on masculine ideals such as aggression can hardly be expected to play a sincere part in women's emancipation.
Despite the military's promises of equality and challenging non-traditional careers, women who join are concentrated in clerical and other service jobs which reflect the job ghettos of civilian women. Although women in the military are challenging gender roles by becoming soldiers, they are still judged by them. Military women are labelled either lesbians or prostitutes and are sexually harassed and slandered by their male colleagues. Although most militaries routinely purge homosexuals and lesbians from their ranks, women are much more likely to be targeted and discharged for this reason. This widespread sexual harassment (which affects women in armed forces all over the world) bolsters male egos which have been threatened by female competition and invasion of their previously male-only domain.
The exclusion of women from combat (which must constantly be redefined in an era of nuclear and high tech combat) is essential to preserving the masculine identity of the military and to justifying the continued male dominant position in the social order.
The situation of women who take up arms in situations of armed liberation struggles is often perceived to be different from that of women in the "peace time" military. However, the same ambivalence about women's participation exists in liberation armies. The men need the women, but they do not want to lose their masculine dominance. During the struggle, women's participation in actual combat positions is manipulated by the leadership to exhibit the justness of the cause being fought and the commitment of the population, as well as to exhort men to join a fight for which "even" women are willing to take up arms.
Finally, along with the violence of bombs and bullets, it is not surprising that personal violence against women increases substantially during war. The focus of war is the destruction of the "other," the ideologically, ethnically or sexually different. In armed conflict, it is not only "enemy" women who are targets of violence, often in the form of rape.
CONCLUSION
War and militarization may be "men's business," but women are undeniably affected by it, whether as prostitutes outside a military base, victims of a bombing attack, or mothers whose welfare cheques are getting smaller because of budget cuts. Traditional discussions of militarism and war deny women's specific experiences and reinforce existing power dynamics. A gender analysis of militarism shows that women are greatly affected by militarization and have every right to make opposition to it. Furthermore, as a gender analysis examines the very strong links between militarization and patriarchy it enables women to name their specific oppression and to make the connections between interrelated institutional forms of oppression.
Addressing the links between militarization and patriarchy is important for women peace activists and feminists to achieve their aims. Historically, women have been asked again and again to put off their own demands while "more pressing" problems in society are addressed. By making the condition of women a key part of the explanation of and opposition to militarism, women's oppression remains a central peace issue. For feminists, it is unwise to ignore an institution as large and influential as the military, when working against patriarchy. Women peace activists and feminists have common goals, and should educate people to see the links between institutional and personal violence and oppression. As long as the institutions of patriarchy and militarism are dominant in our societies, there will be no peace or justice.
References
Berit, A.(1983): "A Materialist View of Men's and Women's Attitudes Towards War,"Women's Studies International Forum, Vol 5 , No 3.
Bond, B.(1986): War and Society in Europe, 1870-1970. McGill-Queen's University Press.
Enloe, C.(1998): "Beyond 'Rambo': Women and the Varieties of Militarized Masculinity," in Women and the Military System, ed. Eva Isaksson, London: Harvester.
Gibson, J(1994): William Warrior Dreams: Paramilitary Culture in Post-Vietnam America Hill & Wang.
MacGregor, (1989): Integration of the Armed Forces, 1940-1965 U.S. Govt. Print Office.
Ute, F(2004): A Nation in Barracks: Modern Germany, Military Conscription and Civil Society.
QUESTION 3
Women have joined liberation movements. In Nicaragua, women hold positions of commanders and even full battalions, demonstrating greater gender, social justice and equality. Discuss the achievements of women that you know.
INTRODUCTION
World wide, women have fought for their rights, worked hard to be treated equally and made great strides in fields like science, politics, sports, literature and art. These are just a few of the remarkable accomplishments that historians not to mention people across the world celebrate.
The feminist movement also known as the Women's Movement, Women's Liberation refers to a series of campaigns for reforms on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women's suffrage, sexual harassment and sexual violence. The movement's priorities vary among nations and communities and range from opposition to female genital mutilation in one country or to the glass ceiling in another.
The movement began in the western world in the late 18th century and has gone through three waves:
The first wave was oriented around the station of middle or upper-class white women, and involved suffrage and political equality.
Second-wave feminism attempted to further combat social and cultural inequalities.
Third-wave feminism (1980-1990) which includes renewed campaigning for women’s greater influence in politics.
On Election Days women have exercised their right to vote in many nations save for few countries remaining in the Arab world. This took women activists and reformers many years to win that right, and the campaign was not easy. For example disagreements over this strategy threatened to cripple the movement of women many times but it was on August 26, 1920, the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was finally ratified, enfranchising all American women and declaring for the first time that they, like men, deserve all the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.
Further more women have achieved formal legal equality as men. Formal equality assumes that equality is achieved if the law treats all persons alike. However, when individuals or groups are not identically situated (for example a black woman versus a white man), the formal equality model tends to perpetuate discrimination and inequality, because it cannot address real inequality in circumstances.
In fact, by treating different individuals as equals despite unequal access to power and resources, formal equality creates an illusion of equality while allowing real economic, legal, political and social disparities to grow.
Additionally, married women have achieved the battle of being capable of holding property and of contracting as female soles. Here women have are given powers of acquiring, holding, and disposing by will or otherwise, of any real or personal property as her separate property, in the same manner as if she were a female sole, without the intervention of any trustee.
Women have also achieved in the field of military careers whereby they are now permitted to serve as full members of the armed forces.
It should be remembered that during World War I many women had enlisted as volunteers in the military services and they usually served in clerical roles. When the war ended, they were released from their duties. The same was true during World War II, when an even greater number of women volunteers served in the armed forces. For example these days women serve as permanent, regular members of not only the army but also the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force.
The current trends show that women have achieved liberation as far as women's bodies and sexuality are concerned. In some nations, safe, legal, and free abortion is available on demand for any woman who has reached the age of majority consenting age (in some countries it is sixteen years and others like Uganda it is eighteen years). Contraceptives are widely available, even to young girls, along with effective sex education which is more progressive and honest than that in most other nations.
However, the liberation of female sexuality, allowing young girls as well as boys to experiment sexually without social censure, has resulted in a high rate of pregnancy among girls under the consenting age.
During September 1994 Cairo conference, the United Nation's International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) fundamentally shifted its strategy to reduce world population. Studies indicated that increasing women's education, improving their access to health care and creating opportunities for them in the economic sphere lowered the birth rate. As a result, the ICPD shifted away from establishing target population rates for individual countries and committed itself to raise the health and socio-economic status of women. This indeed has been an achievement as a result of women’s effort to negotiate strategically for their well being.
Further still, women have achieved the battle against gender inequality as most world bodies have since defined gender equality in terms of human rights, especially women's rights, and economic development. For example UNICEF defines gender equality as "levelling the playing field for girls and women by ensuring that all children have equal opportunity to develop their talents."
The United Nations Population Fund has declared that women have a right to equality. "Gender equity" is one of the goals of the United Nations Millennium Project, to end world poverty by 2015. The project claims, "Every single Goal is directly related to women's rights, and societies where women are not afforded equal rights as men can never achieve development in a sustainable manner." Thus, promoting gender equality is seen as an encouragement to greater economic prosperity. For example, nations of the Arab world that deny equality of opportunity to women were warned in a 2008 United Nations-sponsored report that this disempowerment is a critical factor crippling these nations' return to the first rank of global leaders in commerce, learning and culture.
In some Muslim nations like Tunisia, some women's rights activists have already secured two significant achievements that is gender parity in the October 2011 elections for the Constituent Assembly, and the withdrawal of key reservations by the previous government to the international Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Important concerns remain, but these are hopeful signs of positive things to come.
The gender parity electoral law, which requires equal numbers of male and female candidates, was a breakthrough for women's political representation in Tunisia.
In Egypt's January 25th uprising, which led to the downfall of Hosni Mubarak, did not succeed through the efforts of men alone. In fact, women were as instrumental as men in mobilizing people to join the protests to demand an end to Mubarak's rule. For 18 days, women stayed in Cairo's Tahrir Square, vowing to remain there until their demands for justice and democracy were met.
However, after Mubarak was finally ousted, women seemed no longer welcome to participate in the deliberations to map out the country's future, or to continue to press their demands for equality.
CONCLUSION
The world in the past has been ruled by force, and man has dominated over woman by reason of his more forceful and aggressive qualities both of body and mind. But the balance is already shifting; force is losing its dominance, and mental alertness, intuition, and the spiritual qualities of love and service, in which woman is strong, are gaining ascendancy. Hence the new age will be an age less masculine and more permeated with the feminine ideals an age in which the masculine and feminine elements of civilization will be more evenly balanced.
Men have an inescapable duty to promote the equality of women. The presumption of superiority by men thwarts the ambition of women and inhibits the creation of an environment in which equality may reign. The destructive effects of inequality prevent men from maturing and developing the qualities necessary to meet the challenges of the new millennium.
REFERENCES
Freeman, J. (1975): The politics of women's liberation. David McKay N.Y.
Morgan, R. (1979): An Anthology of Writings From the Women's Liberation Movement (N.Y. Random House, 1st ed.
Hooks, B (2000): Feminist theory: from margin to center. Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Rochelle, G.(1987): American Women Since 1945. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi.
Culture of Cuba - history, people, clothing, women, beliefs, food, customs, family, social http://www.everyculture.com/Cr-Ga/Cuba.html#ixzz1dMWRijPF/19/11/2011
QUESTION 4
Rape is a weapon of aggression by men against women. Discuss the effects of rape.
The definition of rape varies both in different parts of the world and at different times in history. Rape is defined in many jurisdictions as sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, of one person by another person without the consent of the victim. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The term is most often defined in criminal law. A person who commits an act of rape is known as a rapist.
Sexual violence is one of the most horrific weapons of war, an instrument of terror used against women.
There are various effects and aftermath of rape which include both physical trauma and psychological trauma. However, physical force is not necessarily used in rape, and physical injuries are not always a consequence. Deaths associated with rape are known to occur, though the prevalence of fatalities varies considerably across the world. For rape victims the more common consequences of sexual violence are those related to reproductive health, mental health, and social wellbeing.
The physical and psychological effects of rape perpetrated as a weapon of war are compounded by myriad accompanying traumas. Women subjected to sexual violence in war usually are also suffering the traumas of the death (often violent) of family and friends, exile and dislocation, and the loss of everything familiar to them, from homes and possessions to traditions and routines.
Rape survivors bear numerous physical and psychological scars. Rape is a violent act, and victims may incur broken bones, concussions, and wounds. Women who resist the act may bear signs of self-defense, such as hair torn from the back of their heads and bruising of the arms and chest.
Rape victims also suffer from bruising or tearing of the genitalia, tearing of the perineum and damage to the bladder and rectum. If the perpetrators use foreign objects to penetrate a woman, or if the rape is extremely violent, the woman may experience traumatic fistula. This leads to chronic incontinence of urine and feces, which causes chronic health problems and possibly ostracism from the community.
Rape victims are at risk of contracting HIV/AIDs and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and developing pelvic inflammatory disease, which carries a risk of long-term infertility. A woman who contracts an STI while pregnant is at high risk of miscarriage, spontaneous abortion and death.
Many women who become pregnant as a consequence of rape may attempt to induce abortion of the fetus, often at great risk to their own health. Women who conceive as a result of rape may not seek pre- or ante-natal care, and children they deliver are often neglected, abused, stigmatized, ostracized or even killed.
There are both immediate and long-term psychological consequences of rape in war for a woman, her family and the community. In the immediate aftermath, a victim may suffer from shock, denial, fear and a sense of loss of control over her own life. A woman may manifest the psychological distress in physical symptoms including headaches, chest and pelvic pain. In the longer-term, a woman might suffer from depression, suicidal ideation and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In addition to affecting her relationships with her husband and children, these conditions may render a woman unable to fulfill familial duties including taking care of the household and children or working.
Rape in war frequently entails more than one traumatic occurrence. In many conflicts, women have been captured and held captive for weeks, months or even years as sex slaves, and raped repeatedly. The psychological burdens for these women, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and suicidal ideation and attempts are extreme. The husbands and partners of women raped in war may experience profound shame feeling that the act has brought dishonor to them and the family. He may divorce the woman or begin to act verbally or physically abusive.
Widespread rape has profound consequences at the community level as well, as the violation ruptures social cohesion and entire communities feel vulnerable and traumatized collectively by the sexual violence.
Furthermore pregnancy may result from rape. The rate varies between settings and depends particularly on the extent to which non-barrier contraceptives are being used. A study of adolescents in Ethiopia found that among those who reported being raped, 17% became pregnant after the rape, a figure which is similar to the 15–18% reported by rape crisis centres in Mexico.
A longitudinal study in the United States of over 4000 women followed for 3 years found that the national rape related pregnancy rate was 5.0% per rape among victims aged 12–45 years, producing over 32 000 pregnancies nationally among women from rape each year.
Additionally as an effect of rape, experience of coerced sex at an early age reduces a woman’s ability to see her sexuality as something over which she has control. As a result, it is less likely that an adolescent girl who has been forced into sex will use condoms or other forms of contraception, decreasing the likelihood of her not becoming pregnant.
A study of factors associated with teenage pregnancy in Cape Town, South Africa, found that forced sexual initiation was the third most strongly related factor, after frequency of intercourse and use of modern contraceptives. Forced sex can also result in unintended pregnancy among adult women. In India, a study of married men revealed that men who admitted forcing sex on their wives were 2.6 times more likely to have caused an unintended pregnancy than those who did not admit to such behavior.
More still violent or forced sex can increase the risk of transmitting HIV/AIDS. In forced vaginal penetration, abrasions and cuts commonly occur, thus facilitating the entry of the virus through the vaginal mucosa. Adolescent girls are particularly susceptible to HIV infection through forced sex, and even through unforced sex, because their vaginal mucous membranes have not yet acquired cellular density sufficient to provide an effective barrier that develops in the later teenage years.
It should also be noted that being a victim of sexual violence and being susceptible to HIV share a number of risk behaviors. Forced sex in childhood or adolescence, for instance, increases the likelihood of engaging in unprotected sex, having multiple partners, participating in sex work, and substance abuse.
Self-blame is among the most common of both short- and long-term effects and functions as an avoidance coping skill that inhibits the healing process and can often be remedied by a cognitive therapy technique known as cognitive restructuring (Kopper, 1996).
Childhood and adulthood victims of rape are more likely to attempt or commit suicide. The association remains, even after controlling for sex, age, education, symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and the presence of psychiatric disorders. The experience of being raped can lead to suicidal behavior as early as adolescence as these victims feel embarrassed to talk about what had happened to them. A study of adolescents in Brazil found prior sexual abuse to be a leading factor predicting several health risk behaviours, including suicidal thoughts and attempts.
Finally, rape is especially stigmatizing in cultures with strong customs and taboos regarding sex and sexuality. For example, a rape victim (especially one who was previously a virgin) may be viewed by society as being "damaged." Victims in these cultures may suffer isolation, be disowned by friends and family, be prohibited from marrying, be divorced if already married, or even killed. This phenomenon is known as secondary victimization.
CONCLUSION
Much as rape is a negative act in society, it has been found out that some individuals may endorse rape myths and at the same time recognize the negative effects of rape. A number of gender role stereotypes can play a role in rationalization of rape. In the case of male-on-female rape, these include the idea that power is reserved to men whereas women are meant for sex and objectified, that women want forced sex and to be pushed around and that male sexual impulses and behaviors are uncontrollable and must be satisfied. In the case of female-on-male rape, the victim may either be perceived as weak or, in cultures where men acquire status by sexual conquest, as fortunate.
References
Boyer, D. (1992): "Sexual abuse as a factor in adolescent pregnancy". Family Planning Perspectives
Campbell, JC. (1995): "Health effects of experiences of sexual violence for women with abusive partners". Health Care for Women International
Jagger, C (1998): "A comparative study of women with chronic pelvic pain, chronic nonpelvic pain and those with no history of pain attending general practitioners". British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Mulugeta, E (1998): "Prevalence and outcomes of sexual violence among high school students". Ethiopian Medical Journal
Roosa, M, 2009): "The relationship of childhood sexual abuse to teenage pregnancy". Journal of Marriage and the Family
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape/12/11/2011
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia/rape/17/11/2011
QUESTION 5
Discuss the relationship between Conflicts, Poverty and Gender in the conflict of Sub Saharan Africa.
INTRODUCTION
Africa continues to be the region with the greatest number of conflicts. These internal conflicts pose a serious threat to economic development, especially for the poor African community members hence poverty becomes the order of the day (Galtung, 2009).
Conflict is generally defined as an interaction between interdependent people who perceive incompatible goals and who expect interference from the other party if they attempt to achieve their goal. According Galtung (1996) conflict could be viewed as a triangle with structure, attitudes, and behaviour as its vertices. By structure, it means the conflict situation, the parties, and the conflict of interest among them. Conflict arises where the parties come to have incompatible interests, values or goals.
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity. Sexologist John Money introduced the terminological distinction between biological sex and gender as a role in 1955.
Poverty is a denial of choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity. It means lack of basic capacity to participate effectively in society. It means not having enough to feed and clothe a family, not having a school or clinic to go to, not having the land on which to grow one’s food or a job to earn one’s living, not having access to credit. It means insecurity, powerlessness and exclusion of individuals, households and communities. It means susceptibility to violence, and it often implies living in marginal or fragile environments, without access to clean water or sanitation (Adebajo, 2002).
This assignment explores the relationship between Conflicts, Poverty and Gender in the conflict of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) as here below presented;
Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) stands out from other developing regions by the sheer number of conflicts and the massive impact on lives and livelihoods. In SSA, as the distinction between criminal and political violence becomes ever more blurred, has armed conflict become the major determinant of poverty.
A report from the Institute of Development Studies argues that war and poverty are in a dynamic and mutually reinforcing relationship. The conventional portrayal of conflict as a deviation from 'normal' life fails to comprehend situations where conflict splutters/re-ignites and is rarely settled by 'peace' agreements. Policy interventions will not promote sustainable peace unless built on subtler analysis of war economies and failing states.
No less than 28 SSA states have been at war since 1980. Increasingly, conflicts are regionally connected. It is a moot point whether in the Great Lakes, East and Central Africa there is a series of interlocking 'national' conflicts or a single zone of conflict in which national armies and non-state armed groups cross frontiers at will as seen here below; .
In Liberia Charles Taylor thrived from war entrepreneurs whose thinking was globally based but acted locally, using violence to exploit marketable natural resources without necessarily controlling the state. The resultant of this is country wide poverty.
It should also be noted that the spread of light weapons and the diversion of resource revenues to fund conflicts are things conflict mongers have cherished for long. This kind of lavish spending has sunk certain nations in poverty.
It has been found out most of these poverty causing acts are mainly done by men there a more nuanced gender understanding is required to understand the role of women in instigating or participating in conflict to address the situation.
Furthermore history has it that conflicts exacerbate inequalities in gender relations that existed in the pre-conflict period. Therefore the relationship between the variables of conflicts, gender and poverty do have an impact. For example armed conflict has a direct impact on gender relations. Analyzing the distinct ways that both women and men are affected by conflict assist us to define solutions to the effects of this which include poverty in society.
In conflict situations, interventions to address poverty must account for the diverse realities of women and men, who may simultaneously play the roles of activists and parents, soldiers and victims. Recognizing and addressing this diversity is vital to establishing more sustainable, gender-equal societies in the aftermath of conflict which is essential to address poverty in such communities.
It should be known that women experience significant disadvantage in the course of armed conflict, but it does not necessarily follow that men are always the perpetrators and therefore the winners, and women the losers. The situation where women are in such a disadvantaged position, leads to poverty since they are mainly the producers of wealth especially in developing nations where agriculture is the base for development.
The inequality that women experience during and after armed conflict in all societies derives from dominant understandings of gender roles. ‘Gender’ refers to the perceptions of appropriate behaviour, appearance and attitude for women and men that arise from social and cultural expectations. In the context of armed conflict, the perception persists of women as wives, mothers and nurturers, whereas men are cast as aggressors and soldiers. Although women and men do often assume these traditional parts, there is a tendency in the mainstream literature to exaggerate the extent to which they play stereotypical gender roles in armed conflict. The reality is that women are also active as soldiers and aggressors, while men may be both victims as well as combatants. Such a thing encourages the condition of poverty persistence in such a setting.
Further more the relationship between gender, conflict and poverty may be seen in terms of how power dynamics between women and men are affected by the distinct types of disadvantage that armed conflict imposes. Existing analyses of conflict and post-conflict resolution are weak in various ways as some ignore women while others take a gender-blind approach or define the role of women in stereotypical ways. Still others look at women without considering gender relations. This in turn encourages poverty to thrive in conflict situations.
Also where the term ‘gender’ appears, its usage often implies that women (and girls) are predominantly ‘victims’ who experience ‘special’ circumstances and have ’special’ needs, while men are depicted as the ‘perpetrators’. But the term ‘gender’ should not be used in such a limited fashion. Rather, it should allow us to understand that women and men function in a variety of roles, stereotypical or otherwise and to examine how changes in these roles affect gender relations in conflict situation hence exacerbates the poverty cycle in society.
In order for social upheaval to lead to more equitable relationships between men and women, it is advisable to first perform a gender analysis. This allows us to identify the nature of existing power relations between men and women in a particular society and to understand how conflict and its aftermath affect these relations. It also highlights the fact that marginalized groups who do not readily conform to female and male stereotypes, such as male pacifists or women in the military, experience conflict in diverse ways.
The destabilization of gender relations that frequently accompanies conflict and its aftermath also opens up potential opportunities. Following the upheaval of a conflict, is a clean slate to start again and ask some fundamental questions about what kind of society people want and how gender relations will function within it. In other words it is a time when social upheaval might open a door to the changes people hope for (Cockburn and Zarkov 2002). The reality is however, that sometimes these changes are not forthcoming. Otherwise once this is not given due attention, then poverty will obviously surface.
Conclusion
Although there are lots of Conflicts in Africa for quite sometime now, the Continent is gradually getting out of the madness called “Conflicts”, Africans themselves through the African Union (AU) which is doing much to check all these Conflicts situations and mediate where possible. Alternative approaches to prevent conflicts should always be sought by African leaders before they engage in senseless conflicts which affect social structures hence exacerbates the poverty levels in the continent. Both men and women have a task of addressing the conflict issues raised in this presentation and solve the rampant poverty affecting African States. The International community also has a role to play for Africa and also check the activities of the multinationals.
References
Adams, M. (1995): 'Conflict and Development: Organisational Adaptation in Conflict situations', Oxfam Discussion Paper No 4, Oxford: Oxfam
Adebajo, A.(2002): Building peace in West Africa: Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea-Bissau, Boulder, USA: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Anderlini, S. N., (2001): Women, Peace and Security: A Policy Audit. From the Beijing Platform for Action to UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and Beyond, London: International Alert.
Anderson, M. (1999), Do No Harm: How Aid Can Support Peace - or War, Boulder: Lynne
Rienner.
Benjamin, JA., (2001): Conflict, Post-conflict, and HIV/AIDS – the Gender Connections: Women, War and HIV/AIDS: West Africa and the Great Lakes, Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children, Presented at the World Bank, International Women’s Day, March
Galtung, J.(1996): Peace by Peaceful means: Peace and Conflict Development and Civilization, London, United Kingdom: SAGE Publications.
Wilkinson, S. (2004): “Which Group Identities Lead to Most Violence? Evidence from India”, Paper prepared for the Yale Conference on Order, Conflict and Violence, Yale University, April 30th – May 1st.
Zartman, W. (1995): Collapsed States: The Disintegration and Restoration of Legitimate Authority, Boulder.
http://www.globalissues.org/print/issue/83/18/11/2011
http://www.globalissues.org/issue/83/conflicts-in-africa/20/11/2011
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