Archives

Throughout history, women have suffered inordinately from war and violence. Since the end of the cold war, the shape of conflict has shifted to 'civil' or internal struggles which are often complex and seem never-ending. Two new ILO reports examine the changed nature of conflict and its impact on women; both conclude that women continue to pay a heavy price in today's trouble spots

Women and conflict

For women, war and conflict carry a special terror.

Destruction, upheaval, injury and death are not all they must fear. Rape, torture, physical and sexual abuse, sexual or economic slavery and forced liaisons or marriages are often their fate. Loss of family, husbands, partners, professions and incomes is their curse.

During the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 women and girls - some as young as five - were subjected to torture, physical abuse and rape, says a report by Women for Women International.

"In addition to the emotional and physical trauma caused by the rapes, many women gave birth to the children of their rapists (an estimated 5,000 pregnancies were attributed to sexual assaults)," the report says. "Many women also suffer from gynaecological problems and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as AIDS."

In some cases, the impact of war and conflict on women and girls is more subtle - yet equally damaging. Fear and uncertainty, brought on by the sound of distant gunfire drawing nearer is referred to in the diaries of Zlata Filipovic, published in 1994. Entry for Sunday 5 April 1992, in Sarajevo: "I'm trying to do my homework (reading), but I simply can't. Something is going on in town. You can hear gunfire from the hills... You can simply feel that something is coming, something very bad."

Caught up in the power-play of nations and factions, women often feel powerless as their worlds begin to crumble. Yet a consistent theme in women's writing or speaking about conflict and war, is the fight against being passive victims. Defying events or new masters, women struggle to survive. Says one woman, Rosalie, a Burundian refugee in Tanzania "War has changed our life, not our spirit."

Bloody wars, new wars

The brutality of war and how people cope emerges as a predominant theme in a new ILO report on gender and armed conflict. Prepared for the InFocus Programme on Crisis Response and Reconstruction, and covering armed conflicts in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Middle east, the report highlights some of the complex survival strategies adopted by women in the face of terrible upheaval.

The report paints a grim picture of the 'statistics of war'. Mozambique's 22-year was cost one million lives and left the country destitute. Guatemala's 35-year conflict saw over 400 villages completely destroyed, and a third of the population thrown into extreme poverty. The Bosnian war created two million displaced persons, and divided the country along ethnic lines.

The Lebanese conflict saw family and social networks disrupted and one-third of the population surviving below the absolute poverty line.

According to the ILO report, the nebulous nature of such conflicts has extended the reach of violence. Unlike earlier wars involving set-piece battles between armies, many modern conflicts engulf not only entire countries or communities, but have reached a new level of brutality against non-combatants.

Increasingly, modern conflict involves violence directed specifically against women. An estimated 20,000 to 50,000 women are believed to have been raped is Bosnia alone, with the attacks sometimes used to terrorise communities and assault ethnic identity. Sexual slavery is said to have been common in Mozambique, with women also subjected to beatings and torture.

Furthermore, changes in the technology of warfare have further exposed non-combatants and civilian populations to danger, through the use of such weapons as anti-personnel land mines, poison gas, scatter bombs, chemical defoliants and light ammunition. In today's wars, the front line is rarely a line at all.

One of the most significant effects of war and conflict is the decline in the male population as a result of death, flight and labour migration. As a result, more and households are headed by women, often in extremely difficult circumstances. The report found that female-headed households constituted a large proportion of those living in extreme poverty, generally as a result of the loss of financial support and male labour.

In addition, social norms may provide further obstacles for women left running family groups. In Mozambique, for instance, access to land is negotiated through men, either through husbands or, in matrilineal communities, through maternal uncles. In Bosnia, it was noted that rebuilding houses is difficult for women because the practice of house construction is seen as a social ritual, one undertaken through reciprocal arrangements between the men in a village.

The uses of adversity

As well as the rise in the number of female-headed households, the conflicts were found to have greatly increased household sizes, which expanded to absorb additional family members who had been displaced, or to take in abandoned or orphaned children. In Lebanon, for example, displaced households were larger than those of non-displaced. The war in Mozambique produced an estimated 200,000 orphans, many of whom were taken in by substitute families.

For women looking after a large family group, marriage was sometimes seen as a means to economic and physical security. Yet, the fall in the number of adult males made this increasingly difficult. For those with many dependents, finding a suitor becomes more difficult. In addition, in Guatemala, Mozambique and Lebanon, unmarried women were found to suffer from significant social stigma.

In order to survive and provide for their dependents, many women undertake new activities, or learn new trades which are often considered 'men's work'. Yet, according to the report, the movement of women into occupations traditionally viewed as male is not necessarily sustained in the long term. Eritrean women who fought in the war against Ethiopia observed that, while they were treated equally with men during the war, once the conflict ended they had to return to traditional roles and a patriarchal society. The report notes that while fluidity in gender roles and responsibility was accepted during the Bosnian war, afterwards there was an emphasis on returning to the pre-war gender roles, with a particular stress on women's obligations in the home. The report calls for better consideration of how the "advantages of adversity" can be retained in the subsequent peace.

It also cautions against the practice of targeting aid to quite generally defined "vulnerable" or "war affected" groups, such as "Women" or "female-headed households". According to the study, the experience in Mozambique suggests that such broad categories hide huge variations and are not always reliable indicators of poverty or vulnerability. In Guatemala, the targeting of assistance exclusively to returnees is said to have often exacerbated tensions with other impoverished rural populations.

According to the report, just as there is not one unitary "women's experience" during conflict, so too, reconstruction strategies need to be responsive to the particulars of different groups, and need to also involve women from a range of backgrounds.

Afghan realities

In Afghanistan, a new ILO study describes the impact on Afghan women of various regimes which rules the country before and since the invasion and occupation by the former Soviet Union, which began in 1979, noting, "It is clear that the abuse of women's human rights in Afghanistan is part of a much larger landscape that has been shaped by 23 years of conflict."

One of the key conclusions is that contrary to stereotypes, Afghan women were not "passive or powerless 'victims'", and that they perceive themselves as "wielding considerable power, particularly within the family and in brokering peace or mobilisation/demobilisation, for fighting: "Inadequate recognition of these roles by the assistance community has led to missed opportunities for furthering peace recovery," the report says. "Women see themselves first and foremost within the framework of the family and this is reflected in their preferring coping mechanisms in times of hardship. Consequently, there is a need for agencies to focus on the family as the building block for a peaceful and prosperous Afghan society, whilst ensuring a safety net exists for the most vulnerable."

The report notes that as a result of "widowhood and displacement, more households are now headed by women, whilst the absence of men for long periods to fight led to women taking on new areas of responsibility. In addition, exposure to refugee camp health care facilities and to education and vocational skills training (for some) has changed attitudes and aspirations."

One tragedy, two voices

As the heavy artillery ravaged Sarajevo, Zlata's mother began to slip into a state of gloom and despair. Yet, Zlata herself tried to hold on to aspects of "normality", playing the piano - attempting Bach and Chopin - even while the sound of machine guns could be heard from the hills. Many of her friends and their families had earlier decided to flee. In Afghanistan, young Latifa, 16, saw others depart as well; both her brothers left Afghanistan, as did her friend Anita, who went away in search of her father. Latifa herself is currently living in exile in Paris. Yet she does not dream of staying in the relative luxury of France. Instead, like many women who left their homes in the face of armed conflict, she wants to go back.

She will return when "I can be a free woman in a free country... and take up my duties as a citizen, a woman - and I hope, one day, as a mother".

- World of Work (ILO)

News | Business | Features | Editorial | Security
Politics | World | Letters | Sports | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House
Copyright 2001 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.
Comments and suggestions to :Web Manager