Women, gender, and conflict: making the connections

Abstract

This review essay explores the need to make the roles of women and of men visible in order to understand the different ways in which they are involved in, and affected by, armed conflict; and also to examine the ways in which gender roles, the relations between women and men, are changed during and as a result of such conflict. The author reviews current literature on the political economy of conflict, and feminist writing on women in conflict, noting that the former tends to be gender-blind, while the latter generally fails to take into account an understanding of the wider Realpolitik. The author focuses on five recent feminist works that have attempted to do this, and hence contributed to moving the debate forward.

Notes

1. Andrew Natsios, the Director of USAID, gave a good illustration of coherence in May 2003, when he told the US aid agencies that their aims in Iraq were part of US government goals.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Martha Thompson

Martha Thompson is a social scientist and community health professional with over 25 years' experience in international development. As programme manager for human rights in emergencies and disasters at the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC), a non-sectarian organisation that promotes human rights and social justice worldwide, her recent focus has been on post-tsunami work, particularly in Aceh and Sri Lanka. She also lectures at Brandeis University and at the Feinstein International Famine Center at Tufts University. She has extensive experience of working in situations of prolonged armed conflict, having worked in Central America for various international and local NGOs from 1981 to 1995, after which she became Oxfam Canada's representative for Cuba and the Eastern Caribbean, based in Havana.