Shifting gender roles: an analysis of violence against women in post-conflict Uganda

ABSTRACT

Based on findings from a qualitative study in northern Uganda, this article explores factors leading to gender-based violence (GBV) in the post-conflict African context. The crisis of masculinity becomes crucial to understanding women's vulnerability to GBV. This crisis stems from the trauma of losing one's internal resources – socially constructed identity role and purpose, and one's external resources – wealth and productive assets. We find that armed conflict replaces the positive male identity as household head with a destructive model of masculinity. It is the interaction between negative masculinities and extreme poverty that characterises the prevalence of GBV in such conditions.

Sur la base des conclusions d’une étude qualitative menée dans le nord de l’Ouganda, cet article examine les facteurs aboutissant à la violence sexiste dans le contexte africain post-conflit. La crise de la masculinité devient cruciale au moment de comprendre la vulnérabilité des femmes faces à la violence sexiste. Cette crise découle du traumatisme qu’entraîne pour une personne la perte de ses propres ressources internes – identité, rôle et finalité socialement construits, et de ses ressources internes – richesses et biens de production. Nous constatons que le conflit armé remplace l’identité masculine positive de chef de famille par un modèle destructeur de masculinité. C’est l’interaction entre les masculinités négatives et la pauvreté extrême qui caractérise la prévalence de la violence sexiste dans ces conditions.

Basándose en los hallazgos surgidos de un estudio cualitativo efectuado en el norte de Uganda, el presente artículo examina los factores generadores de violencia basada en el género (vbg) en un contexto africano de posconflicto. Para comprender la vulnerabilidad a que se ven expuestas las mujeres debido a la vbg, la crisis de la masculinidad en este tipo de contexto adquiere un rol crucial. Ésta es consecuencia del trauma generado por la pérdida de recursos internos —roles de identidad y de finalidad construidos socialmente— y de recursos externos —riqueza y activos productivos. En este sentido, las autoras identificaron que el conflicto armado remplaza la positiva identidad masculina como jefe de familia por un modelo de masculinidad destructivo, dando lugar a que, en estas condiciones, prevalezca la VBG generada por la interacción entre las masculinidades negativas y la pobreza extrema.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender and diversity
• Conflict and reconstruction
• Civil society – NGOs
• Sub-Saharan Africa

Acknowledgements

This study was commissioned by Action Against Hunger and led by Anasuya Sengupta of Development Pathways, UK. It was conducted with the support of local researchers from the University of Makerere, Kampala, Innocent Kamya Royal and James Francis Obonyo, and Luo translators Aol Monica Aporomon and Hilda Ongora. The Royal Norwegian Embassy generously funded the programme and the study.

Action Against Hunger is an international humanitarian organisation that specialises in responding to hunger crises and operates in more than forty countries. Development Pathways is a consultancy firm with a team of experts engaged in social policy research and technical assistance in the field of international development.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Anasuya Sengupta specialises in qualitative evaluations in the fields of gender and social protection, and education. She has worked extensively in East Africa (Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda, and South Sudan) and Asia (India and Bangladesh). She completed her MA at the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, UK.

Muriel Calo has a decade of practitioner experience in international humanitarian work. She was Action Against Hunger's Senior Advisor for Food Security and Livelihoods, supporting Africa and Asia programmes and coordinating technical research and development. She completed her MS at the Friedman School of Nutrition, Tufts University, USA.

Notes

1. Perpetrators of such violence can be known or unknown to a GBV survivor; intimate partners, family members, caregivers and friends; influential community members, security forces, peace keeping forces, humanitarian aid workers, institutions, and the state.

2. For the purpose of this study, gender refers to the interaction and dynamics of only two genders, ‘‘man'' and ‘‘woman'', that are deemed dominant and significant for the study.

3. For further information, see www.actionagainsthunger.org

4. For targeting, ‘‘vulnerable'' women are characterised as victims of or vulnerable to GBV – mainly widows, the disabled, the chronically ill, and girl heads of households.

5. GBV prevention activities were implemented by community based organisations (CBOs), African Youth Initiative Network (AYINET) and Community Rural Empowerment and Support Organization (CRESO).

6. This article draws on a portion of the study's findings. The full study report is available at: www.actionagainsthunger.org/publication/2014/06/acf-uganda-gender-study-report.

7. The programme was delivered to three generations of beneficiaries across three separate annual phases of implementation.

8. For relevant key literature on masculinities and male involvement in women's empowerment in post-conflict northern Uganda (see Dolan 2002; Woodburn 2008; Oosterom 2011; Ahikire, Madanda, and Ampaire 2012), and Kwiringira et al. (n.d).

9. For further information, see www.vivo.org/projects/uganda/index_eng.html

10. For further information, see www.ilauganda.org