Gendered Impact of Armed Conflict: A Case Study of Nepal and Sri Lanka

1. Gendered Impact of Armed Conflict: A Case Study of Nepal and Sri Lanka Neeti Aryal Khanal

2. Gendered Impacts of Armed Conflict • Gender based violence • Change in gender relation • Gendered impact of forced displacement in armed conflict

3. Gender relations • Essentialist view • Feminism centers on the idea that all women are oppressed by virtue of their gender. However, this does not necessarily imply that all women will be oppressed in the same way or that the origins of their oppression are the same. • Need to challenge essentialist view • Essentialist views of women and war have been challenged here because they ignore the active roles women have played in supporting conflict, both in combat and in acts of violence against civilian populations. • Women’s support for conflict does not arise simply from manipulation or coercion under patriarchal systems. Because of the structural disadvantage and socio-cultural and ideological constraints faced by women, they may derive benefits from wartime shifts in gender ideologies, whereby they are accorded enhanced status in their role as guardians of cultural identity and as mothers. • Some women may support conflicts as a means to give them access to public arenas closed to them outside conflict situations, such as employment outside the home. ( Bryne, 1996)

4. Research on Uganda – Sudan –Mali – Angola - Somalia • By Judy El Bushra and Ibrahim Sahl ( 2005) • It aimed to explore the relationship between gender and war by posing two key questions. • do gender relations change as a result of conflict? • do gender identities themselves contribute to conflict?

5. Economic impacts: livelihoods and the division of labour • Increase in cash economy: • due to displacement men and women were dependent on finding casual work on the informal sector and also became engaged on variety of risky survival strategies such as prostitution • Adaptation on economic role on household level • Men often lost jobs and assets • Women as household heads in absence of men • Women were often primary income earners • Implication of these changes • In some cases, men accept this shift passively acknowledging women’s contribution • In some cases, this shift has brought increase in alcoholism and domestic violence against women

6. The personal dimensions of social change in war: marriage and sexuality • Women using sexuality for survival • commercial sex work • frequent re-marriage • sexual partnerships entered into through force or as a protection mechanism • ‘marrying up’ into higher income-brackets • and other arrangements where sexual favours are provided in return for physical and economic survival. • Change in marriage practices • greater freedom of decision-making for women about marriage partners, and stronger legal rights to property (Uganda and Rwanda)

7. Change in sexual behavior • Change in sexual relations • elaborate courtship which took place in the past, through which parents controlled their children’s marriages, no longer happens, according to older informants. Young people contract sexual relations more casually, they said, believing this to be one of the most destructive consequences of war • The spread of HIV • Research showed evidence that displacement, violence and poverty are important contributory factors.

8. Complexity of defining gender relations • 'gender relations' comprise a number of different elements that need to be examined separately. • gender roles (or the everyday tasks expected of men and women in the division of labor) • gender identities (the ideal behavior expected of men and women) • gendered institutions (such as the household, the army, the school, all of which help to condition gender identities) • gender ideologies, or the deeply-rooted values which underpin the other elements.

9. Change in gender roles • These are the activities which men and women are expected to carry out on a daily basis within their households or communities, varying according to socio-cultural context; they are often referred to as the gender division of labor. • The research found that war leads women to take on heavier responsibilities, while men’s responsibilities tend to reduce. This is partly because many men are absent fighting or are killed or abducted. • But it is also often because the resources which men used to control are no longer available, and because the economic opportunities available in the new situation (for example, petty trade or agricultural labour) are often more acceptable to women than to men. Women, therefore, have a broader range of options through which they can fulfil their domestic responsibilities, while for men the range of options is narrowed.

10. Gender identities • Gender identities are the expected or idealized characteristics and behavior of men and women. They are formed through socialization processes as they are practiced in each socio-cultural setting. • The research findings suggest that armed conflict does not impact significantly on these idealized ‘masculinities’ and ‘femininities’, although it may tip the balance of values towards some aspects rather than others.

11. Case of uganda • Change in process of socialization • The old ways of teaching children how to behave are lost, because families break up and because people no longer have the time or the opportunity to devote to this activity. • At the same time, other familiar institutions which have a socializing role have fallen into disuse. The institution of clan chiefship, which regulated the behavior of men and women in the past, has been eroded as a result of historical trends.

12. The research also found generational gaps on gendered identity • especially older men, complained that nowadays younger people are acquisitive, individualistic, lacking in respect for religion and for the environment, and have abandoned the rules of engagement in war. • impacts of gender imbalance • The Rwanda case provides a similar example: here, the gender imbalance in the population, resulting from the genocide, leaves many women without prospect of finding a marriage partner. Yet high status continues to be associated with marriage. Many women feel they have lost this status, and with it their sense of a respected identity as a woman.

13. Gender institutions/power structures • These include social institutions which control resources (in the community or at national level) such as the household, the army, schools, and local and national government. The importance of institutions is that it is through them that men and women receive or are denied support, status, resources or protection. • The way men and women gain access to or membership of them, the way they contribute to them, and the way they are supported and protected by them, helps to shape attitudes and behaviors. Institutions are therefore important in establishing gender identities (Kabeer 1994).

14. The research showed that the practices of social institutions may change, but only to a limited degree. Women do sometimes gain decision-making power within the family when they become the main breadwinners. • For example, in Somalia, many women had indeed gained economic power within the household. They were seen both by themselves and by their menfolk as the breadwinners, whose decisions had to be respected • Where change takes place within the household, there is a limited possibility that this could increase women's scope for influence and action within the wider community. • Examples exist of women taking political roles at community and national levels (Sudan, Uganda), becoming involved in trade (Angola), and entering previously unacceptable areas of economic activity such as currency speculation or the arms trade (Somalia)

15. Gender ideologies • Gender ideologies form part of the value system which supports a given set of gender roles, identities, and power structures. • These values are often hard to observe in concrete ways. However, their outward manifestations can be seen in poetry, religious practice and beliefs, proverbs and songs, dress styles or the media. • The general impression reflected in the testimonies gathered by research is that gender ideologies have changed little. Even where women have taken on greater responsibilities, this is usually in line with previous expectations of their role, which in many cases is to provide what the family needs, at whatever sacrifice it takes. • Women’s involvement in non traditional role (soldiers, spies) in conflict may serve to change gender ideologies to some extend however, these women often are chastised in societies for not conforming to traditional gender ideologies

16. Change in gender relation • inaccessibility of economic resources that men previously controlled • displacement into urban cash economies where women’s income generating opportunities are greater than in rural areas • • exposure during displacement to different ways of life and new skills • • growth in the proportion of female-headed households (Bushra, 2004)

17. Gender analysis framework

19. Displacement • Displacement does not just happen; it is also willed. Any study of displacement throughout history, in state-making, and in creating national identities makes clear that the ability to control a citizenry through selective uprooting, removal, resettlement and containment is pivotal in maintaining state power. • If anything, the recourse to forced displacement is tending to become more rather than less commonplace in the contemporary world: as competition for resources intensifies and demand increases, as states feel both threatened and powerful, and as new development and security agendas encourage states to control population movement.

20. Forced displacement is the clearest violation of human, economic, political and social rights and of the failure to comply with international humanitarian laws’ (Moser and Clark 2001: 32). • People have often been uprooted from their homelands due to political, religious, cultural and/or ethnic persecution during conflict. Whatever the cause, displacement is a source of human rights violations and results in distinct types of disadvantage for both women and men.

21. Types of Displacement • Displacement due to development: • States transform citizens’ lives and habitats by implementing economic and planning strategies that, for example, turn economies from small-scale subsistence agriculture to an export-based market in ways that require the amalgamation of farms and evacuation of rural areas. Decisions to build new roads, dams, and ports have a similar effect: a vast development-created displacement. Each year, the construction of dams and roads alone leads to 9-10 million people being moved against their will in poorer countries.

22. Displacement due to natural disasters: Environmental refugees • Environmental refugees are “...those people who have been forced to leave their traditional habitat, temporarily or permanently, because of a marked environmental disruption (natural and/or triggered by people) that jeopardized their existence and/or seriously affected the quality of their life”

23. Displacement due to war: • People who are forced to flee their homes for one or more of the following reasons and where the state authorities are unable or unwilling to protect them: armed conflict including civil war; generalized violence; and persecution on the grounds of nationality, race, religion, political opinion or social group • Ethnic oppression and low-intensity fighting can lead to large scale displacement of populations even before conflict has fully developed. It is important to have an analysis of the social, including gender, composition of displaced populations. Single women, children, the elderly and disabled are likely have the most difficulties in fleeing and in establishing a livelihood.

24. Differences on Refugees and IDPS • Refugees are people who have crossed an international frontier and are at risk or have been victims of persecution in their country of origin. Refugee law – mainly  the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees of 1951 and the mandate of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) provide the main framework for protection and assistance for refugees. Refugees are also protected by general human rights law, and if they find themselves in a State involved in armed conflict, by international humanitarian law • Internally displaced persons (IDPs), on the other hand, have not crossed an international frontier, but have, for whatever reason, also fled their homes. There is no convention for IDPs equivalent to the 1951 Refugee Convention.

25. Displacement does not necessarily mean that people leave or are forcibly removed to destinations that are far from their homes during and after armed conflict. Armed conflict in the 1990s saw millions of people internally displaced, or still living within the borders of their country. The UN Refugee Convention of 1951 protects refugees outside of native borders, but does not cover IDPs. • The international community has limited options to protect people displaced within their own borders, if their home country is not willing to cooperate. The legal status of IDPs continues to be a serious concern

26. Humanitarian Relief • International humanitarian law guarantees access for relief and humanitarian organizations to refugees and IDPs in situations of armed conflict. Parties to a conflict must facilitate the supply of relief materials such as medicines, food, blankets and tents. • Regrettably these rules have been ignored in many recent conflicts putting both refugee populations and IDPs in danger

27. Displacement: temporary or permanent • Displacement is often viewed as a temporary or transitory phenomenon. However, experience in countries such as Peru, Sri Lanka, Somalia and Sudan shows it is actually a prolonged process. Globally, many generations have been displaced as a result of armed conflict, with a significant number of those affected having being displaced more than once and for significant periods of time

28. Gender and displacement • Conflict and displacement often have a great impact on gender roles both in the short and in the long term. • More specifically, this impact can be: • Short term • Separation of families and increased vulnerability of women (VAW, lack of access to food). • Lack of education, particularly for girls. • Men subject to conscription into military and militias: girl children abducted as messengers, ‘wives’ and sex slaves and scouts for military groups; women may join the military.

29. Long term: • Demographic profile changes in armed conflict situations, more women than men may survive. • Changes in labor division between men and women: men may lose their jobs and feel frustrated as a result of the loss of their roles as breadwinners, while women may be forced to assume responsibilities previously held by men following the separation of families, the killing of relatives and the destruction of homes. These changes can be long term or even permanent. • Women’s vulnerability to sexual exploitation, domestic violence and rapes increases as gender roles shift. • Increased political participation and organization: women in particular gain greater confidence and see the benefits of working with other women.

30. Gendered impact of displacement • Gender based violence: • Gender-based sexual violence has become a weapon of war, often conducted on a massive scale. Such violence is frequent in countries where total impunity of perpetrators is the rule, following the collapse of police and legal systems and the total chaos inherent to war. Gender based sexual violence can consist of rape, forced impregnation, forced abortion, trafficking, sexual slavery and the intentional spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), including HIV/AIDS, etc.

31. More autonomy for women • Women’s increasing involvement in economy: While much of the impact of conflict on gender roles is negative, there are also opportunities for change created by crisis situations, which may lead to the re-making of roles and opportunities, particularly for women. In an effort to survive during a conflict, women often engage in trade and other economic activities which may give them more control, autonomy and status at both household and community level. • Women have key roles as actors, as sources of community opinion and leadership, as partners in programme design, as economic forces in their communities and as providers of services

32. Move from stereotypical roles • Despite experiences of vulnerability and trauma during the process of displacement, some women benefit from displacement. They may be given priority for training and development programmes in health and education, as well as in income-generating activities. The skills women gain enable them to assume new roles within their households, becoming the main breadwinners when men have been killed or have problems finding employment after removal from their homes and communities. • This shift in responsibilities represents a move away from stereotypically ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ roles. Men however may react to these changes with depression, alcoholism and an escalation of violence against women in public and private

33. Increase in women headed household: • Men are usually directly targeted in armed conflicts and they make up the majority of casualties caused by small arms and light weapons (SALW). The increasing number of households headed by women in conflict zones is an illustration of men’s specific vulnerability

34. Discussions • Dimensions of female headed household • Positive • Negative

35. Though from perspective of gender equality, female headed household is seen as one of the feature of women’s empowerment • However, in context of war and conflict, female headed household suffer from various vulnerabilities • reduced access to resources to cope with household responsibility and increased physical and emotional violence (El Jack 2002).

36. Autonomy and empowerment are different • Greater autonomy does not necessarily translate to gender equality • Case studies conducted by the Agency for Co-operation and Research in Development (ACORD) in Angola, Sudan, Somalia and Uganda show that although conflict has broadened women’s economic roles and given them greater autonomy, it has rarely led to increased political influence or greater gender equality. Everyday relationships within the household were about the only place where change was observed, but it would be too soon to say whether this would last in the long-term

37. Reference • Byrne , Bridget (1996) Gender, conflict and development Volume I: Overview, BRIDGE (development - gender), Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex • El, Bushra , Judy and Sahl, Imbrahim (2005) cycles of violence, Gender relations and armed conflict, ACCORD

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