Reclaiming the Paradigm

Off Our Backs, Mar/Apr 2004 by Marshall, Lucinda

The patriarchal reality of war is blatantly reflected in the staged photo opportunities that are daily paraded in front of us. Men shaking hands, men shaking fists; the decision-makers of war. Except for a few very visible tokens, the voices and lives of women are trivialized, if not simply cropped out of the scene altogether, and this is the crux of the problem.

The needs, concerns and wisdom of women are literally not seen as being as important as those of men. When they are seen at all, women are relegated to supporting roles, wives and sweethearts bravely sending their men off to war; or we ee them as the victims of war, crying women with dead children in front of their burned homes, begging for help. But the reality is that until and unless women fully participate in the process of making peace and the impact of violence on women's lives is fully considered, there will be no peace.

To fully understand why women have a different vantage point on the issue of war, you must realize that the women of this world live in a perpetual state of war every day. This violence takes many forms, including: female infanticide, female genital mutilation, incest, dating and courtship violence (e.g. date rape drugs, acid throwing and bride burning), rape, institutionalization and labeling with mental disorders, sexual assault and murder. There is no city on this planet where it is safe for a woman to walk alone, even in her own home. We women are living in a state of siege.

While we know this, we simply refuse to grasp the dimensions and implications of the problem. Worldwide, millions of women are assaulted every year. The statistics are staggering. Fifty-one percent of those assaults are on young women between the ages of 16 and 21. At least one in three women will experience sexual assault within her lifetime, yet rape and sexual assault is the violent crime least reported to law enforcement. Between 11 to 42 million women experience serious assault by an intimate partner each year. Those are unlivable numbers.

During times of conflict, terrorism against women is seriously exacerbated, both by "enemy" and "friendly" forces. In addition to the violence women already experience, during conflict they are much more likely to be gang raped and young girls are at far more risk of sexual violation. Women are frequently forced to trade sex for survival-for food, shelter or "protection." Military sanctioned rape is commonplace and is frequently used as a method of "ethnic cleansing." The incidence of domestic violence in the families of military personnel also rises dramatically as a result of military actions. It can easily be said that the mindset of militarism-of institutionalized government-sanctioned violence-encourages domestic violence. In 2002, four women at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, were brutally murdered by their spouses who had recently returned from serving in Afghanistan.

War also substantially destroys the infrastructure and services necessary for women to care for their families. Lack of electricity, water and sanitation make it impossible to run a home. Destruction of medical facilities leads to greater maternal, child and infant mortality.

Perhaps the most unseen damage inflicted upon women during war is from the toxic pollution that results from the use of biological and chemical weapons, such as Agent Orange and depleted uranium; both in the areas they are used and the locales where they are produced and tested. They contaminate the air, soil and water. The pollution does not recognize borders or security checkpoints and therefore becomes an unintended export, its consequences shared by all. In addition to directly causing death of innocent civilians, ample evidence exists that these military toxins cause all manner of disease and cancer including birth defects, miscarriages and reproductive cancers.

We have finally reached a critical crossroads where the damage done to women by violent conflict must be brought to a stop. The mechanisms for making this happen exist and we need to insure that they are fully utilized. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 provides a framework for making gender perspectives an integral part of all UN peacekeeping efforts. Among its mandates are provisions for:

* Respecting the human rights of women and supporting local peace initiatives.

* Increasing representation of women in all aspects of conflict resolution and peacemaking, including the appointment of women as special envoys and representatives.

* Ensuring that international law applicable to the human rights of women is respected.

* Adopting special measures to protect women from gender-based violence and mandating that Security Council missions take into account the rights of women.

In addition to UNSC 1325, the Charter of the International Criminal Court provides a critical tool in the protection of the rights of women during war by designating sexual violence as a war crime.

Whenever the need for women's participation in reclaiming peace is discussed, it is inevitable that someone will mention the women who are supportive of war as a means to an end. Whether for patriotic or religious reasons, there will always be women trying to survive in and support a system that was never meant to value life or foster peace, despite the usual rhetoric to the contrary. Yet women rarely run the governments or the organizations that sanction war. In sharp contrast, they constitute a large percentage of the membership in and leadership roles of most peace organizations.