12: Women, War, and Peace
- Page ID
- 153110
Gendering War
by Andi Boyer
Although fighting in war has been reserved as a male role through much of history in western culture, in the 1700s and 1800s women in the Republic of Benin in West Africa (then called the Kingdom of Dahomey) were a formidable army. At that time called Mino (“our mothers”), they are currently referred to as the “Dahomey Amazons.” The Dahomey Amazon Army was composed of single women who voluntarily (by enrolling) and involuntarily (taken from among slaves or forced to enroll by male family members) became members of the militia. These warrioresses earned praises both from within their ranks as well as from their enemies. A French Foreign Legionnaire named Bern lauded them as “warrioresses . . . fight with extreme valor, always ahead of the other troops. They are outstandingly brave. . . well trained for combat and very disciplined.”
In their own culture, they were highly celebrated and given lavish goods such as tobacco, alcohol, and slaves, but they were also required to remain single and without children, or any part in a family life. Throughout the eighteenth century, the Dahomey Amazons grew from six hundred warriors to more than six thousand (between 30 and 40 percent of the army) before the French government defeated them in the nineteenth century. The Dahomey Amazons were known as Huntresses, riflewomen, reapers, archers, and, later, gunners. The Dahomey Amazons lived by the motto “If soldiers go to war, they should conquer or die.”
Women’s Participation in War
by Sophie Brodish
When reflecting on World War II, much of the acknowledgment goes to individuals who served in the US armed forces. Around 1 million Black men and women served in the military during the war, representing the largest minority participation in the war effort. Yet today, the contributions of nearly half a million Black civilian counterparts are sidelined, despite their crucial role in the war efforts.
These Black civilians who filled domestic war-related roles within factories, shipyards, and along railroads were known as “Black Rosies.” The term stems from the iconic Rosie the Riveter image, a white female worker dressed in blue coveralls and a red bandanna with the phrase “We Can Do It” underneath her bicep. The image still stands as a symbol for the millions of female laborers working on the US home front, but it erases the true diversity of the work force of the time.
The chance to assist in the war effort provided potential for economic empowerment for Black women, whose opportunities were often restricted to sharecropping and other domestic work, often with little prospect of progress. But the arrival of Black men and women to the war industries was not without pushback by their white counterparts. In 1941 the Fair Employment Practice Committee was created by President Roosevelt, banning discrimination when hiring for government contracts. Despite the order, the conditions for Black women and men remained abysmal, with much of their daily work involving verbal insult or actual injury. No provisions were made for the roughly 700,000 Black families that relocated to cities to fulfill these jobs.
With the conclusion of the war in 1945, the advances made in Black men and women’s employment halted. Many of the plants across the country shut down, and the Black female welders, machinists, mechanics, and riveters were left without work. Nevertheless, the experiences of these “Black Rosies” laid the groundwork for civil rights activism in the following years.
by Ramona Flores
In Waad al-Kateab’s 2019 documentary For Sama, the director recounts and films her life for five years during the Syrian uprising, framed as a letter to her daughter. The film focuses on not only the immediate danger that al-Kateab faces, but also the radical hope that she has for Sama’s future beyond the conflict.
Brutal in its honesty, the film shows children torn from their loved ones, bloody and scared, as al-Kateab documents the volunteer hospital’s desperate attempts to help the people of Aleppo. In a poetic maneuver through the gore and violence of war, al-Kateab captures the gravity of motherhood, love, and partnership in the nest of turmoil. By framing the documentary as a letter that recounts the early years of her daughter’s life, al-Kateab captures both the suffering and the hope of people living on the ground in a battlefield, a story that is rarely told from the perspective of a woman, let alone a new mother.
Throughout the film, al-Kateab reveals what has to be done when your own government is the enemy, from education and emergency medical services to body recovery and burial. There is no revolution handbook, and this revolution was in the hands, hearts, and minds of the young people who stayed in East Aleppo to help the innocent civilians caught in the mousetrap of war.
In chronicling her life, al-Kateab creates a beautiful tapestry of the human experience. Life, death, her own marriage in a single room, the birth of her daughter in their makeshift hospital, the unbearable weight of loss. Through it all, al-Kateab emphasizes hope. Her own words sum it up perfectly, “the sound of our songs was louder than the bombs falling outside.”
by Janet Lockhart
Women and girls in all countries have been affected, and even died, during conflicts, as civilians, as guerillas, or as military noncombatants. Many countries have included women in their military forces for centuries, commonly as nurses, administrative personnel, doctors, engineers, cooks, equipment transporters, and other roles.
Today, some countries still do not allow women in the military. Others allow women to enlist in the armed forces, but not in combat positions. Some permit women in combat roles, but with restrictions. A growing number of countries allow women to fulfill any role including combat roles, in their militaries: infantry (foot soldiers), fighter pilots, operators of artillery or other weapons systems, search and rescue teams, special operations, and armored units such as tanks and other equipment.
At present, countries that allow women in combat roles of some kind include Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Botswana, Canada, China, Colombia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Eritrea, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, Lithuania, the Netherlands, New Zealand, North Korea, Norway, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In general, however, the percentage of women in these roles is low.
Of course, even if they can serve in all military roles, gender equality and fair treatment for women in the armed forces are not guaranteed. And even when female soldiers are accepted and appreciated, they can still be subject to scrutiny of their beauty.
In many countries, arguments against women in combat are fierce and ongoing. Reasons to exclude women include their physical or mental fitness for combat, the fact that they may become pregnant or already have children (forgetting that men are also parents?), and the “cohesion” of units that include women. Importantly, countries that have research supporting the benefits of including women in combat roles include Denmark, Romania, Sweden, and even the United States.
Australia’s first woman prime minister, Julia Gillard, said, “I have a view that men and women are equal. A few years ago I heard [defense chief general] Peter Cosgrove say that men and women should have an equal right to fight and die for their country. I think he is right about that.”
by Janet Lockhart
It may not be common knowledge that homosexual people were persecuted during the Holocaust along with other groups, but many lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer, or intersex plus (LGBTQI+) people were imprisoned, tortured, and murdered during the Nazi regime. Starting shortly after the end of World War II, COC Nederland, the longest-operating gay rights organization, began to advocate for a monument recognizing the experiences of LGBTQI+ people.
Finally, in 1979, the Homomonument was commissioned. Designed by Karin Daan, a resident of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, it was unveiled to the public in 1987. The Homomonument incorporates three pink triangles—the symbol gay men were forced to wear in Nazi concentration camps, now repurposed as a symbol of LGBTQI+ pride—pointing toward other important sites in Amsterdam, such as the home of Anne Frank. On May 4, the Netherlands’ Annual Remembrance Day, people lay wreaths to commemorate the victims of persecution.
The Homomonument’s meaning now extends to include all people who were or are persecuted, oppressed, or silenced because of their sexual identities. Monuments with similar meanings have been placed in several cities, including Berlin and San Francisco. History must not repeat itself.
Gendered Effects of War
War as a Mechanism of Social Transformation
Women and Peacemaking
Women Peace Activists
by Sarah Baum
Try to imagine yourself living in a corner of the world that refuses to educate half the population. Now imagine yourself being part of that half and being denied the right to learn simply because you were born the wrong gender. Malala Yousafzai lived that life. Born in 1997 in the Swat Valley of Pakistan, she hungered for knowledge and education from an early age. But when the Taliban took control of her home region, she found herself being denied this basic human right, along with things like attending dances and watching television. It was 2007, and Malala was only 10 years old, but she became an outspoken advocate for the right of women and girls to be educated.
While she was sharing her voice, by the end of 2008, the Taliban destroyed more than four hundred schools. This didn’t stop her. She appeared on television shows and wrote a blog about life under Taliban rule for the BBC, all while continuing to defy their dictates not to go to school. On October 9, 2012, while she was riding a bus home from school, two Taliban men stopped the bus and asked for her by name. They shot at her three times, hitting her in the head and leaving her for dead. Malala was only 15 years old; her crime, in their eyes, was the desire to learn.
Malala didn’t die of her wounds, and miraculously she sustained little lasting physical harm and no brain damage. These men filled with hate who tried to steal her life and her knowledge failed at both attempts. Her assault could have silenced her, but instead it only spurred her to become more outspoken, more of an advocate. She continues to work tirelessly to see that all people, no matter their gender, have the same access to a quality education—all while attending school herself. At 17, just two years after her assault, she became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2020, she graduated from Oxford University. Malala remains a young woman who not even a Taliban bullet could stop from advocating education for all.
Women and UN Security Council Resolution 1325
References
by Lauren Grant
October 2020 marked the twentieth anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on women, peace, and security. Besides recognizing the devastating and disproportional impact of conflict on women and girls, the resolution urges states to increase women’s participation in conflict management and resolution, stressing “the importance of women’s involvement in peace and security issues to achieve long lasting stability.” While the landmark resolution serves as “a beacon in the dual struggle against militarism and patriarchy,” women’s rights activists across the world have questioned its effectiveness twenty years later.
In the Middle East, women were calling for the “greater involvement of women in the quest for an equitable solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conundrum” long before the resolution’s 2001 adoption, advocating for transformation of gender relations, an end to Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, advancement of Palestinian self-determination, and meaningful reconciliation. Despite the perceived win for joint Israeli-Palestinian women’s peace efforts, many claim the resolution has failed to create the transformational outcomes on which women’s lives and freedoms in these territories depend.
Reasons for the failures are manifold: Dissatisfaction arising from Israel’s continued occupation of the Palestinian territories. “Negative political and socioeconomic impacts” on Palestinian women that impede the resolution’s progress and subject them to further violence and marginalization. Patriarchal, sociocultural, and political norms in both Israel and Palestine that hinder women’s participation in peace and security discussions. “Cleavages between women along social, ethnic, religious and economic lines” (Kevorkian 2010) often mean that even where women’s involvement has increased, it has been limited to privileged, middle-class women, without including a diversity of lived experiences and perspectives, contrary to the resolution’s binding obligations. Most hearty attempts to mainstream gender into the sociopolitical landscape have been limited to academic circles and nongovernmental organizations.
While a significant number of peacekeeping initiatives have been led by women in Israel and Palestine, “the voices of women are still silenced or dominated by those of their male counterparts,” and impediments to implementation of UNSCR 1325 over the past two decades have actually allowed gender inequality to grow. Women’s rights activists call for more intersectional ways of enacting the resolution, in which grassroots voices are placed at the center of solutions for peace, and the needs of all women are accurately reflected at the negotiating table.
References
Kevorkian, Nadera Shalhoub. 2010. The United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 Implementation in Palestine and Israel 2000-2009. Oslo: Norwegian Church Aid.
Conclusion
Learning Activities
References
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Image Attributions
12.1 “Women of Britain say – ‘Go!’” by ArchivesOfOntario is available under CC PDM 1.0
12.2 “Women of the IDF” by Israel Defense Forces is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
12.3 “2017.07.29 Stop Transgender Military Ban, Washington, DC USA 7729” by tedeytan is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
12.4 “BE001076” by Tommy Japan 79 is licensed under CC BY 2.0
12.5 “Marcha Contra las FARC en Medellín Colombia 4 de febrero 2008” by medea_material is licensed under CC BY 2.0
12.6 “Sierra Leone and Brig. Gen. Kabia: A progressive voice for African military women – ALFS 2010” by US Army Africa is licensed under CC BY 2.0
12.7 “Female workers in action at the Pictou shipyard, Nova Scotia, January 1943 / Travailleuses à l’oeuvre au chantier naval de Pictou, Nouvelle-Écosse, janvier 1943” by BiblioArchives / LibraryArchives is licensed under CC BY 2.0
12.8 “Gacaca courts- ©Elisa Finocchiaro” by elisa finocchiaro is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
12.9 “The San Francisco Conference, 25 April-26 June 1945” by United Nations Photo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
12.10 “The Security Council” by United Nations Photo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
12.11 “UNIFIL Malaysian Women Peacekeepers” by United Nations Photo is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0