Gender Dynamics And Post Conflict Reconstruction

This volume by international authors deals with the role of gender dynamics in the development of post-conflict societies. The authors describe and analyze diverse aspects of the intertwining of gender and other social and cultural relations from an interdisciplinary perspective. They analyze gendered post-conflict dynamics in diverse contexts asking for the consequences these developments have in the settings under investigation, such as Eastern and Southeastern Europe, Palestine and Afghanistan.

Gender oppression has been a feature of war and conflict throughout human history, yet until fairly recently, little attention was devoted to addressing the consequences of violence and discrimination experienced by women in post-conflict states. Thankfully, that is changing. Today, in a variety of post-conflict settings--the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Colombia, Northern Ireland --international advocates for women's rights have focused bringing issues of sexual violence, discrimination and exclusion into peace-making processes. In On the Frontlines, Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Dina Francesca Haynes, and Naomi Cahn consider such policies in a range of cases and assess the extent to which they have had success in improving women's lives. They argue that there has been too little success, and that this is in part a product of a focus on schematic policies like straightforward political incorporation rather than a broader and deeper attempt to alter the cultures and societies that are at the root of much of the violence and exclusions experienced by women. They contend that this broader approach would not just benefit women, however. Gender mainstreaming and increased gender equality has a direct correlation with state stability and functions to preclude further conflict. If we are to have any success in stabilizing failing states, gender needs to move to fore of our efforts. With this in mind, they examine the efforts of transnational organizations, states and civil society in multiple jurisdictions to place gender at the forefront of all post-conflict processes. They offer concrete analysis and practical solutions to ensuring gender centrality in all aspects of peace making and peace enforcement.

Investigates the position of women in post-war situations throughout the world from three different perspectives which give emphasis to women as war-affected persons, social agents of change, and beneficiaries of assistance. Addressing political, economic and social reconstruction, the report examines how armed conflicts have influenced women's lives, how women in different war-affected countries have responded to the challenges and changes induced by war, and how external actors have attempted to address women's concerns in post-war situations. Bibliography.

This publication focuses on the gender dimensions of intrastate conflicts (civil wars), organised around eight key themes of gender and warfare, sexual violence, formal and informal peace processes, post-conflict legal frameworks, work issues, rehabilitation of social services and community-driven development. For each theme, the authors examine the impact on gender roles of conflict situations, the development challenges involved, and the policy options available to help build more inclusive and gender balanced post-conflict societies.

The increasing number of conflicts around the world is accompanied by the increasing attention of planners, both in academia and practice, of topics related to planning in fragile situations, post-war recovery and construction. This study is specifically concerned with women's participation in reconstruction activities in the aftermath of conflict. It started from the assumption that women's participation in post-conflict reconstruction (PCR) is crucial to the success of reconstruction efforts, and embarked on an attempt to understand what influences this participation. The first research objective was to arrive to an understanding of post-conflict reconstruction as a process, its changing dynamics, and the question of participation in post-conflict context. A literature review was conducted in order to establish connections between these three topics, and identify the main questions for the analysis. Because of the overlapping nature of literature over multiple disciplines and the relatively recent interest in the 'women and PCR' debate, this thesis relies on cross cutting themes from three different disciplines; development by looking into characteristics of post-conflict reconstruction, gender studies and women in particular, and participation. The second objective was to examine an example and investigate the extent of women's participation in it, based on the points of analysis and questions acquired from the literature review. A case study methodology was chosen to respond to this second objective. The reconstruction of Bosnia and Herzegovina suggests that the specific settings for the reconstruction have directly and profoundly influenced the role of women in every aspect of public life. In addition, it shows that post-conflict reconstruction is dynamic, where women participation relates to changing interests of main actors at different phases of the reconstruction process. Finally, the study concludes that real participation of women in post-conflict reconstruction relates to the changing priorities and goals of the reconstruction phase (here called temporal dynamics), negotiation over influence between international and local actors, and the power women can exercise in situations of vulnerability. It also suggests that there's little attention given to understanding women's influence in the private sphere and its potential to create change and overall increase women's participation although in a less visible manner.

In Youth and Post-Conflict Reconstruction: Agents of Change, Stephanie Schwartz goes beyond these highly publicized cases and examines the roles of the broader youth population in post-conflict scenarios, taking on the complex task of distinguishing between the legal and societal labels of "child," "youth," and "adult."

The authors focus on the multidimensionality of gender in conflict, yet they also prioritise the experience of women given both the changing nature of war and the historical de-emphasis on women's experiences.

This book defines the relationship between gender and international security, analyzing and critiquing international security theory and practice from a gendered perspective. Gender issues have an important place in the international security landscape, but have been neglected both in the theory and practice of international security. The passage and implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (on Security Council operations), the integration of gender concerns into peacekeeping, the management of refugees, post-conflict disarmament and reintegration and protection for non-combatants in times of war shows the increasing importance of gender sensitivity for actors on all fronts in global security. This book aims to improve the quality and quantity of conversations between feminist security studies and security studies more generally, in order to demonstrate the importance of gender analysis to the study of international security, and to expand the feminist research program in Security Studies. The chapters included in this book not only challenge the assumed irrelevance of gender, they argue that gender is not a subsection of security studies to be compartmentalized or briefly considered as a side issue. Rather, the contributors argue that gender is conceptually, empirically, and normatively essential to studying international security. They do so by critiquing and reconstructing key concepts of and theories in international security, by looking for the increasingly complex roles women play as security actors, and by looking at various contemporary security issues through gendered lenses. Together, these chapters make the case that accurate, rigorous, and ethical scholarship of international security cannot be produced without taking account of women’s presence in or the gendering of world politics. This book will be of interest to all students of critical security studies, gender studies and International Relations in general. Laura Sjoberg is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Florida. She has a Phd in International Relations and Gender Studies from the University of Southern California and is the author of Gender, Justice, and the Wars in Iraq (2006) and, with Caron Gentry, Mothers, Monsters, Whores: Women's Violence in Global Politics (2007)

Although the civil war affects civilians, its impacts men and women in different ways, and it influence their gender roles and responsibilities. Comparatively little attention has been given to accessing the gender sensitivity of international organizations who implement post-conflict reconstruction programs. The different social, economic and political dimensions of war to peace transitions, and how they impact on gender relations, can shed some light on the complicated intersections of needs and interests in war torn societies. An examination of the policies of World Bank reveals that there is relatively little gender mainstreaming within their post-conflict operations. This research finds that lack of resources and coordination, the failure to build on local capacities, and a lack of commitment to gender mainstreaming are the main obstacles organizations face. To improve the situation it is recommended that organizations develop and use a 'gender checklist' at all stages of project planning, implementation and monitoring to ensure increased gender sensitivity in post-conflict programming.