Women and Men in Conflicts
On the Influence of Violent Conflicts on Gender Relations
Conference organized by cfd the feminist peace organisation
Friday, November 28, 2008
In the last years, peace and conflict research analysed how conflicts influence gender relations: During armed conflicts, the strict division of gender roles is somehow dissolved – women assume more responsibilities, develop access to public spaces and tackle the monopoly of interpretation. Time and again, however, it appears that changes in gender relations are cancelled with rigid means in postwar situations. In various countries, cfd-project partners state that domestic violence increases after the war and that women’s leeway is again restricted after their men returned into civil life.
Changes in the tasks and roles of men and women presuppose each other. As a consequence of armed conflicts, it seems to be obvious to undertake a feminist analysis of the change of gender roles, but casting a special eye on men’s roles and on images of masculinity. Do wars and conflicts actually give rise to new roles that women could assume? Which are the ideas of masculinity that are entrenched in politics and everyday life after the war? What happens to men experiencing violence and oppression? Are gender roles and gender relations that are dominated by violence really transformed if psychosocial work is applied to deal with violence and violent structures? How can processes of conflict transformation be used to sustainably reduce gender inequalities?
At the conference «Women and Men in Conflicts», peace researchers and cfd-project partners from Palestine, Algeria and Kosova will analyse the gender dynamics in and after violent conflicts and discuss possible strategies of change within gender sensitive peace politics. This exchange of international practical experiences intends also to convey new impetus to experts in this field in Switzerland.
The conference is of interest to experts in research, teaching, media, administration, politics and aid agencies as well as to every one interested in women and men in conflicts.
