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Fused in combat: gender relations and armed conflict

Do gender relations change through conflict? How might conflict itself be fuelled by aspects of gender identity? How do people on the ground see the changes that conflict brings about?

This research project by ACORD combines oral testimony with more conventional research methods, concluding that conflict has undoubtedly given women greater responsibilities and with it, the possibility of greater leverage in decision-making and political participation. However, major questions arise about the impact of conflict on men and on social, ethnic and age distinctions, and hence about the capacity of ‘gender and development’ as currently practised to make sense of conflict.

The project, ‘Gender-sensitive programme design and planning in conflict-affected situations’, is aimed at enhancing gender-awareness in development projects in contexts affected by conflict. Field research was carried out in Sudan, Somalia, Uganda, Mali and Angola, and desk studies for Eritrea and Rwanda. Using oral testimony and PRA as its main research methods, the research describes the experiences of ordinary citizens in armed conflict and aims to identify the link between gender relations and conflict through their eyes.

The main findings were:

appalling human suffering, loss of livelihoods, erosion of social relations, and loss of faith in the future. Testimonies call overwhelmingly for peace. Informants were deeply concerned about the impact of war on future generations, faced with the prospect of a permanently militarised society as children grow up in violence
changes in gender roles across all cases studied, resulting both from the violence of warfare, and its consequences – displacement, impoverishment and demographic imbalance. In general, women took on greater responsibilities for family provision while men’s roles were reduced
less consistently, this led in turn to (limited) increases in women’s decision-making power and political participation, generating optimism in some cases, and despair in others, at the erosion of cultural values
the ideological bases underpinning gender relations appear unchanged or even reinforced. Rather, conflict heightens the gap between the ideals people try to live up to, and the reality they can attain
war emerges as a struggle for resources (land, trade, women, children, labour, natural resources, cultural identity and access to state power) between patriarchies or established power interests. Gender identities may contribute towards this violence inasmuch as distorted, threatened gender ideologies encourage aggressiveness and revenge
conflict appears to exacerbate tensions and inequalities between generations and between communities, accentuating the powerlessness of the poor and discriminated against, whether men or women
the importance of basing interventions on in-depth and grassroots-focused research was confirmed. Oral testimony proved an appropriate research method in conflict situations, but for maximum effectiveness it requires an open-ended and non-extractive approach to research design and analysis.

Lessons for policy include:

Interventions that look beyond the immediate consequences of war to actively stem the cycle of violence, whether locally, nationally or internationally, are crucially important and will have positive short-and long-term repercussions.
Policy-makers and planners need to be realistic about the influence they may have in encouraging changes in gender relations. Conflict may create space to make redefinition of social relations possible, but in so doing it rearranges, adapts or reinforces patriarchal ideologies, rather than fundamentally challenging them.
If gender analysis is to ‘dismantle patriarchy’, it needs to see beyond a narrow focus on women’s autonomy and instead adopt broader, more inclusive parameters, permitting context-specific analysis of masculinity, femininity, and the relationship of both to violence and militarisation.

Source(s):
‘Gender-sensitive programme design and planning in conflict-affected situations’, ACORD, by J. El-Bushra, A. El-Karib and A. Hadjipateras, 2002 Full document.
‘Collapsing masculinities and weak states – a case study of northern Uganda’, by C. Dolan, in ‘Masculinities matter: men, gender and development’, F. Cleaver (ed), Zed Press, forthcoming Full document.
'Deconstructing domination: gender disempowerment and the legacy of colonialism and apartheid in Omaheke, Namibia', by N.Kandirikirira (forthcoming) in 'Masculinities matter: men, gender and development', F. Cleaver (ed), Zed Press.

Funded by: DFID (ESCOR)

id21 Research Highlight: 2 August 2002

Further Information:
Florence Kiff
Agency for Cooperation and Research in Development (ACORD)
Dean Bradley House
52 Horseferry Road
London SW1P 2AF
UK

Tel: +44 (0)20 7227 8600 or +44 (0)20 7227 8639 (direct line)
Fax: +44 (0)20 7799 1868
Contact the contributor: florencek@acord.org.uk

ACORD, UK

Judy El-Bushra
30 The Avenue
London NW6 7YD
UK

Tel: +44 (0)20 451 3889
Contact the contributor: elbushra@freeuk.com

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