Gender issues in post-war contexts: A review of analysis and experience, and implications for policies

Abstract

This book is concerned with what happens to women when wars officially end. Along with several other volumes it recognises that women face particular difficulties at such ¿aftermath¿ moments which often have very strong continuities with what happened during wars, and with the nature of gender relations in society prior to armed conflict. At the international level remarkable progress has been made; in establishing women¿s legal rights; in the identification of sexual violence as a potential war crime, and even progress in some women¿s abilities to access such legal frameworks. Nonetheless, when faced with a post-war backlash from men and the state, women in highly varied cultural contexts tend to face distinct difficulties as they seek justice for crimes committed against them during and after wars; when they attempt to participate in ¿truth and reconciliation¿ endeavours, and when they attempt to re-build their lives. This book explores how far we have come both through international frameworks and in particular countries, and examines the ways in which the endings of war still often bring highly gendered challenges for women which are themselves often violent.