Women and wars: How conflict affects women

Wars and conflict destroy lives, livelihoods, the economy, families and much more but women are disproportionately affected by them. Existing inequalities and inequities get magnified and even decades after a conflict, women continue to bear the brunt. Wars make women more vulnerable to sexual violence and exploitation as social networks break down along with institutions that prevent gender-based violence. Often, the effect of conflict on women is forgotten or not given the attention it deserves. Let's take a closer look:

Gender-based violence

In 1994, Rwanda was ravaged by genocide. Nearly a million people are estimated to have been killed in just over a hundred days. The Rwandan genocide is infamous, however, for its effect on women due to genocidal rape. In the same period, about 250,000 to 500,000 women were estimated to have been raped. "Rape was systematic and was used as a 'weapon' by the perpetrators of the massacres. This can be estimated from the number and nature of the victims as well as from the forms of rape," UN Special Rapporteur on Rwanda Rene Degni-Segui wrote in a report.

Many of the men went to fight in the armed forces and militias in the genocide, leaving a significant number dead. Women who were not as educated or experienced as their male counterparts were left to fend for themselves and their families.

The Rwandan genocide is only one example of rape being used as a 'weapon'. Unfortunately, sexual violence and gender-based violence are mainstays in most conflicts around the world.

Public health

Armed conflict often disproportionately has negative health effects for women and girls. There is an increased risk of injury, death and physical and mental illness at a time when public health services are either destroyed or in a much-reduced state. Women often bear the brunt of the lack of these services as the available resources are diverted to the men at war.

The responsibility of providing for the family falls on women and they often produce or gather whatever they can which is when they are vulnerable to injury and death from accidental attacks, landmines, getting caught in a crossfire etc.

Women’s life expectancy also disproportionately reduces as compared to men because they are more affected by the indirect effects of economic change, displacement and sexual violence.

Displacement and trafficking

Children and women make up an estimated 80 per cent of displaced populations, according to a UNICEF report from 1995. Girls and women are among the most vulnerable and refugee camps do not possess adequate facilities for sanitation, education or healthcare. Those displaced end up spending months if not years in refugee camps with meagre facilities and are at increased risk of physical and sexual assault. These camps, with limited resources, often do not distribute food, water and other necessities equally. The men usually control such resources and use them as leverage over the people in the camps.

The trafficking of women and girls is common and has been documented. Traffickers usually demand a sum of money for safe passage from the place people are fleeing to their destinations. When refugees are unable to pay or unable to pay enough, women and girls are often sexually abused and trafficked.

Economic impact

A woman’s role in a post-conflict economy is very different. The women’s economic activity increases, which might at first glance seem like a positive unintended effect of war. However, it has been documented that women often get engaged in labour markets that involve low-paid, low-skilled jobs, self-employment in the informal sector and family labour, which often go unnoticed.

What is to be noted is that women who are worse off on the social ladder often end up with poorer economic outlooks than those who are higher up. Economic opportunities that are open to women are shaped by culture, tradition, education and access to resources. Female-led households end up vulnerable and face a higher risk of poverty as compared to male-led households and this vulnerability crosses generations.

Women in political activity

Conflicts can often create opportunities for women to play increased roles in political decision-making. Wars that often challenge the political status quo and older systems of governance lead to situations where women could enjoy greater parliamentary representation in democracies. However, women are often not able to formalise these political gains in the post-conflict existence.

A third of the countries that have 30 per cent or more women in parliament experienced recent conflict, fragility or a transition to democracy, according to a report by the United Nations Security Council from 2012.

Compared to the World Wars, conflicts of the recent past have had a less disproportionate effect on women. However, wars continue to affect women and children much more than men. The nature of a conflict determines its impact on women. The current wars in the Middle East do not have the same effect on women as the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar. The impact of wars and conflict is not easy to quantify and it's even harder to assess the impact on women. Though inter-governmental organisations are working to reduce conflicts, prevent war and reduce the disproportionate effect on women, a lot more needs to be done by the countries of the world.