| dc.description.abstract | Starting from the premise that women and men can be as effective in promoting peace as
in promoting war and conflict, and bearing in mind the fact that most political institutions in conflict and non-conflict societies tend to perpetuate an exclusionary attitude toward women, this study focuses on highlighting the position of women throughout internal armed conflict. This study argues that it is important to include women in the analysis of any internal armed conflict. It is also equally important to understand the impact of gender on the conflict and the actions of the different conflict parties.
However, it should be noted that this study does not seek a mere inclusion of women in war matters rather it aims at questioning popular beliefs and myths about gender especially those that portray the presence of women as obsolete in creating,
maintaining and ending wars while men are the soldiers, planners and perpetrators of
conflict par excellence. To effectively carry this out, the study intends to explain why and show how gender matters in the analysis of the conduct of wars by emphasizing that women are not merely victims but players who perform different and diverse roles in warfare.
These roles are also portrayed as significant to the outcome of conflict therefore emphasizing the fact that women are pivotal players in the conduct of hostilities.
To achieve this, the study examines in details women's roles in warfare bearing in
mind that the roles of women and men are pre-determined by societal norms and
traditional beliefs of what the 'male' and the 'female' is. The issue of gender and war is often looked at through a simple dichotomy: men are the aggressors and perpetrators of conflict while women are victims, passive observers and bearers of the social burden of societies torn by conflict. This exaggeration of the extent to which women fall into the stereotypical roles of wives, mothers and nurturers, is a clear attempt to relegate women | en_US |
