Women And Peacebuilding: Narratives From South Asia

While the past few decades have seen a significant decline in interstate wars, a large number of countries have been grappling with intrastate conflicts of varying severity and duration, thereby standing testimony to the importance of both peacekeeping and peacebuilding processes.

However, the intersection of gender with war, peace, and global security are increasingly absent from peacebuilding discourses^[1]Manchanda, Rita. “Women’s Agency in Peace Building: Gender Relations in Post-Conflict Reconstruction.” Economic and Political Weekly, 2013, … Continue reading. Despite coming a long way with Resolution 1325 which mandates the involvement of women in peacebuilding processes by the UN, an ‘inclusive’ peacebuilding process is far from reality, especially in South Asia. Here, the lived experiences of women contrast deeply with female experiences of the rest of the world. Thus, this paper seeks to analyze how South Asian women in post-conflict zones struggle to locate themselves within the larger discourse of women in peacebuilding as well as the paradox of the war-induced emancipation of women. 

The gendered nature of conflicts and peacebuilding in South Asia

Analyzing broadly the conflict and post-conflict regions of South Asia experiencing the effects of peace-building processes, a common factor is how the gendered nature of wars has been repeatedly overlooked by governments and other institutions. Delving deeper, we see that women are not only instruments used to ensure victory by being employed as nurses and caretakers, along with constituting victims since a large number of women are left behind to look after their families while men are away fighting the war^[2]Manchanda, Rita. “Women’s Agency in Peace Building: Gender Relations in Post-Conflict Reconstruction.” Economic and Political Weekly, 2013, … Continue reading. Owing to gender being a social construct and the resulting stereotypes designating women as docile, submissive, and obedient as opposed to men who are considered brave and strong, women were relegated to the domestic sphere and men into the public realm. The entrenched dichotomy in patriarchal societies not only normalizes the oppression meted out to women but also further aggravates their status as “victims” thereby establishing both war and peace of, by and for man in the most literal sense.

Etched in the hearts and minds of millions of women who witnessed and endured one of the most traumatic periods in the history of the subcontinent, the Partition of British India into India and Pakistan exemplified the above-mentioned politics of peace^[3]Butalia, Urvashi. The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India. Duke University Press Books, 2000.. Forced to once again adorn the role of both the means and the victims of war, patriarchal norms linked women’s bodies to the honor of the families. Women were killed by their relatives to uphold the family reputation in view of potential events of violence against women by the enemy^[4]D’Lima, Tanya, et al. “For the Sake of Family and Tradition: Honour Killings in India and Pakistan.” ANTYAJAA: Indian Journal of Women and Social Change, vol. 5, no. 1, 2020, pp. 22–39. … Continue reading. They were also brutally maimed, sexually abused, abducted, and sometimes forcefully made to enter wedlock with their kidnappers^[5]Patras, Ayra Indrias. “Gendered Discourse on Human Security: Women’s Contribution towards Peace Building in South Asia.” Journal of Political Studies, 2019, … Continue reading. Looking ahead into the several post-conflict situations of the war-stricken regions of the subcontinent, women continue to disproportionately face the brunt of armed conflicts especially in regions such as Nepal and Sri Lanka with a large number of women forced to take up begging and prostitution in the event of the death of the male heads of households^[6] Govindarajan, Padmapriya. “Reconciling Gender in Post-Conflict Societies: Sri Lanka and Sierra Leone”, E-International Relations, 2016, https://www.e-ir.info/pdf/64007 . While it is the women of these regions who continue to be mercilessly exploited and thus have higher stakes in armed conflicts, they are systematically omitted from demanding their rights and voicing their opinions, thereby being oppressed further.

Gender, Conflict and Social Change

In view of the gendered nature of the armed conflicts in South Asia and beyond, women are disproportionately affected in the event of wars. However, while women are condemned to be labeled as victims, conflicts ironically also produce a paradoxical effect: the empowerment of women. Since war is both a construct and practice made and catered to the male population of a region for centuries, women are left behind with their children. With the sustenance of their children and family members becoming a concern, women who once belonged to the domestic realm are often forced to step out of their houses and take up traditionally male-dominated jobs such as farming, caretaking, and sometimes even espionage. Thus, war can be seen as “a transformative social condition and not simply as a political struggle conducted through organized violence ^[7]Lubkemann, S. C. (2008). Culture in chaos: An anthropology of the social condition in war. University of Chicago Press. ”.

However, upon close analysis, this paradoxical social change in society by which women accidentally enjoy the newfound independence physically, mentally, and financially during armed conflicts is found to disappear in the post-conflict era, leading us to question the sustainability of the trend. An extensive scholarship exists today recording the various struggles undertaken by women in the Kashmir region: listening to the news to map militant activities for the protection of their sons and husbands or even constituting liberation fronts to demand basic rights and peace in Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Afghanistan^[8]Manchanda, Rita. “Women’s Agency in Peace Building: Gender Relations in Post-Conflict Reconstruction.” Economic and Political Weekly, 2013, … Continue reading. However, this widespread participation of women in politics is marked by a transition to exclusion, invisibility, and relegation of the once-leading women into the domestic sphere upon the return of the male members of the households in the post-conflict era^[9]Patras, Ayra Indrias. “Gendered Discourse on Human Security: Women’s Contribution towards Peace Building in South Asia.” Journal of Political Studies, 2019, … Continue reading. This is reflective of how these apparent gains of women are momentary in nature. 

Exemplary scholarship by Piyali Dutta^[10]Dutta, Piyali. “The Journey of Women from Victim to Peace-Maker: Women, Insurgency and Northeast India.” Space and Culture, India, vol. 6, no. 3, 2018, https://doi.org/10.20896/saci.v6i3.300., Mumtaz, and Shaheed^[11]Khawar Mumtaz and Farida Shaheed, Women of Pakistan: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back (London, 1987). Crisis Group interviews, women’s rights activists, Islamabad, November-December 2014. display that despite the massive participation of women in several national struggles, they were condemned to return to the domestic sphere and assume the traditional roles of caretakers during post-conflict peace establishment. The intersection of gender and conflicts to produce social change in the society is reflected through the argument put forward by Dr. Punam Yadav, a researcher of peacebuilding processes in South Asia: “War tends to break down patriarchal structures, and women gain, as an unintended consequence, freedom, responsibility, and worth. This gender liberation appears short-lived, as the national patriarchy begins to reassert itself after the war and expects women to return to ‘the way they were before the war’, that is, to their subordinate positions^[12]Yadav, Punam. “Can Women Benefit from War? Women’s Agency in Conflict and Post-Conflict Societies.” Journal of Peace Research, vol. 58, no. 3, 2020, pp. 449–61. Crossref, … Continue reading”.

Women and their quest to establish peace in South Asia

While women have been portrayed as victims for the longest time, conflicts lead to the transformation of women from being vulnerable to discovering agency. However, even though the momentum drastically reduces in the post-conflict era especially in South Asia on account of patriarchy, it becomes impossible not to recognize the initiatives of women in these regions towards the establishment of peace. Women have played significant roles even within the institutional structures of militant organizations of Sri Lanka and Nepal by assuming the role of soldiers and nurses, thereby reflecting how conflicts include the untold narratives of countless ordinary women^[13]Yadav, Punam. “Can Women Benefit from War? Women’s Agency in Conflict and Post-Conflict Societies.” Journal of Peace Research, vol. 58, no. 3, 2020, pp. 449–61. Crossref, … Continue reading. Condemned to remain within the domestic sphere all their lives, the analysis of wars and peacebuilding processes in the South Asian region would be indeed incomplete without the tales of these brave women.

In a desperate bid to save and protect their husbands, brothers, and sons, these women have trodden on a path to self-discovery and unity by transforming their everyday lived experiences into political acts and revolutions. Creating space for themselves in the most unique yet ordinary ways, these women have opened up spaces for dialogue and mobilization as seen in the case of women ‘wailing’ and ‘mourning’ for days in Punjab, India until they achieved peace in the region. This could also be extended to several revolts and protests where women have projected and exploited the stereotypical attributes assigned to them by society such as motherhood and display of emotions. It was witnessed in regions such as Nagaland in India where several mothers echoed their sentiments through their collective slogan “Stop All Bloodshed” along with the formation of several liberation fronts helmed by mothers in Nepal, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and even Kashmir in India to protest against their missing children or their forceful recruitment into militant organizations^[14]Manchanda, Rita. “Women’s Agency in Peace Building: Gender Relations in Post-Conflict Reconstruction.” Economic and Political Weekly, 2013, … Continue reading. Drenched in anger and despair, the nonviolent revolts such as protesting naked in Manipur, India condemning the custody death of a teenager by rape to organizations such as Women’s Action Committee, Mothers Front, and Association of War Affected Women in Sri Lanka, women in South Asia have indeed proved their mettle time and again.

Systematic exclusion of women from peacebuilding processes

While women are shown to engage in a myriad of creative ways to spark discussions they are in reality relegated to the domestic sphere in the event of the establishment of peace. Aggravating the societal pressure upon women to conform to the “ideal” construct of women dictated by the male-dominated society is the fact that most women’s collectivities founded during the conflicts fail to stand the test of time. This can be attributed to the religious, ethnic, and even sectarian divisions, unique to several South Asian regions. Reflected in the disbandment of women-based institutions in countries such as Sri Lanka and Nepal in the post-conflict era on account of the above-mentioned barriers make the South Asian case unique. Despite proving their exceptional tenacity to the rest of the world in the most tumultuous times through the establishment of collectivities such as Women for Peace in South Asia, Tehrik-e-Niswan in Pakistan, Hill Women Federation in Chittagong, and other movements, women are consistently excluded from peacebuilding processes. While mandates and international agreements exist today, the above notion stands opposed to the unique case of South Asia where peacebuilding is undertaken by women through politicizing everyday lived experiences contrary to diplomatic negotiations or written resolutions^[15]Singh, Shweta. “Gender, Conflict and Security: Perspectives from South Asia.” Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs, vol. 4, no. 2, 2017, pp. 149–57. Crossref, … Continue reading. Thus, deemed unfit to be included in the realm of international security and politics which has for decades been termed as a male-dominated sector, much of the women are marginalized once again and made invisible from high-level table talks and negotiations.

Conclusion

Despite suffering greatly from intrastate conflicts and seeking to ensure their active participation in securing peace in their homelands, women and their significant efforts continue to be ignored rather arbitrarily. While the inception of Resolution 1325 marks twenty-two years today, not much has changed since, specifically in the South Asian region. Echoing similar sentiments, Sanam Naraghi Anderlini, Founder of International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN) quoted in 2020, “This is the year of the 20th Anniversary of UNSCR 1325 and 20 years ago we had a very similar conversation as we are having today!^[16]Mellows, Lauren. “A Date to Remember: The UN Security Council in Conversation with WASL, the United Nations of Women Peacebuilders.” ICAN, 1 Sept. 2020, … Continue reading”. Anderlini’s speech reflects the harsh reality faced by some women around the world who are ignored and marginalized. Therefore, it only becomes essential for the world to take into cognizance, not only the struggles faced by women but also their valuable capacity-building skills in the establishment of a peaceful and prosperous nation.