Development, Women and War: Feminist Perspectives

Policy makers, practitioners, and academics discuss long-running conflicts in the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe and highlight the shared experiences of women, and their potential to contribute both to war and particularly to peace. They consider why women’s concerns have yet to be placed at the forefront of both analysis and practical outcomes, present an overview of different feminist approaches to peace building and conflict resolution, and put forward concrete policy measures to achieve these ends. They argue for the need to move beyond the myriad projects that involve women to consider the factors that contribute to the relatively poor overall impact of such projects, an outcome that often results from a failure to understand the underlying gendered power relations and the dynamics of social change.

Haleh Afshar is Professor of Politics at the University of York.

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CONTENTS

Preface
Deborah Eade

1. Introduction: War and peace: what do women contribute?
Haleh Afshar

The 'sex war' and other wars: towards a feminist approach to peace building
Donna Pankhurst

Women and wars: some trajectories towards a feminist peace
Haleh Afshar

Developing policy on integration and re/construction in Kosova
Chris Corrin

Kosovo: missed opportunities, lessons for the future
Lesley Abdela

Training the uniforms: gender and peacekeeping operations
Angela Mackay

Palestinian women, violence, and the peace process
Maria Holt

Women and conflict transformation: influences, roles, and experiences
Ann Jordan

Fused in combat: gender relations and armed conflict
Judy El-Bushra

Women in Afghanistan: passive victims of the borga or active social participants?
Elaheh Rostami Povey

2. Introduction: Peace and reconstruction: agency and agencies
Deborah Eade

Relief agencies and moral standing in war: principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and solidarity
Hugo Slim

Aid: a mixed blessing
Mary B. Anderson

Women and war: protection through empowerment in El Salvador
Martha Thompson and Deborah Eade

Sustainable peace building in the South: experiences from Latin America
Jenny Pearce

Training for Peace
Glenda Caine

Making peace as development practice
Sumaya Farhat-Naser and Gila Svirsky

Building bridges for peace
Rola Hamed

Human security and reconstruction efforts in Rwanda: impact on the lives of women
Myriam Gervais

Mission impossible: gender, conflict, and Oxfam GB
Suzanne Williams

Resources

© Oxfam GB 2004.
ISBN 0 85598 487 2
All rights reserved.
Available from Stylus Publishing