The Impact of Armed Conflicts on Women in South Asia

The Impact of Armed Conflicts on Women in South Asia

By- Ava Darshan Shreshta and Rita Thapa (eds)

Published in association with Regional Centre for Strategic Studies, Colombo

The book exposes the different ways in which violent conflicts increase patriarchal controls on women and the impact of militarization on women and men, on masculinities and femininities. In all the societies and communities under discussion in the five countries, the authors point to the different ways in which women react and respond to the conflict. They become victims of various acts of repression and abuse. The book exposes that even armed militant women choose to respond to violence with violence. On the other side militants’ mothers respond to violence with non-violent means of political agitation.

The authors articulate a general position on the need to redefine democracy within the South Asian context, in a way which recognizes minority rights and acknowledges the nature of all South Asian states as multicultural and multinational. Within this overarching framework,
the authors see women’s involvement in militancy and in peace building as enabling a new construction of democracy, human rights and citizenship. The need for a reconceptualization of security to mean human security and peace with justice, rights and equality is both
advocated and emphasized.

In this process, the authors address the need to begin to deconstruct the exercise of masculinist power in its different forms, especially as played out in war and conflict.

Ava Darshan Shreshta (PhD) is working as a Social Development/General Consultant in Nepal. She has worked for the government, United Nations agencies, bilateral agencies and several donors including the International Non-Governmental Organizations for the past two decades. She is also affiliated to many NGOs. Her research work primarily focuses on poverty, reproductive health, micro credit, employment and empowerment of women. More recently she has been researching on conflict/insurgency and its impact on women.

A feminist activist, Rita Thapa is globally recognized for her ground-breaking work in
founding Tewa, the Nepal Women’s Fund. Currently she is engaged in peace-building work primarily through ‘Nagarik Aawaz’ which she helped found in 2001. Rita is former chair of the Board of the Global Fund for Women and is a current board member of the Urgent Action Fund.

 

ISBN  81-7304-724-3    2007   228p.   Rs.575/ pounds 40

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