The gender dimensions of armed violence: conference report

Feminist activists and scholars have long argued that there is a connection between gender and war-making.The virtually universal predominance of men in fighting wars has lent credence to arguments that find the causes of war in phenomena ranging from male hormones and evolution to patriarchal war systems and hegemonic, militarist forms of masculinity.Scholars exploring the link between democracy and the tendency of countries to engage in war have provided quantitative evidence linking gender inequality and the likelihood of armed conflict, seemingly lending support to these feminist arguments.On February 25-26, 2013, the Graduate Institute's Programme on Gender and Global Change (PGGC) hosted an international workshop "The Gender Dimensions of Armed Violence".This event sought to instigate a conversation between feminist scholars and scholars in the area of peace and conflict studies who have identified gender as a relevant variable in explaining armed conflict and gender relations as a significant dimension of armed conflict.The purpose of the workshop was to identify promising avenues for further research by drawing on these separate streams of scholarship.Feminist researchers, scholars specializing in peace and conflict studies, practitioners, and students assembled in Geneva to discuss the gender dimensions of violence prevention and peacekeeping, transitional justice, civilian victimization, sexual violence, gendered power relations before, during and after violent conflict, peacebuilding and local ownership.Participants interrogated the state of academic research on gender and armed conflict as well as policy-relevant lessons learned from implementing Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.