Women are the worst sufferers of conflict. Study after study has shown this. All over the world, women constitute the majority among people fleeing conflict; they often find themselves pitchforked into the role of the sole breadwinner of the family in an environment that is hardly conducive for economic activity; they are vulnerable to sexual violence and exploitation by combatants and non-combatants alike; for this reason, they are also the most susceptible to sexually transmitted diseases. As there is much at stake for women in preventing conflict, it follows that women would be most effective in peace-building and mediatory roles. But this has not been widely acknowledged or even accepted. That the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution in 2000 (No.1325) urging member states to “ensure increased representation of women at all decision-making levels in national, regional and international institutions and mechanisms for the prevention, management, and resolution of conflict” says much about the lack of women's involvement in these roles. Eleven years later, the situation is not much improved. Last week, the Security Council held deliberations on how to better implement Resolution 1325, at which Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and the head of UN-Women, Michelle Bachelet, noted that female participation in preventing and resolving conflict was still low and much more needed to be done in this direction.
The problem is that peace building and conflict resolution cannot take place in a vacuum; they are a part of the political process and of policy-making. Women are not adequately represented in either. Their empowerment is inadequate everywhere, not just in conflict regions. In India, political parties have dragged their feet for 15 years on a Bill to reserve 33 per cent of the seats in Parliament for women; after the Bill made it through the Rajya Sabha in 2010, the government developed cold feet and failed to present it in the Lok Sabha. Unless countries resolutely address the gender gap in decision-making, the potential of women will remain unfulfilled. The U.N. also needs to introspect. While it is all very well to talk about women and conflict prevention, it must be remembered that the longest and still ongoing conflict of the new millennium, the ‘war on terror' in Afghanistan, is being waged on the back of Security Council resolutions. More recently, the Council authorised the NATO bombing campaign in Libya, ostensibly to ‘protect' civilians, but it ended up killing hundreds of them. It is hypocritical to encourage conflict, on the one hand, and make pious declarations about how women are better at cleaning up the mess, on the other.
Keywords: women's issues, sexual violence
Women are part of our society and they have right to serve the society,making these reservations laws arenot alone sufficient for example The visit of Pakistani FM in India,the lady is performing her duty but the view point of media is gone to her attire,IS this is completing women? People should change their mentality about women's strength and productivity.
Despite of the fact that women play key role in everybody's life, our society still follows the pattern of "Misogyny". I wonder about the society attitude and their seed of narrow mentality.Does the society thinks in such a way that feminity is suppresed due to the pain bearing capability of her at time of giving birth.Almighty created man and women with different features but with equal power and dignity. It is the humans who divided us on the basis of testosterone level.I get astonished by this belief of Indian society though they knows Mrs Pratibha Patil encounter the country's issue with utmost care and talent as our former president Dr. A.P.J Kalam did. Live example are present in front of our eyeballs but still we believe in testosterone level which have no relation with mental power and capability of both of the genders.
Irom Shahrmila's crusade for justice in Manipur has not received due attention till recently. It's amazing how the media and the public have conveniently forgotten this lone warrior who has been fasting for repeal of AFSPA for more than a decade.The civilians have been suffering a lot. People have no time to discuss the fate of democracy there. Is it not time to recognize the issue and take steps to rmedy the situation
It is regrettable that UN acknowledges after a decade that there has
been little progress in the implementation of its resolutions No.1325
of 2000 to empower women increasingly in conflict management. As
pointed out in the article, the deliberate policies of governments
with vested interests ‘to pinch the baby and also rock the cradle’
seeding conflicts all over the world had rendered the women reps.
ineffective in their roles.Best method to resolve conflicts is not to
brew it in the first place. UNDP wing of UN has been active in
uplifting the status of women and removing the gender bias. National
policy for empowerment of Women 2001 in India has achieved much
progress; but not as rapid as it should be. It is against odds that
these policies are being implemented mainly because of the
chauvinistic mind set of the male. Education of girl child is the only
route to empower women and that needs to be aggressively followed and
implemented.
It would be of interest for the readers to know a passage from
Richard 11,a play by the great william Shakespeare about the
cnflicts and war between between themselves.It runs like this,
" It is not the trial of a women's war,a bitter clamour of
two eager tongues can arbitrate the cause between us'''".It is
from the mouth of Henry Bolingbroke the future king before the
king Richard,
We have many instances of wars and conflicts among women
themselves.
seshachalam gopalakrishnan
chennai
5 th nov
Really Women have been neglected since long. committe, commissions promise to empower women in diffrent ways but what is the reality? in the decision making process, how many women take part?. A very less percentage of women raise voice in the decisin making process.Women's generally face serious social difficulties to present herself in the decision making process. if they present herself in the meeting, they are either dominated by influential people or they do not receive adequate education to raise voice. Illiteracy is also a major problem for women. It proves thet ineqality prevails highly in the society. So, actions and awareness need to be devloped for social upliftment of Women.
women are equal to men
i am very much agree with your point but, why tell me at one time you said that women are equal to men...then why they need more reservation the thing is to take women up, for that why you don't make a system where a man and a women can work together.....why there is not the freedom to speak to the higher authorities directly
our system should need to transparent then every women can speak freely and then men too become liable....
there should be an council who listen us and act upon it all this i want to express...then all problem can be solved
we want sada haq!!!!!!!
It has been proven now and again that women perform equally with men
in every field if they are given equal opportunities. They have been suppressed allover the world and subjected to inhumane treatment. In
today's modern world we have accepted women's equal states in
principal but in practice we behave with primitive mentality. Killing
of female fetus is an example of how we are prejudiced at women. It
is a must that women should be incorporated in decision making
process which will empower them and enable to fight against any crime
against them.
Weak have since long been a subject of oppression at the hands of
those in power as our male dominated societies have always hailed
machismo. Logic has always been a victim at the hands of physical
strength. Women, being physically weaker have no doubt been a victim
to this attitude since ages. To change this attitude, we need long
term plans along with quick fixes. Though stringent punishment to the
tormentors is a must to empower women, there will always be a need of
awareness in the society, especially among women, to stand for each
other. Its time we start displaying collective responsibility as a
society than waiting for sporadic events of individual heroism.
Combatants have historically used rape as a weapon in war. Perhaps the
most horrific example is Darfur where girls and women were imprisoned
naked in rape camps by the Janjaweed militia. This really is the nadir
of humanity.
Hello sir, Women are the enemies for themselves.... why blame men always.... They should concentrate on basic education, health care. Once educated .... no one can exploite them... The power of thinking/empowerment will come to them. Concentrate in educating yourself first
Well this is a pressing issue which needs urgent resolution.Talking about representaion of woman they can be empowered more by imparting education aand enlighment by making them aware about their rights.Having said that the woman commsion should be empowered with more powers and increase its influence in other areas affection twoman in all walks of life. The system should have checks and balances at various levels that includes stricter rules for security of womans and children.
We seem to have forgotten that Indian women being treated as second or even third class citizens have come down from our epics like Ramayana and Mahabharata, epics that we treat as literary shrines and uphold to the letter. Draupadi was put as a wager by none other than her husband and was disrobed in public. Sita was sent off for a long period by her husband to prove her fidelity. Surpanakha's nose was cut off. The practice of sati is encouraged even now. Such instances have made it abjectly clear that our women can be treated as objects, not as human beings with respect and honour. Hence all this talk about women's empowerment is bullshit. Women's position in our society can only improve if there is a social revolution in the country. I for one did expect that the only "man" among all our PMs to date, Indira Gandhi, would exercise this revolution but she was a disappointment in this regard.
Women are as capable of men to shine in every sphere of human activity, but due to barriers erected by male dominated patriarchal society with an objective to keep women under their control,they had to undergo various trials and tribulations before leaving indelible mark in human consciousness.Women are the worst victims in the conflict zones across the world.They are the easy prey to sexual exploitation and violence unleashed by the oppressors in the war zones.But there are women like this year noble peace prize winners who with their sheer grit and determination took up cudgels against the injustice perpetrated against them by the society and emerged as a source of inspiration to women to break the shackles of violence and discrimination inflicted upon them under one pretext or other.It should be understood that society where gender equality remains on paper will not sustain its economic growth and deliver its fruitful benefits to all.
Indeed the capability of women in decision making and involvement in politics is under estimated. Remember the days of great great Indira Gandhi who followed the spirit of independent Bharat on the lines of Mahatma Gandhi. A woman unlike males is trained throughout her life and show a greater sense of responsibility. If given a chance a woman can not only outperform in decision making but also can be the better judge in analysis and problem solving. It is very necessary to provide the legislation for uplifting and opening up the new avenues for the women.
There are so many laws and resolutions on the women's rights in international and national level,and also so many disussions and delibrations.but till now there is nothing positive happened with them.As most of the countries plays hipocratic character on international arena,which generally leads to misuse of all powers and authority,which further tamed the rights of half population in the world.
The article clearly reflects that, in the name of women empowerment, we are just satisfying our ego rather than actually implementing that. But now the wheel is revolving gradually from male dominance soceity to female dominance.
For the first time, I do not agree with the editorial that women involvement in decision-making would help preventing the conflicts. It is understandable that the women are victims of conflicts. Neverthless, involving women in decision-making may not necessarily prevent the conflicts. The important thing is that we need people with integrity, altruism and capable of making negotiations that result win-win propositions. These are important traits of such person who can actually prevent the conflicts and gender never really matters.
It feels very sad to learn that there is not much change in the Women's position in the Male dominated societies. Woman has proved herself in almost all the fields.We don't need an expert to certify that Women are equally good rather better than Men as far as endurance and hard work is concerned. It's not possible to change or eliminate this gender discrimination unless strong initiative is taken by so called 'Males' in the society.
Surely potential of women remains unfulfilled and even untapped. In UP and Tamil Nadu woman Chief Ministers rule. Even they do precious litte to empower women in their respective States. Every promise is for the women, but every perfomance is against them. This is hyper hypocricy. Women exude cold common sense at the time of crisis. They are endowed with deep understanding, as a mother exmplifies it in the care of her child. They exhibit excellent management skills in the running of the household, where the men folks fail to measure up to them. This is proven hypothesis. Women are only subdued by the the sheer animalism and muscular power of man. It is an innate, illusory and traditional prejudice that makes man pitted against the grant of more freedom to women. The chronic enemy of women is illiteracy. With the recent initiatives and awareness, there is encouraging ray of hope for women. Hope our Parliamentarians would pass the Women's Reservation Bill sans further delay.
Excellent Article.
Women become the sole breadwinner for the home because the men are dead or disabled. By this criteria, men may still be the worst sufferers of conflict.
Sexual violence is rampant. Girls and women ages 15 to 44 are more likely to be maimed or killed by men than by malaria, cancer, war or traffic accidents combined, accordind to Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF).
Reservation of 33% seats in Parliament was commendable step taken under the UPA regime. But much needed to be on the other fronts as well. Indian govt. has been doing a lot for education, health for women residing the rural India. But it's very unpleasing to see that women feel more insecure now. Recent case of eve teasing in Mumbai, big toll of rape cases in Delhi, female foeticide and Domestic violence speak loud about that. Some strong and constructive steps have to be taken to secure women.
Women are indeed the worst victims of Wars and tyranny all through the ages. It began in the dark ages in europe, the horrifying stories of 'witch-hunts' and burning of adulterers. In these days, feminism has failed in some parts of the world,Afghan women are forced to surrender to the brutality of Obscurantist male folk, the situations in the radically mobilized tribal belts of Pakistan and theocracy of Iran, where women are sentenced to stoning for an alleged adultery. French government study shows that, women make a negligible number in acts of crime & terror, shockingly over 95% of Suicide bombers and militants in the world comprise of men. At the same time, there is a tremendous rise in atrocities against women all over the world. It is important for the world media to stand united against 'misogynistic' societies and governments. only when our women are freed from the chains of social repression and domestic harassment, we can possibly claim to be living in a civilized world.
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