Women Waging War and Peace International Perspectives of Women's Roles in Conflict and Post-Conflict Reconstruction

This collection of essays explores the role of women as they participate in both conflict and peacemaking. The essays, contributed by scholars and practitioners from around the world, do not look at women as victims or perpetrators, but instead examine their behavior in conflict zones and their involvement in conflict - how it affects them, how they are active participants, and the initiatives they take in intervention, conflict resolution, and peace building. The book thus demonstrates remarkable cases of agency, where women were the authors of change. This may happen in a violent way, as with female suicide bombers or the Black Widows of Chechnya, or women may actively help to stop conflict or participate in peacebuilding activities, as they did in Rwanda or Liberia. The thematically organized chapters cover issues of women waging war, women intervening in war, women waging peace, and women sustaining peace, all substantiated with case studies and first hand accounts. Women Waging War and Peace will be an essential resource to anyone researching conflict processes and women's agency.

Foreword by Andrea BartoliEditors' BiographiesNotes on ContributorsPrefaceAcknowledgementsList of Abbreviations1    Overview and Introduction    Sandra I. Cheldelin and Maneshka Eliatamby2    Victims of Rape and Gendercide: All Wars    Sandra I. CheldelinSection I:  Women Waging War3    Searching for Emancipation: Eritrea, Nepal and Sri Lanka    Maneshka Eliatamby4    Dying for Identity: Chechnya and Sri Lanka    Maneshka Eliatamby and Ekaterina Romanova5    Fighting Young: Liberia and Sierra LeonePatricia A. MauldenSection II:  Women Intervening in War6    Challenging Warfare: Sri Lanka    Maneshka Eliatamby7    Building a Peace Network    Ambassador Swanee HuntSection III:  Women Waging Peace8    Countering the Currents: Zimbabwe        Martha Mutisi9    Engendering Recovery: Rwanda    Peace Uwineza and Vanessa Noël Brown10    Rebuilding the Gulf:  United States    Terra Tolley11    Conferencing Serious Crime: United States        Jennifer LangdonSection IV:  Women Sustaining Peace12    Promises of Justice: Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan    Susan F. Hirsch13    Engaging Legislation: Liberia and Chechnya    Ekaterina Romanova and Erica Sewell14    Challenging Patriarchy: Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey        Saira Yamin15    Organizing the Disenfranchised: Haiti and the Dominican Republic    Yves-Reneé JenningsSection V:  Conclusion16    Challenging the Dominant Narrative        Sandra I. Cheldelin and Maneshka EliatambyNotes    Index