Gender dynamics in civil
war and sexual violence
CDSN4002 POLITICAL VIOLENCE
MIRIAM MATEJOVA, PHD
APRIL 15, 2024
Agenda
 What is the role of gender/sex in
war?
 What purpose does sexual
violence have in wartime?
Gender based violence
 “violence that is targeted at women or men because of
their sex and/or their socially constructed gender roles”
(Carpenter 2006)
 Includes but is not limited to various forms of sexual violence
 Both men and women can be victims and perpetrators
 Role of gender ideas that justify or naturalize it
Wood 2006
 Why is sexual violence more frequent in wartime?
 Three reasons: increases opportunity and incentives;
instrumental role
 Individuals in peacetime differ in their interest in sexual
violence (different motivations)
 Weakened social mechanisms/constraints
 Promotion of sexual violence as a strategy of war
Why do women participate in wartime
sexual violence?
 Traditional view: women are more peaceful than men
 Substitution argument: women in rebel groups reduce the
need for rape of noncombatants
 Selection argument: violent types of people choose to join
combatant groups in order to commit violence
Cohen 2013
 Socialization argument: sexual violence
enables armed groups with forcibly recruited
fighters to create bonds of loyalty;
 “Rape is a result of the practical needs of
combatant groups faced with the challenge
of forming a coherent fighting force of
veritable strangers”
Carpenter 2006
 Adult men as most likely targets in wartime – based on
gendered assumptions about male roles
 Forcible recruitment and collectively held assumptions
about masculine identity
 Men are also victims of sexual violence; forced to
assault others or watch assaults against relatives