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Research Theme: Gender, Conflict and Transition
In recent years, the growing visibility of sexual violence against women as a primary feature of conflicts has prompted new research and analyses, which have brought attention to war and conflict as profoundly gendered phenomena. Women experience conflict as direct casualties (particularly where civilians are targeted in conflicts within states), as combatants, as refugees, and as targets of wartime sexual violence and domestic violence. As primary carers in most societies, women also bear a particular burden during conflicts, through losing family members, coping with loss of work, and sustaining community and social structures. In particular, feminist scholarship has advanced understanding of the gendered interplay of nationalism, racism and violence against women in conflict situations.
In contrast, however, the role and gendered experiences of women in transitions have received less attention. The peace processes that produce transitional mechanisms are almost exclusively male – indeed the term ‘peace process’ is often only applied when political and military elites (mostly men) come to the table to negotiate, even though ‘track two’ civil society attempts to resolve conflict (usually involving women) are typically on-going (See Peace Agreements as a Means for Promoting Gender Equality and Ensuring Participation of Women).
More generally, feminist scholars have documented women’s extensive engagement in peace initiatives, and in national liberation and democracy struggles, followed by their subsequent marginalization. Further, while feminist advocates have successfully sought the inclusion of women and gender-based violations in various peace agreements and transitional justice mechanisms, such as tribunals and truth commissions, they simultaneously remain ambivalent about the capacity of traditional legal and political institutions to deliver gender justice and equality. Furthermore, feminist legal and political theory has provided well-documented critiques of the public/private divide, the limits of the law and liberal democracy in providing equality for women, and the difficulties of feminist theorization of the state, which are all directly relevant to the study of transitional justice.
Aims of TJI Research in this
• Critically examine the role of law and legal institutions in addressing gender-based violations in conflict situations, including sexual violence and other forms of violence against women.
• Provide analyses of the gendered dimensions of legal and political institutions and processes in transitions.
• Document and develop analyses of women’s political participation and feminist politics in transitions
• Bring wider feminist analyses of international human rights and humanitarian law and political theory to bear on questions of transitional justice
Indicative Projects
• Gender, law, conflict and transition (Christine Bell, Catherine O’Rourke; Fionnuala Ní Aolaín, Catherine Turner)
• Feminist political and legal theory: rethinking democracy, equality and human rights (Christine Bell, Catherine O’Rourke, Niamh Reilly, Eilish Rooney)
• Women’s movements, civil society and peace agreements (Catherine O’Rourke)
• Female sexual slavery, trafficking legislation, and international law (Adrienne Reilly)
• Transnational feminist advocacy and women’s human rights (Niamh Reilly)
• Women and the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement