Africa

Citation:

Mkutua, Kennedy Agade. 2008. “Uganda: Pastoral Conflict & Gender Relations.” Review of African Political Economy 35 (116): 237-54.

Author: Kennedy Agade Mkutua

Abstract:

This article uses testimonials from women and men to ask how pastoral gender relations are configured, how they are being altered in the context of armed conflict, including violent cattle raiding, in the last four decades and how they are coping with their resulting pastoral livelihoods becoming increasingly unsustainable. In addition, the status of both men and women as defined by marriage is declining as marriage is dependent upon a diminishing cattle economy. It is here that women are being required to take on new roles for their survival and the survival of the family, including making decisions about acquiring guns and ammunition, and branching out into alternative livelihoods. Men are gaining power over women in some respects because they remain the owners of weapons, but conflict has also created space for women to gain independence and status. The article considers the benefits of this situation for women, but also notes the new risks to their physical and mental health. It then argues that in turn there are both positive and negative aspects for the whole family and the stability and sustainability of the Karimojong society as a whole.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Men, Gender Roles, Health, Mental Health, Households, Livelihoods Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Uganda

Year: 2008

Citation:

Kalra, Monika Satya. 2001. “Forced Marriage: Rwanda’s Secret Revealed.” U.C. Davis Journal of International Law & Policy 7: 197.

Author: Monika Satya Kalra

Abstract:

The author of this article argues that the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) should charge forced marriage as a crime of sexual violence. Part I explores sexual violence during the 1994 Rwandan genocide adn the phenomenon of forced marriage. Part II addresses the importance of charging perpetrators with the crime of forced marriage and the role the OTP has in ensuring justice is done. Finally, Partly III discusses the legal framework for prosecuting forced marriage under the ICTR Statute. Finally, Part IV offers recommendations for trying and investigating the crime (Women's Human Rights Resources Database). 

Topics: Genocide, International Law, International Criminal Law, Sexual Violence, SV against Women Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa Countries: Rwanda

Year: 2001

Citation:

Matsa, Mark, and Timothy Mutekwa. 2009. “Property Rights and Environmental Conflicts in Africa: An Exploration of the Main Issues.” Ethiopian Journal of Environmental Studies and Management 2 (1): 35-41. doi:10.4314/ejesm.v2i1.43500.

Authors: Mark Matsa, Timothy Mutekwa

Abstract:

Shared resources often engender environmental conflict. This is because the activities of some groups of users of a resource are often detrimental to others. This paper discusses the relationship between property rights and environmental conflicts in Africa. It illustrates this relationship both at intra-state as well as at inter-state levels. Gender relations and property rights are also discussed given that women, who undertake about 80% of farm work on the continent, are not accorded equal say as men in resource ownership and resource management. The paper suggests how the problem of resource ownership can be addressed in order to minimize or prevent environmental conflicts and promote development at country as well as at continental level.

Topics: Environment, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Rights, Property Rights Regions: Africa

Year: 2009

Citation:

Kashyap, Rina. 2009. Narrative and Truth: A Feminist Critique of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Contemporary Justice Review 12 (4): 449-467.

Author: Rina Kashyap

Topics: Feminisms, Gender, Justice, Transitional Justice, TRCs, Peacebuilding, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Race Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: South Africa

Year: 2009

Citation:

Moran, Mary. 2012. “Our Mothers Have Spoken: Synthesizing Old and New Forms of Women’s Political Authority in Liberia.” Journal of International Women’s Studies 13 (4): 51–66.

Author: Mary Moran

Abstract:

This paper argues that the 2005 election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf to the Liberian presidency is best understood in the historical and cultural context of pre-war authority-bearing positions available to women, rather than as an outcome of the Liberian civil war itself. Against a literature that tends to view “traditional” African societies as hostile to both democracy and women’s rights, I contend that gender, conflict, and democracy are inter-twined in more complex relationships. Post-conflict societies such as Liberia are interesting not only as sites of intervention by international organizations seeking to capitalize on the “window of opportunity” available to re-make gender relations, but as places where truly innovative discourses of women’s political participation are likely to emerge.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Democracy / Democratization, Gender, Women, Governance, Elections, International Organizations, Political Participation, Post-Conflict, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Liberia

Year: 2012

Citation:

Peterman, Amber. 2011. “Women’s Property Rights and Gendered Policies: Implications for Women’s Long-Term Welfare in Rural Tanzania.” Journal of Development Studies 47 (1): 1–30. doi:10.1080/00220381003600366.

Author: Amber Peterman

Abstract:

This paper evaluates effects of community-level women's property and inheritance rights on women's economic outcomes using a 13 year longitudinal panel from rural Tanzania. In the preferred model specification, inverse probability weighting is applied to a woman-level fixed effects model to control for individual-level time invariant heterogeneity and attrition. Results indicate that changes in women's property and inheritance rights are significantly associated with women's employment outside the home, self-employment and earnings. Results are not limited to sub-groups of marginalised women. Findings indicate lack of gender equity in sub-Saharan Africa may inhibit economic development for women and society as a whole.

Topics: Development, Economies, Gender, Women, Livelihoods, Rights, Property Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Tanzania

Year: 2011

Citation:

Christian, Mervyn, Octave Safari, Paul Ramazani, Gilbert Burnham, and Nancy Glass. 2011. “Sexual and Gender Based Violence Against Men in the Democratic Republic of Congo: Effects on Survivors, Their Families and the Community.” Medicine, Conflict, and Survival 27 (4): 227–46.

Authors: Mervyn Christian, Octave Safari, Paul Ramazani, Gilbert Burnham, Nancy Glass

Abstract:

Media and service provider reports of sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) perpetrated against men in armed conflicts have increased. However, response to these reports has been limited, as existing evidence and programs have primarily focused on prevention and response to women and girl survivors of SGBV. This study aims to contribute to the evidence of SGBV experienced by males by advancing our understanding of the definition and characteristics of male SGBV and the overlap of health, social and economic consequences on the male survivor, his family and community in conflict and post-conflict settings. The qualitative study using purposive sampling was conducted from June-August 2010 in the South Kivu province of Eastern DRC, an area that has experienced over a decade of armed conflict. Semi structured individual interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with adult male survivors of SGBV, the survivors' wife and/or friend, health care and service providers, community members and leaders. This study found that SGBV against men, as for women, is multi-dimensional and has significant negative physical, mental, social and economic consequences for the male survivor and his family. SGBV perpetrated against men and boys is likely common within a conflict-affected region but often goes unreported by survivors and others due to cultural and social factors associated with sexual assaults, including survivor shame, fear of retaliation by perpetrators and stigma by community members. All key stakeholders in our study advocated for improvements and programs in several areas: (1) health care services, including capacity to identify survivors and increased access to clinical care and psychosocial support for male survivors; (2) economic development initiatives, including microfinance programs, for men and their families to assist them to regain their productive role in the family; (3) community awareness and education of SGBV against men to reduce stigma and discrimination and increase acceptance of survivors by family and larger community. (Ibid, 227)

Keywords: Democratic Republic of Congo, sexual violence, gender-based violence

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Men, Boys, Gender-Based Violence, Sexual Violence, SV against Men Regions: Africa, Central Africa Countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo

Year: 2011

Citation:

Nabukeera-Musoke, Harriet. 2009. “Transitional Justice and Gender in Uganda: Making Peace, Failing Women during the Peace Negotiation Process.” African Journal on Conflict Resolution 9 (2): 121-9.

Author: Harriet Nabukeera-Musoke

Annotation:

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Justice, Transitional Justice, Peace Processes Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Uganda

Year: 2009

Citation:

Wiegink, Nikkie. 2013. “Why Did the Soldiers Not Go Home? Demobilized Combatants, Family Life, and Witchcraft in Post-War Mozambique.” Antropological Quaterly 86 (1): 107–32.

Author: Nikkie Wiegink

Abstract:

Drawing on the role of witchcraft in relationships between ex-RENAMO combatants and their relatives in central Mozambique, this article suggests a different understanding of reintegration processes of ex-combatants, not merely shaped by their role as perpetrators of violence, but situated in the complexities of social life. It is argued that the reintegration of former combatants in Mozambique was shaped by certain changes within family relations, which were contingent to the war (but not necessarily to war violence), creating an enabling environment for witchcraft dynamics, which influenced former combatants' settlement decisions.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Post-Conflict Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Mozambique

Year: 2013

Citation:

Kleinbooi, Karin. 2013. “Reshaping Women’s Land Rights on Communal Rangeland.” African Journal of Range & Forage Science 30 (1-2): 17–21.

Author: Karin Kleinbooi

Abstract:

This paper aims to contribute to the debates on communal rangelands and analyses the gendered dimension of land rights and land access in the rural areas of Namaqualand. The actual gender relations within rural communities and the emergence of strategies that are being pursued in communal land processes are obscured and often ignored in policies about communal rangelands, which overemphasise ‘the ecological and economic impact’ and the balancing of these dimensions. As active, primary users, women play a central role in livelihoods supported by communal rangelands yet their access to land is mediated through their relationships with men, effectively circumventing women's land autonomy. A wider debate is necessary to advance the largely superficial policy considerations of women's position in relation to communal rangelands land and their social exclusion on the basis of traditional control of land, forms of access and claiming of use rights. The paper discusses the complexity of land rights under communal land tenure and argues that, despite traditional and policy barriers, women in traditional systems of male-dominated land rights have had some success in accessing communal rangelands. Greater policy impetus is necessary to leverage equitable and independent land access for women amidst debates about management of communal rangelands.

Topics: Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Land Tenure, Livelihoods, Political Economies, Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Africa, Southern Africa Countries: Namibia, South Africa

Year: 2013