Citation:

Mejía Jerez, Yuly Andrea, y Priscyll Anctil Avoine. 2017. “Corporalidades y subjetividades sexuales: el caso de las mujeres excombatientes de las guerrillas colombianas.” Prospectiva: Revista de Trabajo Social e Intervención Social, no. 23, 97-122.

Authors: Yuly Andrea Mejía Jerez, Priscyll Anctil Avoine

Abstract:

El ingreso temprano de mujeres a grupos armados al margen de la ley implica la vivencia de experiencias que transmutan roles de género tradicionales, el cuidado del cuerpo, la construcción de la sexualidad y de las subjetividades. Dentro de la estructura bélica, y posteriormente, en el proceso de reintegración, las mujeres se enfrentan a múltiples decisiones en las distintas etapas de su sexualidad. Con el fin del conflicto armado con las FARC-EP, ellas se encuentran en un nuevo momento de sus vidas, pasando del contexto caracterizado por el miedo, la violencia y las ausencias estatales, a asumir otras posiciones sociales como futuras agentes de cambio. El objetivo de este artículo es reflexionar sobre las dimensiones corporales de las mujeres en las guerrillas colombianas, para contrastar el impacto de la violencia y el conflicto en la constitución de las subjetividades desde una dimensión sexual y de género. Para ello, se utiliza la metodología cualitativa de análisis documental y, además, se tienen en cuenta observaciones a partir de investigaciones anteriores realizadas con la Corporación Descontamina.

Keywords: sexualidad, mujer, Conflicto Armado, cuerpo, cuidado corporal, guerrillas colombianas

Topics: Armed Conflict [2], Civil Wars [3], Combatants [4], Female Combatants [5], DDR [6], Gender [7], Women [8], Military Forces & Armed Groups [9], Peace Processes [10] Regions: Americas [11], South America [12] Countries: Colombia [13]

Year: 2017

Citation:

Tarnaala, Elisa. 2019. “Legacies of Violence and the Unfinished Past: Women in Post-Demobilization Colombia and Guatemala.” Peacebuilding 7 (1): 103–17.

Author: Elisa Tarnaala

Abstract:

This article examines the historically grounded social acceptance of impunity and the role of unwanted actors in peace and transitional processes. The article argues from a post-demobilization violence perspective that counter-democratic developments, which have historical and global roots, condition peacebuilding and impose important limits on the deepening of inclusion. In Colombia and Guatemala, internationally backed peacebuilding activities occurred in the same regions where the local authorities continued their partnership with criminal and authoritarian actors. Thus, parallel to the shift towards greater political and economic stability at the national level, attacks against human rights activists and environmental activists, intra-community violence, violence against women, prostitution and the trafficking of girls continued at the local level and in some areas increased.

Keywords: Colombia, Guatemala, demobilization, women, violence, historical legacies

Topics: Armed Conflict [2], Civil Wars [3], DDR [6], Peacebuilding [15], Peace Processes [10], Post-Conflict [16], Violence [17] Regions: Americas [11], Central America [18], South America [12] Countries: Colombia [13], Guatemala [19]

Year: 2019

Citation:

Méndez, Andrea. 2012. “Militarized Gender Performativity: Women and Demobilization in Colombia’s FARC and AUC.” PhD diss., Queen’s University.

Author: Andrea Méndez

Abstract:

Women are usually represented as victims in the literature on conflict and conflict resolution. While women are indeed victims of violence in the context of conflict, this representation excludes the experiences of women who have joined and fought in illegal armed groups. Little is known about the lives of women who fight alongside men in illegal militarized organizations. These women are often overlooked during peace negotiations and in the design and implementation of Disarmament, Demobilization, and Reintegration programs, affecting their conditions and experiences during the transition to civilian life. The Colombian conflict presents an important case study regarding the militarization of women in illegal armed groups, and the experience of demobilization, and is the focus of this dissertation. To address this case study, the concept of “militarized gender performativity” is advanced, drawing on the works of Cynthia Enloe and Judith Butler. In the Colombian case, both left–wing and right–wing armed groups have incorporated women into their ranks. This research elucidates the effects of non– state militarism on the social processes that produce and reproduce gender systems in two of Colombia’s illegal armed groups, uncovering how the FARC and the AUC construct, negotiate, challenge, or reinforce gender roles. The research indicates that there are significant differences in the way this is done. Interviews with ex–combatants from the FARC and the AUC show that women’s sexuality plays a central role in the militarization of women combatants in both organizations, but there are specific policies that establish the nature of the relationships in each group. These differences represent distinct militarized femininities which maintain aspects of traditional gender relations while transforming others according to the needs of the organization in question. The transformation of gender identities in each of the armed groups reveals the performative nature of gender roles in a militarized context.

Topics: Armed Conflict [2], Civil Wars [3], Combatants [4], Female Combatants [5], DDR [6], Gender [7], Gender Roles [21], Military Forces & Armed Groups [9], Militarization [22], Peace Processes [10], Sexuality [23] Regions: Americas [11], South America [12] Countries: Colombia [13]

Year: 2012

Citation:

Weber, Sanne. 2018. “From Victims and Mothers to Citizens: Gender-Just Transformative Reparations and the Need for Public and Private Transitions.” International Journal of Transitional Justice 12 (1): 88–107.

Author: Sanne Weber

Abstract:

Colombia’s 2011 Victims’ Law is often seen as an example of best practice in transitional justice, combining land restitution and individual and collective reparations. This law builds on the increasingly popular concept of transformative reparations and moreover prescribes a ‘differential focus’ to guarantee the inclusion and protection of groups considered to be especially vulnerable. Based on nine months of ethnographic and participatory visual fieldwork in two villages in Colombia’s Caribbean coast, this article discusses how this ‘differential focus’ plays out in practice by critiquing the way in which it is based on a highly essentialized and narrow understanding of gender. Based on the experiences and ideas of women involved in the Victims’ Law process, the article suggests how a focus on citizenship could offer a new approach to reparations, with more potential for transforming gender inequality.

Keywords: gender, reparations, citizenship, Colombia, displacement

Topics: Gender [7], Gendered Power Relations [25], Gender Equality/Inequality [26], Justice [27], Transitional Justice [28], Peace Processes [10], Rights [29], Land Rights [30] Regions: Americas [11], South America [12] Countries: Colombia [13]

Year: 2018

Citation:

Gruner, Sheila, and Charo Mina Rojas. 2018. “Black and Indigenous Territorial Movements: Women Striving for Peace in Colombia.” Canadian Woman Studies 33 (1–2): 211-21.

Authors: Sheila Gruner, Charo Mina Rojas

Abstract:

In this article, we will explore Black and Indigenous peoples' efforts at peace building, particularly women, as a reflection of ethnoterritorial organizational struggles in Colombia during the recent peace negotiations and during the subsequent and ongoing "implementation phase" of the "Final Agreement to End the Conflict and Construct a Stable and Lasting Peace" (or Havana Peace Accords). First, we offer some historical context to the conflict from the perspective of Indigenous and particularly Black communities, followed by some general background on the peace agreements, emphasizing the role that women and ethnoterritorial organizations have played and are playing to ensure an "ethnic" and gendered perspective in the construction of peace. We then focus on some of the grassroots mobilization and advocacy/lobbying pivotal to the achievements related to the ethnic chapter. We also reflect briefly on how "gender" was constructed as a threat to conservative elements of Colombian society during the referendum on the peace accords. Following this, we explore contributions of the Ethnic Commission for Peace and Defense of Territorial Rights, which was formed to lobby the Havana negotiators for self-representation in the peace process.

Followed by this, we examine problems that have arisen since the signing of the peace agreements related to women, rural, Indigenous and Black movements, whose social leaders have been targeted by violence and whose communities continue to live within generalized conditions of war. Systematic threats, assassinations and significant levels of violence continue in, and against, ethnic communities, including the recent massacres of rural and Indigenous coca workers, and the selective assasinations of Black leaders in the region of Tumaco, an Afro-descendant coastal area in the Colombian south pacific and site of geopolitical and narco industry interests, and related territorial conflicts. Finally, we will conclude with considerations for advancing towards the realization of peace that includes Indigenous and Black peoples in face of significant challenges.

Topics: Armed Conflict [2], Civil Wars [3], Ethnicity [32], Gender [7], Women [8], Peacebuilding [15], Peace Processes [10], Post-Conflict [16], Violence [17] Regions: Americas [11], South America [12] Countries: Colombia [13]

Year: 2018

Citation:

Céspedes-Báez, Lina M., and Felipe Jaramillo Ruiz. 2018. “‘Peace without Women Does Not Go!’ Women’s Struggle for Inclusion in Colombia’s Peace Process with the FARC.” Colombia Internacional (94): 83-109.

Authors: Lina M. Céspedes-Báez, Felipe Jaramillo Ruiz

Abstract:

In this study, we analyze the tactics deployed by Colombian women’s rights NGOs, movements, and advocacy groups to challenge masculinism in the peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the former Colombian guerrilla Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) held in Havana. By drawing on the literature on women’s participation in peace and transitional justice processes, the research assesses the presence of women in Colombia’s peace talks, the way women’s movements articulated their demands, the role of the sub-commission on gender, and the manner in which gender was introduced in the drafts of the peace agreement and in the document the parties to the negotiation signed in Cartagena in September 2016.

Keywords: gender, armed conflict, peacebuilding, feminism, Colombia

Topics: Gender [7], Gendered Power Relations [25], Masculinism [34], Justice [27], Transitional Justice [28], NGOs [35], Peacebuilding [15], Peace Processes [10], Rights [29], Women's Rights [36] Regions: Americas [11], South America [12] Countries: Colombia [13]

Year: 2018

Citation:

Paarlberg-Kvam, Kate. 2019. "What's to Come is More Complicated: Femininst Visions of Peace in Colombia." International Feminist Journal of Politics 21 (2): 194-223.

Author: Kate Paarlberg-Kvam

Abstract:

The years following the Colombian Congress’ 2016 approval of peace accords with the country’s oldest and largest guerrilla army have brought into stark relief Cynthia Enloe’s assertion that “wars don’t simply end, and wars don’t end simply.” As Colombia and the international community grapple with the complexity of constructing a society at peace, it is essential to listen to Colombian feminists’ visions of what a true and lasting peace would look like. While the feminist gains evinced by the accords represent a significant step forward, my research with feminist peace networks during the negotiations points to a still broader vision of peace that has not yet been embodied by the accords or their implementation. I argue that the antimilitarist, antineoliberal and antipatriarchal peace envisioned by feminist activists is more comprehensive, more transformative and more stable than that contained in the accords, and offer predictions of how feminists might pursue their vision in the post-accords reality.

Keywords: Colombia, demilitarization, FARC-EP, feminism, peace negotitations

Topics: Feminisms [38], Gender [7], Women [8], Governance [39], Post-conflict Governance [40], Peacebuilding [15], Peace Processes [10], Political Economies [41] Regions: Americas [11], South America [12] Countries: Colombia [13]

Year: 2019

Citation:

Berry, Marie E. 2015. "When 'Bright Futures' Fade: Paradoxes of Women’s Empowerment in Rwanda." Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 41 (1): 1-27.

Author: Marie E. Berry

Annotation:

Topics: Democracy / Democratization [43], Development [44], Education [45], Gender [7], Women [8], Gender Roles [21], Gendered Power Relations [25], Gender Equality/Inequality [26], Governance [39], Households [46], Peacebuilding [15], Peace Processes [10], Post-Conflict [16], Post-Conflict Reconstruction [47] Regions: Africa [48], Central Africa [49], East Africa [50] Countries: Rwanda [51]

Year: 2015

Citation:

Bongiovi, Joseph R., and Lisa Leitz. 2019. “Gendered Companies, Gendered Security.” In The Sociology of Privatized Security, edited by Ori Swed and Thomas Crosbie, 173-216. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.

Authors: Joseph R. Bongiovi, Lisa Leitz

Abstract:

Using archival, interview, and industry observation data, this chapter examines how the private military and security company (PMSC) industry uses gender as a claim to legitimacy. However, our findings suggest that this growing industry still has areas for improvement before being a positive force for gender mainstreaming. As this industry grew, so did concerns about its handling of gender issues. A series of high-profile scandals has contrasted with international efforts to both protect and involve women in peacekeeping operations. The industry developed its own regulatory organizations and put a number of checks in place to bring PMSC firms into compliance with international norms. These include involving women in peace processes and ensuring gender equality in military and security work. However, the lack of attention to gender in industry guidelines and organizations demonstrates the ongoing gap between aspirations and achievement. As international norms move toward gender mainstreaming, so does the pressure to demonstrate that they can effectively reflect those expectations. While high-level changes have occurred, it is less clear how much substantive and measurable change has occurred within the industry. (Abstract from SpringerLink)

Topics: Gender [7], Gender Mainstreaming [53], Gendered Power Relations [25], Gender Equality/Inequality [26], Military Forces & Armed Groups [9], Private Military & Security [54], Peacekeeping [55], Peace Processes [10]

Year: 2019

Citation:

Karuru, Njeri, and Louise H. Yeung. 2016. "Integrating Gender into Post-Conflict Natural Resource Management." In Governance, Natural Resources and Post-Conflict Peacebuilding, edited by Carl Bruch, Carroll Muffett, and Sandra S. Nichols. London: Routledge.

Authors: Njeri Karuru, Louise H. Yeung

Abstract:

This chapter explores the ways in which women, and their relationship to natural resources, can be integrated into peacebuilding, with particular attention to two issues: women's participation in peace negotiations and peace agreements, and the value of gender analysis in efforts to redress inequities. It explains an overview of the relationships among natural resources, gender analysis, and peacebuilding; and a discussion of the role of natural resources and gender in the context of peace negotiations and agreements. The chapter explores an analysis of opportunities for gender mainstreaming in particular peacebuilding contexts. It demonstrates legal frameworks that recognize women's rights are not enough: to ensure equitable opportunities in livelihoods, property ownership, justice, and governance, women must be given opportunities for meaningful participation in governance in general, and natural resource management. A gender-sensitive approach to natural resource management is one of the building blocks of sustainable peacebuilding. The chapter concludes that considerations for integrating gender and natural resources moving forward. (Abstract from Taylor & Francis)

Topics: Extractive Industries [57], Gender [7], Gender Analysis [58], Gender Mainstreaming [53], Peacebuilding [15], Peace Processes [10], Political Participation [59], Rights [29]

Year: 2016