Gender Analysis

Of ‘True Professionals’ and ‘Ethical Hero Warriors’: A Gender-Discourse Analysis of Private Military and Security Companies

Citation:

Joachim, Jutta, and Andrea Schneiker. 2012. “Of ‘True Professionals’ and ‘Ethical Hero Warriors’: A Gender-Discourse Analysis of Private Military and Security Companies.” Security Dialogue 43 (6): 495-512. doi:10.1177/0967010612463488.

Authors: Jutta Joachim, Andrea Schneiker

Abstract:

Private military and security companies (PMSCs) have gained increasingly in importance over the course of the past two decades. Yet, given the intransparency of the industry and the heterogeneity of the companies that comprise it, we thus far know little about the actors involved. In this article, we offer preliminary insights into the self-representation of PMSCs, based on a gender-discourse analysis of the homepages of select companies and their main professional associations. We argue that survival in an increasingly competitive industry not only hinges on size, market share or effectiveness, but is also inherently gendered. PMSCs and their associations draw on the one hand on civilized and accepted forms of masculinity and femininity, presenting themselves as ‘highly skilled professional’ military strategists and ordinary businesses akin to banks or insurance companies. At the same time, however, PMSCs also engage in strategies of (hyper)masculinization and pathologization to set themselves apart from mercenaries, their private competitors and state security forces. In this respect, companies appear to view themselves as ‘ethical hero warriors’. Whether intended or not, their strategies have political consequences. Within the security industry, they contribute to the creation and maintenance of a norm regarding what constitutes a legitimate PMSC, to which more or less all companies strive to adhere. Vis-à-vis other security actors, these strategies seek to establish PMSCs as being superior because, unlike these actors, such companies are super-masculine and able to live up to the growing and sometimes contradictory demands of changing security contexts.

Topics: Gender, Men, Masculinity/ies, Gender Analysis, Gendered Discourses, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Private Military & Security, Security

Year: 2012

Migrant Visions of Development: A Gendered Approach

Citation:

Dannecker, Petra. 2009. “Migrant Visions of Development: A Gendered Approach.” Population, Space and Place 15 (2): 119-32.

Author: Petra Dannecker

Abstract:

In this article the current debate on migration and development is critically discussed. It will be shown that development as a multidimensional process is hardly ever conceptualised. The diversity of migration flows and patterns and the gendered structure of these processes are leading to different development visions which are hardly ever addressed or related to development. The analysis of the development visions of temporary male and female labour migrants from Bangladesh will reveal that migration experiences and the new connections and networks give rise to new identifications and development visions. The negotiations of these visions locally may initiate cultural, social and political transformations in the countries of origin, which do not necessarily correspond with the development visions articulated by other national and international actors involved.

Keywords: development, migration, Islam, South Asia, Bangladesh, Gender

Topics: Development, Displacement & Migration, Migration, Gender, Gender Analysis Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Bangladesh

Year: 2009

Power, Gender and Human Trafficking

Citation:

Hart, Amanda. 2007. “Power, Gender and Human Trafficking.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, New York, August 11.

Author: Amanda Hart

Abstract:

The purpose of this meta-analytic research was to determine the gender and power influences at play within the phenomenon of international human trafficking. Utilizing a lens of Gender Relations Theory and an array of previously conducted research, the push, pull, and facilitating factors influencing these migrant's immigration are examined. The emotional and physical stresses of the trafficked persons (primarily women and children) as well as trafficking techniques are presented through a variety of cases. The concepts of gender and power relations tie together to form a startling conclusion: many times underprivileged and susceptible men, women, and children are trafficked simply because they can be. Unfortunately, the government's response to human trafficking has not been extremely successful, with only 46 trafficked migrants having been served and rehabilitated as of September 2005 under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. This research concludes that merely rehabilitating trafficked persons will not solve the root of the problem: the deep-seeded gender and power inequality still existing between men and women.

Topics: Economies, Poverty, Gender, Women, Girls, Boys, Gender Analysis, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, International Law, International Human Rights, International Organizations, NGOs, Rights, Human Rights, Sexual Violence, Sexual Slavery, Trafficking, Human Trafficking, Sex Trafficking

Year: 2007

Migration As Protest? Negotiating Gender, Class, and Ethnicity in Urban Bolivia

Citation:

Bastia, Tanja. 2011. “Migration As Protest? Negotiating Gender, Class, and Ethnicity in Urban Bolivia.” Environment and Planning A 43 (7): 1514-1529.

Author: Tanja Bastia

Abstract:

Feminist geographies of migration are often based on the assumption that migration brings about social change, potentially disrupting patriarchal structures and bringing about new spaces where gender relations can be renegotiated and reconfigured. On the basis of multisited research conducted with migrants from the same community of origin in Bolivia, I analyse how gender, class, and ethnicity are renegotiated through internal and cross-border migration. A transnational, multiscalar, multisited, and intersectional approach is applied to the study of social change through migration, with the aim of investigating whether labour migration provides avenues for greater gender equality. At the individual level there are certainly indications that women achieve greater independence through migration. However, the multiscalar and intersectional analysis suggests that women trade ‘gender gains’ for upward social mobility in the class hierarchy. By doing so, they also contribute to the reproduction of patriarchal social relations.

Keywords: feminist, internal migration, labor migration, social mobility

Topics: Class, Displacement & Migration, Migration, Ethnicity, Gender, Women, Gender Analysis, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Gender Hierarchies, Gender Equality/Inequality, Livelihoods Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Bolivia

Year: 2011

Population Geographies, Gender, and the Migration-Development Nexus

Citation:

Bailey, A. J. 2010. “Population Geographies, Gender, and the Migration-Development Nexus.” Progress in Human Geography 34 (3): 375-386.

Author: A. J. Bailey

Abstract:

This review considers how international migration is related to development, and focuses on how knowledge about the so-called ‘migration-development nexus’ has been expanded through analyses of gender. My specific objective is to understand the ways in which the migration-development nexus is understood to be ‘gendered’ through the intersecting activities of multiple agents as they negotiate and transform transnational and postcolonial contexts of mobility and development. The contemporary migration-development nexus appears distinctive, and is growing and commanding a portfolio of resources sufficient to hardwire relations between societies, economies, and generations for a long time.

Keywords: post-colonialism, remittances, skilled migration, transnational migration

Topics: Development, Displacement & Migration, Migration, Economies, Gender, Gender Analysis

Year: 2010

The Other Side of Oil Wealth: The Case for Compensation of Displaced Women

Citation:

Abusharaf, Adila. 2007. The Other Side of Oil Wealth: The Case for Compensation of Displaced Women. Ottawa, Ontario, Canada: International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

Author: Adila Abusharaf

Abstract:

International literature on both war and development in conflict zones has kept pace, first, with the growing ramifications of armed conflicts as they affect women and, second, with the serious human rights implications of displacement caused by development. Due to the magnitude of the problem of internally displaced people ("IDPs") worldwide, there is, however, still an ongoing need, at both national and international levels, for policies to deal with the impact of displacement and to fill the gaps in existing protection and resettlement regimes.

As a contribution to the international literature, this report documents the underexplored case for compensating internally displaced women ("displaced women"), using the example of southern Sudanese women from oil-producing areas as an empirical study. The report aims to prioritize the interests and compensation for displaced women who are single-headed households. The claim of compensation for displaced women coincides with the politically momentous signing of the Machakos Peace Protocol, on 20 July 2002, between the Government of Sudan ("G0S") and the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army/Movement ("SPLA/SPLM"), to put an end to the 20- year civil war in Sudan. The parties have undertaken to facilitate the immediate return of IDPs, including those who were originally from oil-producing areas; however, the negotiations of the formula to share oil revenues did not consider the role that oil development played in the plight of these people, nor the role that oil development will play in rehabilitating their homeland. This report responds to this shortcoming and urges the GoS to compensate displaced women, who are the most disadvantaged group because of their limited access to resources, so that they can achieve better livelihoods upon their return.

This case for compensation is based on the analysis of a process resulting from conscious political choices, a process that marginalizes displaced women with respect to their treatment by government institutions and laws of protection. Notably, national oil policies and legislation, customary laws, and the social relations of gender and ethnicity are all factors compounded to constrain displaced women's access to resources. This report uses gender equity as a lens through which to explore and understand the different problems that displaced women and men face, and the different opportunities available to help them adjust to non-traditional gender roles and responsibilities imposed by war and displacement. Compensating displaced women upon their return is a legitimate and viable option. Compensation will enable them to participate or at least survive the new forces of the monetarized oil economy after war and displacement have shattered their families and tribal communities, the traditional sources of their security. For the progress of oil development in post-conflict southern Sudan, GoS and SPLM must formulate gender-equity-based policies. These are fundamental for productivity in a monetarized oil economy.  Adopting a gender-sensitive process is essential for ensuring the just and fair compensation of displaced women, who have no means to meet their basic needs upon their return.

For the progress of oil development in post-conflict southern Sudan, GoS and SPLM must formulate gender-equity-based policies. These are fundamental for productivity in a monetarized oil economy. Adopting a gender-sensitive process is essential for ensuring the just and fair compensation of displaced women, who have no means to meet their basic needs upon their return.

Keywords: compensation, oil, displacement, gender roles, IDPs, Sudan

Topics: Armed Conflict, Development, Displacement & Migration, IDPs, Ethnicity, Gender, Women, Gender Roles, Gender Analysis, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equity, Livelihoods, Rights, Human Rights Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Sudan

Year: 2007

Now I Am a Man and a Woman!’: Gendered Moves and Migrations in a Transnational Mexican Community

Citation:

Boehm, Deborah A. 2008. “‘Now I Am a Man and a Woman!’: Gendered Moves and Migrations in a Transnational Mexican Community.” Latin American Perspectives 35 (1): 16–30.

Author: Deborah A. Boehm

Abstract:

Scholars have suggested that migration from Mexico to the United States benefits women by challenging often rigid gender norms. The results of ethnographic field research in San Luis Potosí and New Mexico complicate this view. Here migration results in a complex interplay between males and females—a series of negotiations through which women exercise increased autonomy in some circumstances but also face the reassertion of male dominance and in which males reproduce patriarchal power even as they create new ways to express masculinity. This research problematizes previous understandings of the impact of migration on gender roles and underscores the need to make a gendered analysis central to theories of transnationalism and the study of (im)migration.

Keywords: Gender, migration, transnationalism, immigration policy, mexico

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Migration, Gender, Women, Masculinity/ies, Gender Roles, Gender Analysis, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Households Regions: Americas, North America Countries: Mexico, United States of America

Year: 2008

Towards a Gender-Inclusive Definition of Child Soldiers: The Prosecutor v. Thomas Lubanga

Citation:

Gallagher, Kristin. 2010. “Towards a Gender-Inclusive Definition of Child Soldiers: The Prosecutor v. Thomas Lubanga.” Eyes on the ICC 7: 115–36.

Author: Kristin Gallagher

Abstract:

This article addresses the importance of the first case before the International Criminal Court through the lens of gender analysis. While the charges against the defendant in The Prosecutor v. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo are limited to conscripting and enlisting child soldiers and using them actively in hostilities, the case has huge precedential value because it will be the first decided before the International Criminal Court. This article argues for a broad interpretation of the law so that female child soldiers receive protection and recognition under the law.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Child Soldiers, Gender, Girls, Boys, Gender Analysis, International Law, International Criminal Law Regions: Africa

Year: 2010

Advancing Feminist Positioning in the Field of Transitional Justice

Citation:

Aolain, Fionnuala Ni. 2012. “Advancing Feminist Positioning in the Field of Transitional Justice.” The International Journal of Transitional Justice 6: 205-228.

Author: Fionnuala Ni Aolain

Abstract:

This article contributes to an ongoing conversation among feminist scholars about what constitutes feminist positioning with regard to the central issues that define transitions from conflict or repression towards more liberal polities. The analysis suggests that the feminist presence in transitional justice is complex, multilayered and still in the process of full engagement. Concentrating on the genealogy of this presence, the article reflects on what are commonly invoked scholarly and policy reference points, showing how little gender analysis and women’s issues entered into the discursive fray in the public and political arenas where the terminology of accountability emerged. The challenge in assessing feminist positioning is that an uncritical and narrowly liberal conception of gender equality directs our gaze away from the cultural, material and geopolitical sites in which transitional justice practices have emerged. The article explores the connections between transitional justice and identification of harms done to women, the importance of acknowledging these harms and the need to centre discussions of agency and autonomy in feminist approaches to structural political change in deeply divided societies.

Topics: Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gender Analysis, Gendered Power Relations, Justice, Transitional Justice, Post-Conflict

Year: 2012

Sierra Leone's Child Soldiers: War Exposures and Mental Health Problems by Gender

Citation:

Betancourt, Theresa S., Ivelina I. Borisova, Marie de la Soudière, and John Williamson. 2011. “Sierra Leone’s Child Soldiers: War Exposures and Mental Health Problems by Gender.” Journal of Adolescent Health 49 (1): 21–28. doi:10.1016/j.jadohealth.2010.09.021.

Authors: Theresa S. Betancourt, Ivelina I. Borisova, Marie de la Soudière, John Williamson

Abstract:

To examine associations between war experiences, mental health, and gender in a sample of male and female Sierra Leonean former child soldiers. Methods: A total of 273 former child soldiers (29% females) were assessed for depression and anxiety by using the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist, and for hostility, confidence, and prosocial attitudes by using an instrument developed for use with Sierra Leonean child soldiers. Results: The former child soldiers had witnessed and perpetrated violence at largely comparable rates, although females experienced higher rates of rape (p < .0001). More females scored within clinical ranges for depression (p = .008) and anxiety (p < .0001). In multiple regression analyses, female gender was a significant predictor of lower levels of confidence but not of mental health problems. Children who perpetrated injury or killing reported greater levels of depression (p < .0001), anxiety (p < .0001), and hostility (p < .0001). Surviving rape was associated with increased anxiety (p < .05) and hostility (p < .05), in males. Surviving rape was also related to higher confidence levels (p < .05) and prosocial attitudes (p < .05). Male former child soldiers who lost caregivers were also more vulnerable to depression (p < .05) and anxiety (p < .05), strong and significant effects noted among male child soldiers.

In our sample, female and male child soldiers experienced comparable levels of most war exposures. Female soldiers reported higher rates of rape and lower levels of adaptive outcomes. Toxic forms of violence (killing or injuring; rape) were associated with particularly poor outcomes. Although all boys and girls who experience rape and loss of caregivers are generally at risk for mental health problems, boys in our sample demonstrated increased vulnerability; these findings indicate a need for more inclusive mental health services.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Child Soldiers, Gender, Girls, Boys, Gender Analysis, Health, Mental Health, Violence Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Sierra Leone

Year: 2011

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