Women

Women in Latin American Guerrilla Movements: A Comparative Perspective

Citation:

Reif, Linda L. 1986. "Women in Latin American Guerrilla Movements: A Comparative Perspective." Comparative Politics 18 (2): 147-69.

Author: Linda L. Reif

Abstract:

Guerrilla warfare in Latin American revolutionary movements has until recently been regarded as an exclusively male domain of political behavior. North American analysts have tended to consider Latin American women's political behavior largely in terms of conventional democratic processes such as voting, reflecting both ethnocentricity and gender bias. Major works on guerrilla warfare have also failed to provide even cursory information on the role of women. Latin American women, however, have contributed to the guerrilla struggles of past revolutionary movements, though not in extensive numbers. With the influx of numerous women into the Nicaraguan, Salvadoran, and Guatemalan movements, analysts have been forced to acknowledge and reconsider women's contributions to armed struggles. This paper delineates and compares patterns of women's participation in the guerrilla struggles of Latin American revolutionary movements. While some analysts have limited the term '"guerrilla" to forces fighting only in the countryside, others, including guerrilla leaders themselves, refer to both urban and rural forces. This paper assumes the latter definition. Guerrillas are members of political organizations operating in both rural and urban areas which use armed warfare for the purpose of changing societal structure. Latin America's historically dependent position in the world capitalist system indicates that past revolutionary struggles have been directed at colonial powers as well as internal political elites that arise from each nation's specific pattern of dependency. Three questions are discussed in regard to women's participation in guerrilla struggles. First, what factors constrain Latin American women's participation as compared to men's? Second, within gender, which classes face the least barriers to participation? Finally, what roles do "guerrilleras" most likely perform'? Expected patterns of participation are de-lineated in light of these questions. Guerrilla struggles in five nations are then compared to demonstrate the extent that the patterns of participation hold.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Female Combatants, Gender, Women, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Non-State Armed Groups, Political Participation Regions: Americas

Year: 1986

Integrating Health Care for Mothers and Children in Refugee Camps and at District Level

Citation:

Hafeez, Assad, Rubina Riaz, Samin Ullah Shah, Javed Pervaiz, and David Southall. 2004. “Integrating Health Care for Mothers and Children in Refugee Camps and at District Level.” BMJ: British Medical Journal 328 (7443): 834–6.

Authors: Assad Hafeez, Rubina Riaz, Samin Ullah Shah, Javed Pervaiz, David Southall

Abstract:

Health care for mothers and children is inadequate in most refugee situations and in poorly resourced countries. The authors argue that, as well as providing primary (home based) care for basic health care, there is a need to integrate primary care with adequately functioning hospital based care for a healthcare system to succeed.

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Refugees, Refugee/IDP Camps, Gender, Women, Health, Mental Health, Reproductive Health, Trauma

Year: 2004

Refugee Women's Health: Collaborative Inquiry with Refugee Women in Rwanda

Citation:

Pavlish, Carol. 2005. “Refugee Women’s Health: Collaborative Inquiry with Refugee Women in Rwanda.” Health Care for Women International 26 (10): 880–96.

Author: Carol Pavlish

Abstract:

A collaborative capacity building experience in a Rwandan refugee camp with refugee women from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is described in this article. In service to the American Refugee Committee, I taught 13 refugee women how to plan and facilitate focus group sessions with the larger community of refugee women. The facilitators then conducted 18 focus group sessions gathering data from 100 refugee women. Thematic results included the health implications of poverty, the struggle to survive, the overburden of daily work, ambivalence about family planning, and the lack of freedom to express themselves.

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Refugees, Gender, Women, Health, Mental Health, Reproductive Health, Trauma Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa Countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda

Year: 2005

Between Reality and Representation: Women’s Agency in War and Post-Conflict Sri Lanka

Citation:

Rajasingham-Senanayake, Darini. 2004. "Between Reality and Representation: Women’s Agency in War and Post-Conflict Sri Lanka." Cultural Dynamics 16: 141-68.

Author: Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake

Abstract:

During two decades of armed conflict in north east Sri Lanka, women have carved new spaces of agency and new roles as armed combatants, principal income generators or heads of household in the absence of men folk. Will they be pushed back into the kitchen' with a return to peace, also often indexed as a return to the pre-war gender status quo? This article focuses on women's agency in post-conflict Sri Lanka, where a peace process has been ongoing for two years, and asks if and how a return of peace may affect women's empowerment. Based on ethnographic fieldwork and analysis of the political economy of armed conflict, the article suggests that, contrary to nationalist imaginaries, the structure of the new war' in Sri Lanka may not permit a return to a pre-war gender status quo.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Female Combatants, Gender, Women, Gender Roles, Gendered Power Relations, Households, Livelihoods, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Peace Processes, Political Economies, Political Participation, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Sri Lanka

Year: 2004

Factors Affecting Women's Health-Related Behaviors and Safe Motherhood: A Qualitative Study From a Refugee Camp in Eastern Sudan

Citation:

Furuta, Marie, and Rintaro Mori. 2008. “Factors Affecting Women’s Health-Related Behaviors and Safe Motherhood: A Qualitative Study From a Refugee Camp in Eastern Sudan.” Health Care for Women International 29 (8): 884–905.

Authors: Marie Furuta, Rintaro Mori

Abstract:

We aim to provide a deeper understanding of a broader range of potential factors affecting risk behaviors related to safe motherhood among refugee women in Eastern Sudan, thus creating a basis for further research in behavioral change. Risk behaviors chosen for this study follow (1) practice of female genital cutting, (2) adopting family planning (FP) practices, (3) usage of a skilled birth attendant, and (4) response to obstetric complications. Analyzing findings with the PRECEDE-PROCEED model, we found that factors frequently were uncontrollable for an individual woman, suggesting the importance of a supportive political, social, and educational environment for safe motherhood.

Topics: Displacement & Migration, Refugees, Refugee/IDP Camps, Gender, Women, Health, Mental Health, Reproductive Health, Trauma Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Sudan

Year: 2008

Use of Facility Assessment Data to Improve Reproductive Health Service Delivery in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Citation:

Casey, Sara E., Kathleen T. Mitchell, Immaculée Mulamba Amisi, Martin Migombano Haliza, Blandine Aveledi, Prince Kalenga, and Judy Austin. 2009. “Use of Facility Assessment Data to Improve Reproductive Health Service Delivery in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.” Conflict and Health 3: 12.

Authors: Sara Casey, Kathleen T. Mitchell, Immaculée Mulamba Amisi, Martin Migombano Haliza, Blandine Aveledi, Prince Kalenga, Judy Austin

Abstract:

Background:

Prolonged exposure to war has severely impacted the provision of health services in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Health infrastructure has been destroyed, health workers have fled and government support to health care services has been made difficult by ongoing conflict. Poor reproductive health (RH) indicators illustrate the effect that the prolonged crisis in DRC has had on the on the reproductive health (RH) of Congolese women. In 2007, with support from the RAISE Initiative, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and CARE conducted baseline assessments of public hospitals to evaluate their capacities to meet the RH needs of the local populations and to determine availability, utilization and quality of RH services including emergency obstetric care (EmOC) and family planning (FP).

Methods:

Data were collected from facility assessments at nine general referral hospitals in five provinces in the DRC during March, April and November 2007. Interviews, observation and clinical record review were used to assess the general infrastructure, EmOC and FP services provided, and the infection prevention environment in each of the facilities.

Results:

None of the nine hospitals met the criteria for classification as an EmOC facility (either basic or comprehensive). Most facilities lacked any FP services. Shortage of trained staff, essential supplies and medicines and poor infection prevention practices were consistently documented. All facilities had poor systems for routine monitoring of RH services, especially with regard to EmOC.

Conclusions:

Women's lives can be saved and their well-being improved with functioning RH services. As the DRC stabilizes, IRC and CARE in partnership with the local Ministry of Health and other service provision partners are improving RH services by: 1) providing necessary equipment and renovations to health facilities; 2) improving supply management systems; 3) providing comprehensive competency-based training for health providers in RH and infection prevention; 4) improving referral systems to the hospitals; 5) advocating for changes in national RH policies and protocols; and 6) providing technical assistance for monitoring and evaluation of key RH indicators. Together, these initiatives will improve the quality and accessibility of RH services in the DRC - services which are urgently needed and to which Congolese women are entitled by international human rights law.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Gender, Women, Health, Reproductive Health Regions: Africa, Central Africa Countries: Democratic Republic of the Congo

Year: 2009

The Role of Women in Reconstruction: Experience of Rwanda

Citation:

Izabiliza, Jeanne. 2005. “The Role of Women in Reconstruction: Experience of Rwanda.” Paper presented at Consultation on Empowering women in the Great Lakes Region: Violence, Peace and Women's Leadership, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 30 May-1 June. 

Author: Jeanne Izabiliza

Keywords: Rwanda, women, reconstruction, peacebuilding, post-conflict reconstruction

Topics: Gender, Women, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa Countries: Rwanda

Year: 2005

Nationalism, Militarism and Gender Politics: Women in the Military

Citation:

Toktas, Sule. 2002. "Nationalism, Militarism and Gender Politics: Women in the Military." Quarterly Report on Women and the Military 20 (2): 29-44.

Author: Sule Toktas

Abstract:

This essay will problematize gender politics in processes of nationalism, militarism and modernization. It aims to bring in sight the complexity and disorderliness that the interconnections and crosscuts between gender and modernization imply. The article contracts out this task into four parts. First, it investigates gendered explanations of nation, national identity and nationalism on which masculinity is centralized epistemologically via social discourse. Second, it explores militarism as an extension and manifestation of state sovereignty and national identity with its heterosexual and masculine substantiation. Third, it cross-questions closely the link between nationalism, militarism and patriarchy in the specificity of women's inclusion to and exclusion from the military. Lastly, the article ends with a critical evaluation of the relationship between militarism, nationalism and patriarchy susceptible to modernization.

Topics: Combatants, Female Combatants, Gender, Women, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Militarism, Nationalism

Year: 2002

Enhancing the Quality of Survey Data on Violence Against Women: A Feminist Approach

Citation:

Smith, Michael D. 1994. “Enhancing the Quality of Survey Data on Violence Against Women: A Feminist Approach.” Gender and Society 8 (1): 109-27.

Author: Michael D. Smith

Abstract:

A major methodological problem in victimization surveys on physical and sexual violence against women is the underreporting of violence. The first part of this article makes a case for 6 feminist strategies for improving the accuracy of self-report data on victimization within a mainstream survey research framework. The second part of the article is a presentation of data from a survey of Toronto women that is designed to show the efficacy of these feminist strategies.

Topics: Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Sexual Violence, SV against Women

Year: 1994

Female Solider’s Gynecological Healthcare in Operation Iraqi Freedom

Citation:

Nielsen, Peter. 2009. “Female Solider’s Gynecological Healthcare in Operation Iraqi Freedom.” Military Medicine 174 (11): 1172–6.

Author: Peter Nielsen

Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: To describe female soldiers' predeployment gynecologic healthcare screening, common symptoms, and availability of gynecologic care during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

METHODS: A questionnaire distributed to U.S. military females presenting to outpatient facilities in level 3 echelon of care between August 2005 and March 2006.

RESULTS: Three-hundred ninety seven of 401 surveys (99%) were returned. Ten percent of deployed females (40) had no cervical cytology screening 1 year before deployment and 27% of the 399 required additional treatments for abnormal cervical cytology during deployment. Thirty-five percent reported a gynecologic problem and 44% received care at their base. Irregular bleeding was the most common gynecologic problem. Forty-four percent of women used some form of hormonal contraception; however, 43% changed methods because of unavailability. One-third of soldiers received pre-deployment menses regulation counseling, with 48% of those using continuous oral contraceptive pills for cycle control.

CONCLUSION: Gaps remain in predeployment gynecologic screening and counseling. These critical predeployment medical evaluations must remain a priority for all female soldiers to ensure unit readiness.

Topics: Combatants, Female Combatants, Gender, Women, Health, Reproductive Health Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2009

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