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Irnesa
Joined: Apr 7, 2007
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Invisible in War: The Struggle of Girl Child Soldiers
November 24, 2008 - 10:39 PM
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So I was looking at universities with International Development degrees and I came across this one university that boasted some of the research papers that have been done by its students.
Now, I consider myself fairly informed (or believe so :-P); however, I must say, once I read this paper I was quite taken aback by some of the information presented.
It's a PDF paper, and since its a RESEARCH paper; it's not perfect and it's bloody long (44 pages to be precise :-P):
http://internationaldevelopmentstudies.artsandsocialsciences.dal.ca/Files/Bell_Honours_Thesis_2007.pdf
I would recommend reading Chapter 2 and 3 (esp. 3.1)
The points I found astounding were:
1) "Recent estimates have shown that girls make up between 10 and 30 percent of total children in fighting forces worldwide". (page 16)
2) Some children enlist "voluntarily", not all are kidnapped/forced.
3) Reintegration programs are gender-specific and faulty, due to the difference in experiences between males and females.
4) Women are active participants in war, rather than passive bystanders.
5) Not all child soldiers (especially female) are as eager as we may think to come back/be reintegrated to society. Stigmatization being the biggest fear, as well as, not wanting to return to their traditional roles.
6) "Female ex-combatants who were interviewed in Ethiopia said that during their time in the army, sexual relations or sexual abuse among fighters was strictly prohibited, and that it was " ...forbidden for a man to have sexual relations with a woman without her permission"." (page 19)
7) Mozambiquan and Ethiopian female ex-combatants were reluctant to return home because they felt equal as fighters in the force AND they felt empowerment, which is lost in civil society. They said that the war affected them in a positive way. (page 21 + 22)
(...to be continued)
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Irnesa
Joined: Apr 7, 2007
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Re: Invisible in War: The Struggle of Girl Child Soldiers
November 24, 2008 - 10:40 PM
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(...continued)
8) "...even where large numbers of women have been carrying arms in revolutionary movements, peace seems to put enormous pressure on those women to return ‘home’, and to give up both jobs and political representation in favor of men." (page 27)
9) "As mentioned earlier, female ex-combatants in some conflicts experience some degree of egalitarianism and independence within fighting forces.
When they return, and gender roles are redefined, there is often a sense of confusion and discontinuity over their own gender roles.
For example, communication styles differ greatly between the military and civil society. In Ethiopia, returning girls’ style of communication was interpreted by the community as hostile, whereas the girls themselves found it to be a more honest, open form of dialogue." (page 27)
HOLY SHAZAM! That paper did a total 180 on me!
Even though it does note that a number of women are used for sexual reasons and abuse, which is the general public's knowledge and thought; it also shocks us by saying that a certain count of women have been affected positively (I would have NEVER thought this was possible) and they were RELUCTANT to return to society because of loss of equality (again, there is such thing? :-O No way!) and sense of empowerment (whhhaaaaa...?!).
Bloody amazing! X-D
Anyways, yes. That is all. Just wanted to share that recently attained information. :-D
Peace out. :-P
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