ABSTRACT

This chapter aims to extend the critique of human rights law by feminist scholars to humanitarian law—or law of armed conflict, as it is more traditionally known. It argues that the provisions are totally inadequate and, moreover, that the law of armed conflict incorporates a gendered hierarchy in the sense that rules dealing with women are regarded as less important than others and their infringement is not taken as seriously. Although sexual abuse is most obvious area in which women suffer in armed conflict, this is just one aspect of their experience. Other distinctive ways in which warfare impacts on women are, however, less easily identified as they are rarely the focus of attention, unlike the treatment of combatants. In terms of the immediate effect of international armed conflict, male and female civilians undoubtedly suffer equally. Their level of suffering depends on the assessment that takes place by the military as to the relative value of combatant and civilian lives.