ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the deliberate efforts of the state, society, and lay leaders that were essential to the manipulation of women's identities in Rwanda and prepared the way for women's involvement in mass atrocities. The relationship between the gendered role of women in society and their mobilization leading up to and throughout the genocide was a crucial component of women's participation. Political scientists Barbara Harff and Ted Robert Gurr have identified two preconditions for mobilization to mass action that cause humanitarian emergencies: a shared identity and organizations that give expression to both that shared identity as well as the group's aspirations. Dehumanization and demonization of Tutsi women was a recurring theme that often included an element of hyper-sexualization in Kangura publications and on the radio. The propagation and manipulation of this fear took place on all levels of society and in every sphere of influence, from the military to the lay leadership, and from the public to the private.
