ABSTRACT
Whether they are civilians caught in the crossfire of armed conflict, refugees fleeing from it or combatants conducting the actual fighting, women and girls experience and endure a range of negative effects related to the fighting, particularly in parts of developing countries. Prominent among these are the increased risk of sexual and gender-based violence, the breakdown of supporting social and economic structures that enable livelihoods, and ostracism from social life in communities because of stigmas associated with women and girls who served as fighters. A case study of women’s and girls’ experiences in the civil conflict involving the jihadi group Boko Haram in Nigeria shows how these effects might play out in a complex social, economic and cultural environment. Because of the mediating effects of these influences, not all women and girls will likely experience the same effects to the same degree, or even in the same way. For example, whilst many women and girls have been sexually assaulted and enslaved, some appear to have found their place in Boko Haram.
