ABSTRACT
Women are experiencing the hidden wars of violence. The violence against women is nothing new within our historical consciousness. However, the concept that men should not commit violence against women is a more recent cultural development. In Sri Lanka, three-quarters of the women interviewed in an International Labour Office (ILO) study of plantation workers said they had been beaten by their husbands or estate superintendents. Within Western culture today, the term just war theory is used to refer to a set of principles used when deciding if and how to go to war. In addition to a critique of the theory's tendency for abstraction, feminists have also critiqued the theory's bent towards dichotomized thinking. With regard to Western culture's code of war, some critics believe that the introduction of modern warfare necessitates the abolition of just war theory. The US Catholic Bishops' Challenge to Peace has extended the dialogue of just war thinking to include considerations of nuclear warfare.
