ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of state-perpetrated violence against women during conflict. It provides an overview of state-perpetrated violence against women during conflict. War and decisions about war have traditionally been made by men. Not only is soldiering universally gendered with men making up approximately 99.9 percent of all combat forces, but being a soldier has been and continues to be, inextricably meshed with maleness. "Rape and take spoil" is a common adage of war with early accounts dating back to the Greeks and Romans. One of the earliest historical examples of rape as a spoil of war comes from eighth century Rome during a time when the Roman state had reached considerable strength but simultaneously experienced a shortage of women. The needs of the state military and the men that served within it, were given precedence over the rights and freedoms of the women and girls that were forced into a life of sexual servitude.
