ABSTRACT
The focus on women as “victims” of war and patriarchal culture has obscured how the long-term social upheaval from ongoing conflict may have also transformed women’s often subordinate gender roles in non-obvious ways. There is little doubt that women often bear a double burden, taking on unaccustomed roles such as head of household and principal income generator because they have lost male family members and experienced displacement arising from conflict. This shift in roles, however, may open up new spaces for women’s agency and leadership within changing family and community structures – at the same time as it destroys. Peace researchers have tended to focus exclusively on the negative impact of war on women, fearful that a discussion of the empowering aspects of conflict for women might support arguments for armed conflict or intervention. Nevertheless, shifting from a focus on victimhood to questions of empowerment may uncover information key to understanding gender and peacebuilding1 capacities.
