ABSTRACT
Colonialism has been a violent and gendered process through which Western patriarchal states have undermined the human security of the colonized while exploiting pre-colonial sociopolitical divisions and reinforcing existing oppressions. The history of Western colonization across the globe reveals that it established its own male-dominated structures, excluding women from political and economic activity. This article calls attention to the continued violence against women in postcolonial and post-conflict situations and recounts women’s efforts to address the militarized security that exacerbates it, taking action to advance the cause of peace as exemplified in Guam and Okinawa. The gendered nature of colonialism can be discerned in similarities and differences evident in these two cases of militarized colonialism.
