Women and Civil Conflict: Liberia and Sierra Leone

bibliographic database
Line

Periodical article

Title:	Women and Civil Conflict: Liberia and Sierra Leone
Author:	Aning, Emmanuel K.
Year:	1998
Periodical:	African Journal of International Affairs (ISSN 0850-7902)
Volume:	1
Issue:	2
Pages:	45-58
Language:	English
Notes:	biblio. refs.
Geographic terms:	Liberia Sierra Leone West Africa
Subjects:	civil wars women Women's Issues Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) Politics and Government Military, Defense and Arms Cultural Roles Ethnic and Race Relations Law, Legal Issues, and Human Rights nationalism Sex Roles Status of Women gender Violence against women
Abstract:	Until recently, in the few cases where women and their functions during the civil wars of Liberia and Sierra Leone have been illustrated, they have generally been presented as hapless victims of senseless male brutality. Adopting a framework which seeks to move away from the perspective of women as unlucky, innocent victims, the author presents a diversified version of the character of female participation in two of West Africa's most brutal civil wars. He describes women's contribution to the processes of militarization, ranging from the recruitment of fighters to active participation in the prosecution of war, strategies adopted by women in order to survive, and women's roles in the peace process, in finding solutions aimed at ending the fighting as well as in promoting postconflict reconstruction. Notes, ref., sum. in French.