GENDER AND THE POLITICS OF RECONCILIATION | DR HELEN SCANLON of motherhood is profoundly ambiguous and spells both progress and regress to the status of women. On the one hand, it can be used to draw women into the public realm, yet on the other, it set the limits and social norms within which women (and men) are expected to conform. of men and women, is essential for fashioning a democratic society. Such relations require full recognition of how a particular conflict has involved and affected men and women in different ways”.41 In order to achieve this, it is vital to challenge assumptions that men’s experiences of conflict and transitions are universal. Ideologies of masculinities are continually contested and are always being renegotiated in the context of changing power relations.42 Masculinities as Sites of Inquiry As a number of analysts have contended, a true gender perspective requires an interrogation of how both men and women are affected by violence and conflict. Failure to do this has resulted in a general lack of understanding as to how best to engage men in gender-sensitive reconciliation processes. As a result, examples reveal that reconciliation processes tend to reproduce gender identities portraying men as political, violent and nationalistic while women are represented as humanitarian, peace-loving and openminded. But as Simon Harris notes, when men are absent from gender initiatives it obscures how it is primarily patriarchal attitudes and institutions that require reform in order to achieve gender equality.36 The Reduction of Gender-based harms to the rape of women The literature on gender and reconciliation places a great deal of emphasis on the need to address sexual violence. As has been shown elsewhere, sexual violence in conflict is a tactic aimed at destroying the social and cultural fabrics of communities. Kirsten Campbell has observed that “sexual violence is the form of violence which most clearly communicates masculinisation and feminisation… that is, sexual violence is a performative act that instantiates these gender norms”.43 The current conflict in Syria has been described as a “rape crisis” and, according to the International Rescue Committee, the primary reason for families becoming refugees have been rates of sexual violence within the country’s borders.44 Undeniably, rape as a weapon of war has been used widely to intimidate victims and their families, as well as the broader community. This violence has long-lasting effects on both the rape victims themselves and on the affected community more broadly. Fionnuala Ni Aoláin describes this as a “community of harm”.45 In addition, it is critical to recognise the impact of gender roles in conflict such as the promotion of violent masculinities. This is particularly evident “in contexts when men’s abilities to be the provider and protector of a family are compromised”. As the 2003 United Nations (UN) sponsored handbook on reconciliation notes: “the frustration and anger this may give rise to can be a serious threat to a reconciliation process”.37 As mentioned earlier, gender roles often become fluid during times of political upheaval when women may take on responsibilities that were previously the realm of men in their absence and this can result in attempts to reassert dominant masculinities post-conflict. However, the recent international focus on sexual violence often obscures “why the rapes happened in the first place, how women (or men) expressed resistance and negotiation and the ways in which sexual violence is connected to structural and systemic conditions existing prior to the outbreak of violence”.46 In addition, as Manuela Melandri notes, reconciliation processes are often linked to, or are dependent on, public acknowledgement. This is due to the fact that “truth telling is founded on the premise that public testimonials of both victims and perpetrators will be cathartic and healing both for the individuals involved and for the nation as a whole”.47 However Fiona Ross’s examination of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission revealed that many women victims were not “healed” by publicly testifying, in fact many cited further trauma as a result of being part of the process. Given the widespread stigma around sexual violence Melandri argues that alternatives to public acknowledgement through truthseeking initiatives are needed. But this alternative should not be the socially acceptable coping strategy of self-imposed silence.48 As Orford contends current truth-seeking processes mean there often remains a “victim who refuses to be saved, the subject who will not speak her suffering in the time and place and languages offered to her… responding to the call of the other may interrupt the process of transition, but it may also give us the opportunity to learn from her about justice”.49 It is important to also be cognisant of the lasting Indeed, as Adam Jones revealed, applying a “gender lens” to the 1994 Rwandan genocide can provide new insight into both its causes and consequences.38 In his exploration of the genocide he shows how an economic crisis in Rwanda in the early 1990s was linked to a “gender crisis” for young Hutu men. Jones contends that without land or employment young men could not marry and as a result they could not achieve social status. This in turn, precipitated a further crisis in male-female relationships which manifested in the high rates of gender-based violence that occurred during the genocide.39 His intention is not to justify but rather to offer a lens to help explain the roots of gender-based violence at this time. As has been noted above, understanding and addressing the root causes of violence is critical to enact true reconciliation. Given the reality that domestic violence increases incrementally during and after conflicts, where violence becomes increasingly normalised, adapting the scope of reconciliation processes is critical. As Cynthia Cockburn has argued, societies with high rates of domestic violence are also those most likely to engage in violent conflict and war.40 The 2003 UN handbook on reconciliation reflects that “establishing trustful and respectful relations between men and women, and between particularly targeted groups 4