Gender, Violent Conflict, and Peace

This chapter shows how gender shapes war and, in turn, the realities of war shape how societies ‘do’ gender. Militarised practices of masculinity; gendered national protection myths; and the violence done to gendered bodies in war are just some themes that will be used to illustrate the centrality of gender analysis to understanding war. In outlining these dynamics of the gendering of war, gendered power inequalities around who gets to imagine and implement peace, especially at formal political levels, will also become apparent. The international aim to ‘mainstream’ gender in conflict prevention and peacebuilding is most prominently encapsulated in UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) and the wider UN ‘Women, Peace and Security’ agenda (WPS). However, more than twenty years into WPS, questions surround both the practical implementation of the agenda and the conceptual adequacy of the WPS formula for gendering peace. Recognising this, the chapter ends by attending to more radical proposals about what ‘gender-just’ positive peace might yet require.