gender and militarism

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Gender and Nonviolent Action

Wars will cease when men refuse to fight – and women refuse to approve. Jesse Wallace Hugan, founder of War Resisters League

 

Introduction

 

It may seem simple and obvious that we want both men and women involved in our struggles against war and injustice. However, if we want to fully utilise people's talents, energy, and insights, we need to apply gender awareness to how we organise ourselves, how we design our campaigns, and how we conduct our trainings for action.

Why? Because gender, our societies' definitions of male and female roles, of masculinity and femininity, influences all of us. And the social traditions that have constructed masculinity as dominant, aggressive, and controlling and femininity as weak, submissive, and serving have deeply affected each of us. Gender awareness helps us to make sure that in our nonviolent actions and campaigns, we don't perpetuate the same injustices we are trying to stop.

In antimilitarist campaigns, gender awareness and gender-based analysis are also valuable tools for creating an effective strategy. Gender is an element in every conflict. It may not be the cause of a conflict, but different ideas of masculinity and femininity are at the heart of why and how people fight. Military systems are built to function on certain ideas and assumptions about male and female roles. If we want to create nonviolent structures and systems for resolving conflict, we will need to create new assumptions and expectations about gender.

In this section, we include concepts and exercises to help you to incorporate gender awareness in your trainings and to examine your campaigns and nonviolent actions through a gender lens.

Speech by Isabelle Geuskens, Program Manager IFOR-WPP

Thank you for inviting me to speak here this morning!

My remarks here today
are from the perspective of peace movement that holds active
nonviolence as its core value since 1919, the International
Fellowship of Reconciliation (IFOR).  They are largely based on
the experiences of one of its programs, the Women Peacemakers
Program.

Boro Kitanoski – Peace Action, Macedonia

“Proclamation to the Serbian friends

SERBIAN
MAN. Your Serbian virtue must be loyalty. Be loyal in the Orthodox
Church to the God of your Holy Ancestors. Be in the St. Sava’s
patriotism loyal to your Fatherland. Be in household responsibility
loyal to your family. Without God, without a Fatherland, without a
family, You are nobody and nothing.

The example of Russia

Olga Miryasova

The reference. There are two types of military service in Russia – professional army and obligatory military service. About 1,1 millions soldiers and officers serve in Russian army, about 30% of men in Russia pass through obligatory military service during their life. Until 1.01.2007 the call-up period was 2 years. Now it’s 1,5 years and it will be 1 year from 1.01.2008. Call-up age in Russia is from 18 to 27 years old.

WRI New Profile International Seminar
Neve Shalom August 2007

Facilitators: Hanna Aviram and Ruth Hiller (New Profile)

Number of Participants – 16 (10 Israeli, 6 Internationals from USA, Australia, Switzerland, Holland and So. Africa) Two of the participants were males. Ages ranged between 17.5 and 70+.

Andreas
Speck, War Resisters' International

Introduction I

I want to start with an
autobiographical note. When I was about 13 or 14 – and the army
still a long way ahead – I was quite fascinated with technology, as
many young boys are. I even remember during one holiday going to a
Navy open day, looking at the different Navy ships, helicopters,
etc...

Introduction

Today it is becoming increasingly clear that consistent feminism cannot do without a thorough analysis of militarism and that consistent antimilitarism cannot do without a deep understanding of gender issues in both theory and practice.

On the one hand, patriarchy and male dominance crucially rely on militarism, on the way militarism and war shape what is considered to be security, what is considered to be part of the public, rather than private, sphere, and on the constant dangers generated by weaponry and war.

New Profile/WRI seminar, August 2007, Israel
Practical Information

Entering Israel would be possible without a visa for citizens of EU countries, North and South America, and some other countries. A visa is required for most of Africa, the former USSR, Turkey and many countries in Eastern Europe (if you're not sure, you can check on the Foreign Affairs Ministry website:

http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Sherut/IsraeliAbroad/Continents, but note that some inaccuracies are possible.

We would like to invite you to attend our international seminar on Gender and Militarism, which will take place on 23-26 August 2007, in Newe Shalom/ Wahat al Salaam, Israel.

WRI/New Profile seminar in Tel Aviv, Israel, 23–26 August 2007

Today it is becoming increasingly clear that consistent feminism cannot do without a thorough analysis of militarism and that consistent antimilitarism cannot do without a deep understanding of gender issues in both theory and practice.

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It was back in 1924 that there was the first instance of women objecting to compulsory military service. Union leader Carlota Rua, during the first Workers' Congress, opened the debate on the obligation of military service by arguing that young workers and peasants should not be taken from their land, where they contributed to the country with their work, to be forced into destroy it as part of the arm.

Introduction

Today it is becoming increasingly clear that consistent feminism cannot do without a thorough analysis of militarism and that consistent antimilitarism cannot do without a deep understanding of gender issues in both theory and practice.

On the one hand, patriarchy and male dominance crucially rely on militarism, on the way militarism and war shape what is considered to be security, what is considered to be part of the public, rather than private, sphere, and on the constant dangers generated by weaponry and war.