Gendered Peacekeeping

The time after war when peacekeeping missions are deployed is very crucial for the rebuilding of a country. When a country needs post-conflict reconstruction, it often means that that country is in great need financially, physically, and emotionally. Peacekeeping aid does not always supply these needs to the best of its ability and the people, who suffer as a result of this, are women.

            It may not be taken into consideration that women are immensely affected by conflict and often do not get the help they need. Women are often victims of war crimes such as rape and sexual assault, yet when peacekeeping forces come into a country of conflict, help for these women is rarely, if at all. This is because in many cases, peacekeeping help that is given is usually men and they do not feel comfortable or are unable to deal with this type of situation. Also, women who have been assaulted are often unwilling to consult with men about these issues, as men are the ones that assaulted them in the first place, these women could lack trust in men. It was suggested in Nadine Puechguirbal’s article that “[o]rganizing pre-development gender training for peacekeeping personal” (Puechguirbal, 168). This training could make men more sensitive to the horrors that women in war have going through and may be more equipped to deal with what these women have gone through.

            War is often deemed to be masculine and that could be why it is often the case the mostly men are sent to help with post-conflict reconstruction. When war it thought about, in most people’s minds, people think that it is just men fighting men with big masculine weapons and as a result, it is just men that need peacekeeping aid. It is not often taken into consideration that women play a large part of war, therefor need help after the conflict is over, not just men. Peacekeeping needs to become more gendered, to help everyone and not just men (Puechguirbal, 165).

            War does not just effect or involve men, women play just as much of a role and are just as affected by it. Peacekeeping aids needs to realize this so women get the aid that they need. This will not just help women but the country as a whole: men, women and children. It would not be that difficult to make peacekeeping reconstruction more gendered and the outcome of such changes would be very beneficial.

              Puechguirbal, Nadine. “Peacekeeping, Peacebuilding and Post-conflict Reconstruction.” Gender Matters in Global Politics: A Feminist Introduction to International Relations. New York: Routledge, 2010. 161-175.

Kenya: Struggling with Trees

Living in the Western world makes me, and I assume most people, take daily things in our lives for granted which in addition, I think has caused us to over consume and become selfish with our need for more. After viewing the film, The Vision of Wangari Maathai, it shows the effects of our selfishness. Western countries go into low income countries in Africa and export their resources for us to use with little regards of how it effects the people and the land that is used to export the items that we require, in this case tea and coffee. While we buy our expensive coffees and teas, it hardly crosses our minds that to get these drinks, people are starving and dying. I imagine that people do not consider where the coffee and teas come from because feeling guilty about drinking a coffee because someone far away who they will never come into contact with is dying as a result, does not fit into the Western societies fast paced consumer life.

            In Kenya, the lives of people there are very different. They cannot afford the luxury of spending five dollars on coffee. In fact, they get paid very little to work on the coffee and tea plantations. These plantations not only pay very little but they are also destroying the lands and way of life for Keynesians. As a result of creating the plantations, many trees and forests were cut down, which resulted in the drying up of rivers and made it difficult to sustain lives. Without the forests, the people in Kenya cannot cook proper food because they do not have firewood anymore. This results in not being able to get proper nutrition and the women cooking for their family now have to make carb rich food instead of vitamin rich foods, resulting in malnutrition and death. 

            This situation would have continued to get worse and worse if many women in Kenya did not start planting trees. This movement started to regrow the trees and forests that were destroyed and cut down the plantations. Though Kenya has yet to be restored to its full capability and may never be able to sustain the population like it once did, it is in the process. Perhaps our Western consumer society should do more to help this process, as we are the ones that created the demand that destroyed Kenya’s forest which caused malnutrition for many, if not most, of Kenya’s population. 

Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai. Prod. Dir. Lisa Merton and Alan Dater. Marlboro Productions, 2008.

Climate Change: Effects More Than the Global North

While in student led discussions today, a very interesting point caught my attention from the group who based their presentation on Ariel Salleh, “Ecological Debt: Embodied Debt”. When they brought up the statement “The global North is assumed to be the only area affected by climate change” it made me think of how Western climate change and global warming is. Climate change does not only affect the global North, it has lasting and most often, negative affects on all parts of the world. These effects suffered by all places in the world do not all largely contribute to climate change, like the global North does, but all countries feel the lasting effects of climate change.

            The relation of ecology and climate change is principally studied in the global North, and the North often portrays themselves as the victims of this change. Yet the North is not suffering form climate change in such a negative capacity as other countries. As a result of climate change, many countries are facing famine and drought, which is having lasting negative effects. These effects are mostly suffered by third world countries, who do not have the resources to sustain themselves against climate change and its lasting effects.

            Countries, such as Africa, face the effects of climate change on a daily basis, but unlike the global North, gender has a large role in the suffering. In these countries, it is often the women’s job to go and retrieve, in which she has to walk miles a day. Now, as a result of droughts, caused by climate change, these women sometimes have to walk even further to get water for their families to survive. These women, often mothers, know the consequences that will take place if they do not continue to sustain their families (Salleh, 17). To the best of my knowledge, this type of situation, or anything close to it, does not take place in the global North. Walking large distances is not the only problem these women face as a result of climate change, many women farm to try and sustain a livelihood for their families and do numerous ecological jobs that are changing as a result of climate change.

            In my opinion, the above statement is false. The global North seems to be one of the least areas affected with climate change, with looking into third world countries and the difficulty they have with the changing climate. The ecologies that those people were and are use to is drastically changing, which has a large effect on gender in he poorer countries, especially in relation to women.

Ariel Salleh “Ecological Debt: Embodied Debt”, 1-39.

Public and Private

The public and the private sphere has often been debated. In the past, feminism was seen as private while masculinity was seen as public. Until rather recently, this idea of public and private sphere has began to change. With help of international communication, the two spheres are shifting into one larger sphere, according to some. Communication allows people, not matter their gender, to communicate easier than ever before.

To be involved in international communications, it no longer matters where you are but how connected you are to technology (Youngs, 43). Women in the past were classified as being in the private sphere and as a result, did not participate much in international communications because they did not have the opportunity. Men, on the other hand, could be involved in international communications because they were in the public sphere. Being in the public sphere allowed men to be involved because they had the access that to opportunities, ideas, places, and so much more, that women did not.

Now this whole notion is changing as a result in new technologies that allow people to connect in places like never before. Public and private spheres can start to come closer together, and in some cases merge because they both have the same traits to allow international communication inside their spheres. Technologies allow individuals from any location, such as inside their private home, which is often viewed as where women are, to connect with others, on an international scale. Individuals, not matter the gender, who do not possess the technologies are now seen as, in my opinion, a step back from the private sphere, as a result of a lack of communication availability,

The public and private spheres, in relation to gender, have and most likely will, always be contested. Some now see these two spheres merging together as a result of technologies that allow these two spheres to communicate on an international level.  It is now longer how you live your life, whether public or private, as long as you are able to communicate from your location. International communications has allowed these two spheres to change, as well as the gender roles that coincide with them.

            Youngs, Gillian. “Public/Private: The Hidden Dimension of International Communication”. 33-44.