Journal of Global Peace and Conflict

Wars and Conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa/The Middle East and North Africa (MENA): A Gender-relational Perspective
Dr. Amani El Jack, PhD

Abstract
By applying a gender-relational perspective, I explore how gendered arrangements shape women and men?s experiences of wars and conflicts and examine the similarities, as well as the vulnerabilities that connect their experiences across the national boundaries of Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Some of these nations have had a long history of wars and conflicts that have undermined the fabric of their societies, destroyed their socio-economic and political institutions, and exacerbated gender-based violence. Drawing on ethnographic data from my fieldwork in Sub-Saharan Africa, and on secondary research on zones of conflict, I argue that conflicts have significant impacts on gender relations. I articulate how conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa and the MENA region lead to changing responsibilities for women and men, which further stipulates shifting notions of femininities and masculinities and necessitates major alterations in policies and strategies adopted in post-conflict construction processes and nation-building initiatives.

Full Text: PDF     DOI: 10.15640/jgpc.v6n2a3