Gendered Conflict, Gendered Outcomes: The Politicization of Sexual Violence and Quota Adoption

• DOI: 10.1177/0022002719859651
• Published date: 01 February 2020
• Date: 01 February 2020
• Author: Anne-Kathrin Kreft,Mattias Agerberg
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Gendered Conflict,

Gendered Outcomes:

The Politicization of

Sexual Violence and

Quota Adoption

Mattias Agerberg

1

, and Anne-Kathrin Kreft

1

Abstract

Sexual violence (SV) in conflict is increasingly politicized at both the international and

domestic levels. Where SV in conflict is prevalent, we argue international actors

perceive gender to be salient and push for a gendered response. Simultaneously,

women mobilize politically in response to the threat to their security that conflict-

related SV constitutes, making demands for greater representation in politics with

the goal of improving societal conditions for themselves. Jointly, we theorize the

pressures from above and below push governments in conflict-affected states

toward adopting gender policies. We test this theoretical framework in the case of

gender quota adoption. We find that states with prevalent wartime SV indeed adopt

gender quotas sooner and at higher rates than states experiencing other civil con-

flicts and than states experiencing no conflict in the same period. These gender

quotas, we further show, are not mere window dressing but actually increase

women’s legislative representation.

Keywords

sexual violence, intrastate conflict, civil wars, war outcomes, gender

1

Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

Corresponding Author:

Anne-Kathrin Kreft, Department of Political Science, University of Gothenburg, Spra

¨ngkullsgatan 19,

41123 Gothenburg, Sweden.

Email: anne-kathrin.kreft@gu.se

Journal of Conflict Resolution

2020, Vol. 64(2-3) 290-317

ªThe Author(s) 2019

Article reuse guidelines:

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DOI: 10.1177/0022002719859651

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Armed conflict is gendered in different ways. Fighting tends to be male-dominated,

with battle-age males at highest risk of being killed (Jones 2004; Ormhaug, Meier,

and Hernes 2009).

1

Women are disproportionately vulnerable to displacement, pov-

erty, malnutrition, and the collapse of social infrastructure (Buvinic et al. 2013).

Probably the most visible gendered violence in conflict—risen exponentially on the

international security agenda since the wars in Bosnia and Rwanda—is sexual vio-

lence (SV), which primarily targets women.

2

Existing data show that in all regions of

the world government armies, militias and rebel groups perpetrate SV and its pre-

valence can be massive (Cohen 2013; Cohen and Norda

˚s 2014, 2015).

At the same time, previous research has identified patterns of women’s expanding

political, economic, and social activity and increased collective mobilization all over

the world (Fuest 2008; Wood 2008; Berry 2015; Tripp 2015; Anderson 2016).

Conflict dynamics may change social institutions, interactions, and networks,

including gender norms and relations (Wood 2008). Suddenly finding themselves

heads of households, women in different conflicts assume greater—and often unpre-

cedented—economic and social responsibilities in their communities (Buvinic et al.

2013). These transformations in gender roles do not halt at the local level. Statistical

analyses reveal, on average, higher shares of women’s legislators among states that

have emerged from high-intensity civil conflict (Hughes 2009; Hughes and Tripp

2015). How is it possible that women derive such gains under the extremely dire

conditions of civil conflict and the (gendered) insecurity it causes?

This study aligns with a growing literature arguing that gains in women’s

agency oftentimes do not accrue despite the violence to which armed conflict

exposes women, but because of it (Tripp 2015; Berry 2015; Wood 2008; Buvinic

et al. 2013; Berry and Lake 2017). Where previous research has c onsidered the

impact of conflict violence generally, however, we zone in on t he gendered nature

of conflict violence that specifically targets women as women: we propose that

conflict-related SV (CRSV) elicits simultaneously gendered forms of international

pressure and domestic women’s mobilization, which in conjunction may generate

change for women. We test the empirical implications of this argument by looking

at gender quota adoptions in countries affected by civil conflict with different

levels of SV.

SV has become a very salient gender issue in conflict due both to its classification

as a war crime and its global politicization. This does not mean that SV is necessarily

the most prevalent and egregious violence women face in conflict. Rather, we argue,

the exceptional level of attention afforded singularly to this violence as a gendered

violence (Meger 2016) makes it the most glaringly visible gender issue in conflict,

eliciting strong responses from international actors. A series of United Nations (UN)

Security Council resolutions (1820, 1888, 1960, and 2106) have made SV central to

the global Women, Peace, and Security framework that has developed since 2000.

International campaigns against CRSV like the UN’s Stop Rape Now and the United

Kingdom’s (UK) Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative have further helped erode

the stigma of victimization. Simultaneously, women in conflict-affec ted settings

Agerberg and Kreft 291