Women experience many types of violence during armed conflict, including direct physical violence, rape and sexual violence, abduction, trafficking and sexual exploitation, forced marriage, forced domestic servitude, and domestic violence. This violence has a tremendous impact on women’s physical and mental health, women’s position within the family and community, and on women’s economic situation.
Physical Health
Women face many of the same physical health concerns during armed conflict as men and children do – physical injuries from combat and remaining landmines, increased spread of HIV/AIDS and sexually-transmitted infection (STIs) from wound exposure and poor health care facilities, and high rates of malnutrition due to displacement and poverty. Malnutrition, poor sanitation conditions, and lack of medical supplies all contribute to death by to preventable and treatable diseases such as diarrhea, measles, pneumonia, malaria, cholera, meningitis and tuberculosis. Generally, health care infrastructure suffers during armed conflict. Hospitals, clinics and even health care personnel are often targeted by armed groups who view them as assisting the enemy. Lack of funding and destruction of transportation and distribution systems leads to a lack of medicine and other medical supplies. Highly-educated health care professionals flee areas of high violence. Bosnia and Herzegovina saw 40 percent of doctors, 60 percent of dentists and 30 percent of nurses leave during the war. From: Rehn, Elisabeth and Johnson Sirleaf, Ellen, “Women, War and Peace – The Independent Experts’ Assessment on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Women’s Role in Peace-building,” United Nations Development Fund for Women, 2002.
Women, however, are much more likely to experience gender-based violence, including sexual violence, than their male counterparts and this leads to further physical health concerns. Military personnel are two to four times more likely than civilians to be infected with an STI, leading to a high infection rate for victims of sexual violence. From: Rehn, Elisabeth and Johnson Sirleaf, Ellen, “Women, War and Peace – The Independent Experts’ Assessment on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Women’s Role in Peace-building,” United Nations Development Fund for Women, 2002. Untreated STIs can lead to infertility or even death, and antiretroviral treatment for HIV-positive women are in very short supply in many conflict areas. From: “Broken Bodies Broken Dreams – Violence against Women Exposed,” United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and Integrated Regional Information Networks, 2005.
The brutality that accompanies sexual violence during armed conflict leads to critical physical wounds for women and girls. Repeated rape, and rape with foreign objects such as knives or guns, can lead to traumatic fistula (tissue tears in the vagina, bladder and rectum) and uterine prolapse (descent of the uterus into the vagina or further due to severe tissue damage). From: “Broken Bodies Broken Dreams – Violence against Women Exposed,” United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and Integrated Regional Information Networks, 2005. Pregnant women are also targeted as carrying the ‘child of the enemy,’ and have experienced their wombs punctured or cut open. These physical injuries can result in infection, infertility, and sexual dysfunction. From: Ward, Jeanne and Marsh, Mendy, “Sexual Violence against Women and Girls in War and Its Aftermath – Realities, Responses, and Required Resources,” A Briefing Paper for the Symposium on Sexual Violence in Conflict and Beyond, United Nations Population Fund, June 2006.
Unwanted pregnancies and forced pregnancy can cause many serious problems for women during armed conflict. There is limited access to birth control in conflict areas or displacement camps. Rape, sexual slavery and other forms of sexual exploitation are rampant. Often abortion services are unavailable or illegal in conflict areas, and many women choose to pursue makeshift abortion procedures that are unsafe. The lack of health care facilities, and maternity care in particular, makes pregnancy dangerous for women and girls – in 2001, an estimated 42,000 women died during childbirth in the Democratic Republic of Congo. From: Rehn, Elisabeth and Johnson Sirleaf, Ellen, “Women, War and Peace – The Independent Experts’ Assessment on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Women’s Role in Peace-building,” United Nations Development Fund for Women, 2002. Wartime rapists rarely discriminate by age and many young victims become pregnant before their bodies are capable of safe and health pregnancy and childbirth. Girls ages 10 to 14 are five times more likely to die during pregnancy or childbirth than women ages 20 to 24. From: Rehn, Elisabeth and Johnson Sirleaf, Ellen, “Women, War and Peace – The Independent Experts’ Assessment on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Women’s Role in Peace-building,” United Nations Development Fund for Women, 2002.
Psychological Health
The trauma experienced by civilians during war and armed conflict can lead to numerous psychological problems. In particular, women and girls suffer common severe mental health problems as a result of rape, trafficking, sexual exploitation, forced marriage and domestic violence. The emotional response of women victims of sexual violence includes fear, anxiety, and anguish as their sense of danger is constantly heightened by remembering their past experience. This sense of imminent danger leads to hyper-vigilance, jumpiness, sleep disorders, and nightmares. Women can also feel shame, guilt and apathy as they often blame themselves for the incident. Emotional stress and psychological conditions can impact women’s physical health, often resulting in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), sexual dysfunction, menstrual dysfunction, and cardiovascular, respiratory and digestive illness. From: Josse, Evelyne, “’They came with two guns’: the consequences of sexual violence on the mental health of women in armed conflict,” International Review of the Red Cross, Volume 92 Number 877, March 2010.
The emotional and psychological trauma of rape and sexual violence is multiplied by a lack of support from family and friends and a lack of mental health services. Rape is a topic of social taboo in many areas and women often do not tell anyone, even their husbands or partners, about the incident. Frequently, survivors of sexual violence and trafficking develop a sense of disregard for their well-being, partaking in risky behavior such as unprotected sex or reckless participation in the sex trade. From: “Broken Bodies Broken Dreams – Violence against Women Exposed,” United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and Integrated Regional Information Networks, 2005. Young girls tormented by nightmares and memories of abuse often express that they never want to get married or be in a sexual relationship. From: Rehn, Elisabeth and Johnson Sirleaf, Ellen, “Women, War and Peace – The Independent Experts’ Assessment on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Women’s Role in Peace-building,” United Nations Development Fund for Women, 2002.
Social Impact
Violence experienced by women can have significant consequences for their relationships within their family and community. Due to the violence experienced during war, women are often forced from their homes and into displacement camps, where they become separated from their husband, children, extended family, and friends. This loss of a social network can result in feelings of isolation and depression. Women also face risks of violence and sexual exploitation both during flight and after arriving at camp. Whether they remain in their homes or flee, women and girls, who are generally responsible for the care of the sick and elderly, are often overburdened with caring for those wounded or ill. They can feel frustrated and hopeless in this role, due to the lack of food, clean water and medical supplies needed to properly care for children, the sick and the injured that fall under their care. Also, combat and exposure to extreme violence can lead to problems with male family members including PTSD, substance abuse, and increased domestic violence. Cultural acceptance of domestic violence often makes it a difficult problem to address. From: Rehn, Elisabeth and Johnson Sirleaf, Ellen, “Women, War and Peace – The Independent Experts’ Assessment on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Women’s Role in Peace-building,” United Nations Development Fund for Women, 2002.
Victims of rape and sexual violence face distinct social problems. In many societies, husbands may divorce or abandon their wives if they have been raped. This may be because of fear of disease, or because of the feelings of shame and dishonor that is associated with rape in some cultures. For marriages that remain intact, couples often experience trouble relating emotionally or sexually. Raped women often suffer maltreatment and domestic violence after the incident. Many times women who have been raped are socially isolated and discriminated against, barred from school or losing a job because of the assault. Sometimes mothers are rejected by their older children for having been victimized. Girls and younger women are deemed tainted and unmarriageable, a terrible social and economic burden in some communities. From: Josse, Evelyne, “’They came with two guns’: the consequences of sexual violence on the mental health of women in armed conflict,” International Review of the Red Cross, Volume 92 Number 877, March 2010. Infertility, whether due to an injury to the reproduction system or an untreated STI infection, can also render girls and women unmarriageable. From: “Broken Bodies Broken Dreams – Violence against Women Exposed,” United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and Integrated Regional Information Networks, 2005.
Impunity for perpetrators of rape and sexual violence is rampant, due to a lack of government or social concern or to a lack of resources to prosecute. This impunity only serves to support the social stigma and discrimination that victims experience. A UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs report on violence against women in armed conflict states that, “Such impunity both reflects and reinforces the widespread cultural norms that acquiesce to the inevitability of violence against women and girls whether in times of peace or of war.” From: “Broken Bodies Broken Dreams – Violence against Women Exposed,” United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and Integrated Regional Information Networks, 2005.
Economic Impact
Poverty is rampant in areas of armed conflict, as violence interrupts industry, agricultural production, government services, transportation and distribution of goods, and other economic activities. Unemployment is high and often whole communities are displaced by the violence. For women, displacement means increased risk of sexual violence, trafficking, and domestic violence. However, women face many other unique economic consequences of armed conflict. In many cases, inheritance rights for women are limited and female survivors have no right to claim their property or home in the names of family members that have been killed. This leaves them homeless and with no land to grow food for eating or to sell at market. From: “Broken Bodies Broken Dreams – Violence against Women Exposed,” United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and Integrated Regional Information Networks, 2005.
The loss of the male providers for the family – husbands, fathers or brothers – means a decrease in a family’s available resources and an increased workload for women and girls. Many women who did not have access to quality education lack the skills or training needed to get a well-paying job. Also, poverty puts women and girls at high risk for sexual exploitation in order to secure the food and resources needed to provide for their families. From: “Women and War,” International Committee of the Red Cross, February 2008; and Ward, Jeanne and Marsh, Mendy, “Sexual Violence against Women and Girls in War and Its Aftermath – Realities, Responses, and Required Resources,” A Briefing Paper for the Symposium on Sexual Violence in Conflict and Beyond, United Nations Population Fund, June 2006.
Compiled From:
“Broken Bodies Broken Dreams – Violence against Women Exposed,” United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and Integrated Regional Information Networks, 2005.
Josse, Evelyne, “’They came with two guns’: the consequences of sexual violence on the mental health of women in armed conflict,” International Review of the Red Cross, Volume 92 Number 877, March 2010.
Rehn, Elisabeth and Johnson Sirleaf, Ellen, “Women, War and Peace – The Independent Experts’ Assessment on the Impact of Armed Conflict on Women and Women’s Role in Peace-building,” United Nations Development Fund for Women, 2002.
Ward, Jeanne and Marsh, Mendy, “Sexual Violence against Women and Girls in War and Its Aftermath – Realities, Responses, and Required Resources,” A Briefing Paper for the Symposium on Sexual Violence in Conflict and Beyond, United Nations Population Fund, June 2006.
“Women and War,” International Committee of the Red Cross, February 2008.