1.CHALLENGES WOMEN FACE
I think women in conflict areas suffer and endure a lot of trauma as a result of rape, torture and murder. A number of them are left with the burden of feeding and bringing up orphaned children in an event that their husbands are killed in war or ethnic attacks.
I base my example in Karamoja region in Uganda, a pastoral community which has had regular conflicts between other ethnic groups. All the tribes in the region are cattle herders, and regularly carry out organized raids on neighboring tribes’ herds stretching to neighboring Kenya and South Sudan in order to increase their heads of cattle using illegal guns.
These arms were not just for raiding attacks, but also for protection. The situation continued until disarmament by government took place in 2006. It led to loss of guns that they had got used to for a long time therefore deprived many men of their livelihoods. As a result, they could not even go hunting to provide for their families or protect them from the external attacks which caused women a lot of suffering that included rape and murder.
It then became the responsibility of the women to feed their husbands and children.
The Karamoja culture is also very male-dominated and as a result, women are unable to own land, resources, or sell household property to cater for other pressing needs. A woman who is taken in marriage in exchange for cows becomes her husband’s property and is treated anyway he pleases. This results in a lot of hardship and injustice for many of the women. Beside there are other cultural practices such as female genital mutilation that cause much suffering to women in the same region.
The women in Karamoja further suffer other barriers that include inequality to justice because the Local Council and Elders’ Courts are dominated by men. Women are not allowed to talk during meetings and therefore have no input on policy even on matters that affected them. This can be seen in the way courtship rape, which was deeply embedded within the culture of the region, was handled.(Courtship rape is a process where a man chooses a wife by overpowering her and having relations with her). If a women subject to courtship rape did not want to marry the man, the Elders’ Court and Local Council would, in most cases, do nothing to help because they viewed it as a cultural practice . Sometimes perpetrators of rape are punishable through fines, but this is still a system that benefits the culprits and not the victim who is the woman.
- POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO ENSURE GENDER EQUALITY
There needs to be state mechanisms for justice to be effectively accessible given the remote nature of places such as Karamoja to have cases that contribute to the suffering of women like murder and rape reported to police for action.
Governments need to provide adequate security to their citizen to avoid intense suffering and insecurity among women.
Also commercialization of justice means that if you don’t have money, then your case won’t get heard, therefore governments need to provide free legal services for the local women who are not financially stable to enjoy justice, but also in order to reduce their suffering.
Women activists should reach out to such women and also expand their networks in places where many atrocities are committed than limiting themselves in cities.
