Efficts of Conflict and Conflict Resolution on Women and Children - Essay Example

War has been known to cause massive losses in terms of both lives and property. Traditionally, it was the role of the men to venture into war since they were meant to be protectors of the social units in which they were found. The contemporary armed conflicts have incorporated the contribution of women and children as part of the war forces used against an enemy. But it should be noted that the contribution of women and children is significantly low as compared to the high numbers of men found in war.

Both women and women are in most cases left home as the men venture out into war. At the same time the nature of war has changed its course with time from the fight targeting the military functions to that which has increasingly been targeting the civilians- a high percentage of which is made up of the women and the children. The warring factions have also intensified attacks directed against their enemies through physically and sexually abusing women and children as a way of punishing their enemies.

In this sense then, the women and children have been the victims of various war consequences that they find themselves torn in between. The overall and most obvious war consequences are the destruction of both lives and property since apparently death toll resulting from war related killings increase. Another common war characteristic is the burning up of property as a way of economically destroying the enemy. There are other war consequences that affect the women and children as well. They include; rapes, psychological disturbances, recruit of the children into the military, maiming and disabling, displacement of masses from their homes, transmission of diseases like the sexually transmitted illnesses, and economic severance among other consequences.

Men make the largest number of combatants. It is quite interesting that in times when peace is sought after following a period of war, most of the efforts made by governments and other bodies in the decision making level often address the effects the combatants; attempting to ward them off and trying to disarm them in an attempt to restore peace within the war torn areas. The women and children who in turn make the largest number of the victims are often ignored in peace initiatives. The vulnerability associated with these two groups of people often causes their victimization as the following section indicates.

Vulnerability of women The international committee of the Red Cross identifies vulnerability in women as stemming from various phenomena. As a result of their biological characteristics and attention for special needs, some categories of women may be considered as vulnerable. These categories include expectant mothers, nursing mothers or women with maternity cases. All the above categories of vulnerable women have their needs stemming from their specific health, biological or hygiene needs. This can be considered as a form of vulnerability associated with the women folk specifically because only women have the potential of delving into these situations that make them vulnerable.

This is facilitated by their reproductive roles of conceiving and giving birth to children. Otherwise the law doesn't recognize grown up women as a group of vulnerable people unless they are in any of the above mentioned categories. The social-cultural beliefs found in a given community often mark the kind of relationships found among the people found within such cultural settings. Most of the