Anthro in the news 3/17/14

• Beauty pageants: women’s empowerment via male purview?

Future political leaders? Mantoos.com. December 30, 2010.

An article in The New Statesman leads with this line: “In the US, beauty pageants are an increasingly popular way for young women to begin a career in public office.” The article begins by discussing (female) beauty pageants as a business, noting that in the U.S. there are two main franchises, Miss America and Miss USA, which run competitions nationally and statewide, down to local level. In addition, countless small, independent events occur annually with a high degree of specificity: Miss Chinatown USA for Chinese Americans, Miss Latina US, Miss Black Deaf America, and Miss Earth United States.

The article describes the work of Beverly Stoeltje, a professor of cultural anthropology at Indiana University. She says that although American culture was founded on the rational principles of a republic, a yearning remains for something of the Old World: “We have these pageants, which crown these queens. In this culture, since we don’t have monarchs, we create them.”

Why are some wars worse for women?

Guest post by Laura Wilson

The United State Institute of Peace recently presented the second part of its program on The Other Side of Gender: Masculinity Issues in Violent Conflict. Panelists Elisabeth Wood, Professor of Political Science at Yale University, and Jocelyn Kelly, Research Coordinator with the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, drew on their diverse experiences in conflict zones worldwide to answer the question: Why are some wars worse for women than others?

Wood compared gender-based violence (GBV) in conflict zones in Sri Lanka, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Israel/Palestine. She finds that rape is not an inevitable by-product of war. Combatants in different war-zones, on different sides of a conflict, or even within the same group take markedly different approaches to rape and violence against women. To effectively challenge rape as a tool of war, it is essential to understand why GBV is rare in some conflict zones. The fact that soldiers in some wartime situations respect human rights indicates that all combatants can and should be held accountable for their actions.

Wood argues that the cultural setting of war is the primary determinant of GBV.  She highlights the importance of institutional norms within combatant groups:  Does the military hierarchy punish, tolerate, or promote GBV?  Is GBV a war-time innovation, or does it represent a pre-war phenomenon? Is the chain of command well-managed?

Generally, GBV is less prevalent in settings where the top-down repression of GBV is high and where religious and socio-cultural norms inhibit rape as a tactic. This pattern provides insights into how to address the high rates of GBV in other contexts.

Jocelyn Kelly focused on one message: jobs.  During her interviews with Mai Mai rebels in the DRC, combatants expressed a strong desire to demobilize if provided with job opportunities and livelihoods.

The Mai Mai originally formed to protect Congolese villages and minerals from the Rwandan Interhamwe. Many young men without economic opportunities joined the rebels who make their living scavenging and stealing from local communities. Life as a rebel soldier cuts young men off from social interaction and marriage prospects. But many yearn for the chance to start a normal family life. Within this context, soldiers may rape out of bitterness or a psychological “war fog.”  While professionalizing the rebel groups, or incorporating them into the national army, might lower the risk of GBV during conflict, Kelly asserts that economic empowerment would have the greatest impact in de-militarizing the Congo and bringing combatants back into everyday life.

The presentations thus forcefully raised this question: Is the best way to prevent GBV during war to change the culture of war or improve livelihoods through development?

In his new book Tearing Apart the Land: Islam and Legitimacy in Southern Thailand, Duncan McCargo, professor of politics at the University of Leeds, provides insight with a story. Walking through a Malay village in Southern Thailand shortly after the kidnapping and murder of two marines, McCargo noticed Thai soldiers digging holes in front of each house. He learned that the soldiers were creating fish ponds in order to bring “economic empowerment” to the village to prevent further violence.

McCargo asks: would a fish pond have saved the lives of the two marines? Some (fish) food for thought.

Laura Wilson is a candidate for an M.A. degree in international development studies at The George Washington University with a focus on gender, human rights and development. She received a B.S. degree in foreign service from Georgetown University in 2007. She is currently the program assistant for the International Development Studies program.

Image: “Mother & baby wait…” from Farchana Refugee Camp in Chad, photo by Lin Piwowarczyk, from Flickr user physiciansforhumanrights, licensed with Creative Commons.