Gendered Experiences of Subsistence Harms

Abstract

The article aims to contribute to feminist critiques of the treatment of gendered harm in international law, specifically in relation to socio-economic forms of violence. It focuses on deprivations of subsistence needs, in the form of forced displacement and attacks on homes, livelihoods and basic resources, as one particular type of gendered harm that has remained marginalized in international law. Whilst existing feminist research provides some significant insights into the gendered nature of socio-economic forms of violence, there has yet to be systematic analysis and conceptualizations of such harm. The article argues that the concept of subsistence harms, in foregrounding the interrelated physical, mental and social harms of deprivations of subsistence needs, provides a way both of contesting current concepts and framings of violence and of exploring gendered experiences of forced displacement and attacks on homes, livelihoods and basic resources. Whilst the concept only focuses on one particular type of harm, it could contribute to feminist discourse on gendered harm in providing a framework and language with which to analyse gendered experiences of these harms and therefore providing one way of taking the current debate forward.

Underprivileged Women Impacted by Ethnic Violence: Deconstructing Lives

“…Gender Dimension of Violence (GDV) applies a gendered perspective in understanding the causes, impacts, and dynamics of violence in certain settings and environments. It sifts experiences of men and women to examine how violence impacts the two genders differently [11,68]. Dichotomies between men as perpetrators of violence and women as silent victims have been challenged because in some cases, both can be executors and victims of violence [14,75,77].…”

“…As such women neither speak out, nor avail help because of loss of self-image and confidence [30,48,73]. In addition, post violence indicators for women include deprivation of physical, mental and social needs [12,68]. The trauma experienced has a deep impact on their future psychological and reproductive health, depriving them of physical capabilities to cope with their many responsibilities [17,32,61].…”

Looking Back, Looking Forward

“…Increasingly occupying spaces were topics that traditionally had received less attention, such as religion, gender and culture (Bakht, 2015;Vakulenko, 2007), trafficking, migration and citizenship (Askola, 2012;Wilton, 2009), transitional justice (e.g. McEvoy and McConnachie, 2013;Sankey, 2015), sex work (e.g. Fizgerrald and McGarry, 2016) and transgender identity and experience (Cowan, 2009;Sharpe, 1997Sharpe, , 1999Sharpe, , 2009.…”