The Silent Victims of War

In “Women Confronting War,” Jennifer Turpin reveals many unique and disturbing facts about the effects that war and military behaviour have on women because of their gender. Turpin weaves her essay into titled components that meticulously explain the violence that women experience during wartime and the attitudes that prevail as a result of gender inequality.  These components include, the impact of war on women, women as casualties and refugees of war, and the sexual violence endured by women during wartime, including domestic violence. Each portion presents powerful information on how the effects of war go beyond the casualties of the soldier and gunfire of two opposing countries.

The purpose of Turpin’s essay is to examine “the many faces” of suffering that women endure during war; a topic not readily discussed in the media during times of war.  War does impact women in many different ways, including torture, death, sexual abuse, and loss of family, home and country.  History continues to show that during wartime, women, as civilians are most likely to die than those serving in the military. In fact, most people who are killed during war are women, children and the elderly. As technology has advanced, the number of casualties continues to rise during wartime and the majority of these casualties occur in the civilian population. “While 50 percent of World War II’s casualties were civilians, in the 1980s this figure rose to 80 percent, and by 1990 it was a staggering 90 percent.”

Turpin achieves her purpose by presenting empirical evidence showing women are harmed the most during war. The most powerful example that Turpin uses is the relationship between war and huge increases in the amount of sexual abuse on women. The evidence is staggering. Documentation from the United Nations cites sexual attacks on very young girls and women by camp guards, as well as other cases where UN peacekeepers have committed sexual offences against women. Prostitution is also a problem that has to be faced by women at wartime. Countries often promote and enforce prostitution during wartime to ensure that women are available to soldiers. “During World War II the Japanese military set up brothels in eastern and southern Asia, forcing between 100,000 and 200,000 women into prostitution”. Unbelievably, mass rapes have been used “as a weapon for ethnic cleansing” and women who become pregnant are then “shunned and ostracized” from their families and communities because they carry the enemy’s child.  Studies also show that domestic violence also increases during wartime.

When there is a discussion involving victims or the impact of war, rarely has the focus been around the effects of war on women. Women do not have input into military policy-making and violence against women in wartime is the result of gender inequality, cultural acceptance of violence, and attitudes that prevail in the military that often supports the sexual violence perpetrated against women.  Turpin has written a powerful article that examines this casualty of war.

Since U.N. Peacekeepers are there for the protection of vulnerable people, should they be held more accountable if they commit sexual violence against women?