Women and War

The Green Party National Women’s Caucus Says No! to War: Endorses National Action in D.C. March 18, 2023

The National Women’s Caucus of the Green Party of the United States has endorsed the National March on Washington: Fund People’s Needs, Not the War Machine!, March 18, 2023 which coincides with the 20th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

War results in gender-based violence and objectification of women and girls. “Women and girls face the worst of war and conflict, often being seen not as the human beings they are, but as weapons of war — being horrifically objectified so that their needs, emotions, and rights are unrecognizable to the perpetrators of violence. This reality also deepens, for example, if they are members of the LGBTQ+ community, or if they have a disability. ” (Mlaba, 2022)

A study on the The effects of armed conflict on the health of women and children (Bendavid et al., 2021) found that “The effects of armed conflicts on the health and mortality of women and children far exceed the effects on those directly affected by the violence in conflicts.” Other key findings included evidence that “links conflict to malnutrition, physical injuries, acute and infectious diseases, poor mental health, and poor sexual and reproductive health” and that “The number of women and children affected by armed conflict has grown steadily since 2000, due to a combination of increasing population sizes, urbanization of many conflicts, and a steady rate of conflict events around the world. In 2017, at least 630 million women and children—10% of women and 16% of children worldwide— were either displaced by conflict or resided dangerously close to armed conflict events.”

Over the decades of war in Iraq, the impact of conflict on women has resulted in increased poverty and vulnerability to exploitation. (Boghani, 2019).

“The UN has verified the killing of at least 2,296 women and girls since the start of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The actual numbers are significantly higher.  Women and their children represent 90 per cent of the 7.9 million people who have been forced to move to other countries. Of those displaced inside Ukraine, 68 per cent are women. Many have lost their homes and jobs and lack access to basic social services and protection. Twelve months into the conflict 7.8 million women and 2 million girls in the country need assistance. ” ( Bahous, 2023).

Join the Green Party National Women’s Caucus in denouncing endless war and demanding the defunding of the endless war machine.

References

Bahous, S. (2023, February 24). Statement on Ukraine. UN Women. https://www.unwomen.org/en/news-stories/statement/2023/02/statement-on-ukraine-by-sima-bahous-un-under-secretary-general-and-un-women-executive-director

Bendavid E, Boerma T, Akseer N, Langer A, Malembaka EB, Okiro EA, Wise PH, Heft-Neal S, Black RE, Bhutta ZA; BRANCH Consortium Steering Committee. The effects of armed conflict on the health of women and children. Lancet. 2021 Feb 6;397(10273):522-532. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(21)00131-8. Epub 2021 Jan 24. PMID: 33503456; PMCID: PMC7612212.

Boghani, P. (2019, November 12). How Conflict in Iraq Has Made Women and Girls More Vulnerable. Frontline. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/how-conflict-in-iraq-has-made-women-and-girls-more-vulnerable

Mlaba, K. (2022, March 23). How Do Women and Girls Experience the Worst of War? Global Citizen. https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/women-and-girls-impacts-war-conflict/

Join and Support the Green Party National Women’s Caucus: https://nwc.gpus.org/support-us/