Women and Peace: The Meaning of Peace for Women

I was intrigued by the challenges involved in defining “peace” in the beginning of this chapter, and surprised by the conflicting opinions that emerged in attempting to define the concept of “negative” and “positive” peace. I was also surprised by the valid points that each peace researcher made in justifying their understanding of the two. If negative peace is defined as the absence of war, I was at first inclined to think about “war” exclusively as organized violence. It seemed that any alternative definition of war that included unorganized but widespread violence against women would be too overwhelming to effectively handle.

Initially, I hesitated to think about the collective personal violence against women as war because although it is extensive, it is not organized. Like many of the researchers mentioned in the chapter, it seemed to me that including unorganized violence in our understanding of war would only further complicate peace efforts. However, I particularly liked the radical feminist argument that was made - claiming that women are incessantly “at war” with male society. I began to wonder why we don’t tend to think about the oppression of women as war. And what’s more, one that is facilitated and maintained by the repressive ideals of the patriarchal system in which we live.

So as I continued to read, I realized that denying these women a voice in such a powerful category as war may be a very dangerous decision. If we exclude unorganized personal violence against women from the category of war, are we sending the message that the violence these women experience is not an important or legitimate issue? Also, it may suggest that wife battering, rape, and child abuse are private issues and that the violence should be excused or overlooked within the context of marriage and the family. Overall, I think the most dangerous assumption in this way of thinking is that peace can be attained by merely eliminating the presence of conventional wars, which is clearly not the case.