Gender, violence and cultures of silence: young women and paramilitary violence

Abstract

Despite a growth in analysis of women and conflict, this has tended to overlook the specific experiences of young women. Likewise, in research on youth, conflict and peace, the term 'youth' is often short-hand for young men. Young women's experiences are regularly absent from research and policy discourse, and as a consequence, also absent from public understanding and practice responses. In this paper, we prioritise the views of and on young women to forefront their experiences of one specific form of conflict-related violenceparamilitary violence. We demonstrate that forefronting young women's experiences, and adopting an understanding of violence beyond that which privileges physical violence, unearths the multiple ways in which conflict-related violence is experienced. We further demonstrate how adopting an intersectional lens that prioritises age and gender can surface the specific experiences of young women, and the various ways in which these become silenced by cultures that omit, coerce, reduce and minimise.

The violent construction of silence(s): The case of targeted killings in North Waziristan, Pakistan

“…Speaking on silence, Hirschauer (2019) has contended that de-securitization moves through maintaining active practice of silence should not be characterized as passive inactivity but rather as a process of enduring productivity (of silence). Similar connotations attached to silence(-ing) have been voiced, especially in post-conflict context(s), along with the discourse on gender-related violence where strategic silencing had been employed to evade attention and avoid further potential for violence (McAlister et al, 2021). George and Kent (2017) also present arguments on the same lines and assert that women’s silences are a pre-condition for post-conflict fragile peace to be maintained and to prevent retaliatory violence towards perpetrators.…”

Exclusive breastfeeding and its association with intimate partner violence during pregnancy: analysis from Pakistan demographic and health survey

“…Although the current investigation has been cautiously formed together with the existing practices, it has also been pretested through apprehending the information of rape and sexual violence till postures a moral and operational contest. Another issue is the quiet culture concerning the occurrence of rape through the subsequent stigmatization [ 51 , 52 ]. One more main cause is the Pakistani culture, which has been categorized by male supremacy.…”

Lived Experiences of Intimate Partner Violence and Help-seeking among Wives of Persons with Alcohol Dependence: A Thematic Analysis

“…Few studies reported similar findings which revealed that silence helps them to know what situations and circumstances to avoid. [ 45 ] employing a problem-focused approach, [ 46 ] engaging in assertive communication, [ 47 ] preparing safety plans, [ 48 ] striving for financial independence, [ 49 ] utilizing emotional-focused techniques, [ 31 ] relying on religious/spiritual strategies, [ 50 ] practising relaxation techniques, [ 51 ] employing social coping mechanisms, [ 7 ] seeking assistance from others, [ 52 ] supporting the husband’s treatment, and accessing peer support groups. [ 53 ]…”