The Dialectics of Gender in Fragile and Conflict Areas-Case Studies of Women in Strife torn Kashmir: From Feminism to Humanism

Abstract

Women have been adversely affected in fragile and conflict hit zones. Fragility in the form of poverty, injustice, insecurity and desolation miserably hits women and violence and conflict abandons their livelihood, as they become vulnerable victims grappling amidst the most horrid conditions for survival.  History bears testimony of the crimes committed on women and the trauma and turbulence they have undergone and endured in the fragile conflict environs both emotionally and physically and also, psychologically. My paper however, is a breakaway from the rampant discourse of women as victims, rather it talks about women living in these chaotic violent areas as victors, who live with a hope in the most hopeless conditions. The effort is to analyse the bold experiences of women in one of the protracted conflict in South Asia - Kashmir - caught between two nuclear giants India and Pakistan. Gender is a key component of conflict and peace discourse. The marginalisation of women in conflict and peace is all pervasive. Kashmir is a mirror image of this global scenario. My paper will reflect the ranges of women's experience in this conflict and strategies they have used to cope, to find a space constricted due to ongoing gun violence and radicalisation, thereby sharing and showcasing their responses to militancy, injustice and uprootedness, both as combatants and survivors. Lets empathise with these women in their own voices as they battle terrorism and terror attacks, discrimination, marginalisation and stigmatisation and emerge as victors and not victims who with their positivism and die hard attitude are ready to face challenges and are determined to come out of victimhood syndrome to lead a progressive and meaningful life. These empowered women talk of peace sans guns, life sans death, love and not hatred and education to create and enlighten and not to dismantle and destroy. Let’s cherish the insightful sojourn of these amazons!