Rethinking Women’s Power During and After War

Using case studies from Rwanda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and others of women and their experience with violence and trauma, this article explores the effects of war on society, specifically on the mobility and agency it can grant women. While war and violence is largely portrayed as solely damaging, it is argued here that in addition, it can grant social alteration for women through demographic, economic, and cultural shifts. As a result, these shifts usher women into a heightened political participation, eventually leading to expanded rights for women. Even though this postwar mobilization would eventually be repressed and face backsliding, this atypical political opportunity cannot be overlooked for the potential it holds for women in a postwar society.