Cross-cut Chapter 3 GLOBAL GENDER AND ENVIRONMENT OUTLOOK Food Chapter 1


Water


Energy


in conflict-affected settings. Intentional exclusion of certain communities or groups of people (often, women as a category) from equitable access to natural resources is a central feature of the structural inequalities and discrimination that can ultimately destabilize societies. This is most evident in regard to land tenure, but extends to access and usage rights for renewable resources such as water, as well as equitable distribution of benefits from extractive resources including minerals, metals, timber and oil. Addressing issues of inequality related to natural resource access, participation and decision-making is a critical condition for lasting peace and development. Focusing on gender is an important part of understanding these dynamics, as women and men use and enjoy the benefits of natural resources according to roles and responsibilities determined by their gender as well as their socio- economic status.


Chapter 4: Chapter 2


Violent conflicts present distinct challenges for women and men (UN Women 2013; UNEP, UN Women, PBSO and UNDP 2013). The capacity to cope with the impacts of such crises, including physical and food insecurity, displacement, loss of livelihood assets and social exclusion, is strongly influenced by gendered roles. As the primary providers of water, food and energy at the household and community levels, women in rural settings, for example, tend to be disproportionately affected by the impacts of conflict on the availability and quality of natural resources such as land, water and agricultural crops. Conflict also disrupts social and cultural systems for management of natural resources (land in particular). Women’s access to resources often depends upon the social structures of their communities. In turn, the well-being of whole communities frequently depends on women’s ability to access resources.


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Conflict often leads both women and men to adopt coping strategies that challenge traditional gender norms. To meet the needs of their households and compensate for the loss of revenue usually provided by male family members, women may be required to assume new roles either by taking up alternative income-generating activities or by moving into traditionally male-dominated sectors. In the aftermath of conflict, capitalizing on these shifting roles can contribute to breaking down existing barriers to women’s empowerment and participation, which are key to post-conflict recovery. Indeed, women’s roles in natural resource management may provide significant


opportunities to enhance their participation in decision- making at all levels and to engage in economic recovery.


However, patriarchal and discriminatory social norms tend to reassert themselves in post-conflict periods, often reversing gender equity progress that may have been achieved (Fröhlich and Gioli 2015). One example is female ex-combatants or women associated with armed groups, who are often perceived as poorly suited to assume culturally accepted female roles in the aftermath of conflict, and who tend to face significant challenges when they return to their communities or to civilian life. When disarmament, demobilization and reintegration programmes fail to ensure that their interventions are gender-responsive, female ex-combatants can be denied the support services afforded male ex-combatants, such as access to land or disbursements of cash with which land can be purchased, resulting in further marginalization (Cohn 2008).


Men’s livelihoods and notions of masculinity are also affected by conflict. They may have more difficulty maintaining


traditional livelihoods


(e.g. livestock


herding or day labouring) due to insecurity, and can face intense pressure for recruitment into armed groups. With few employment opportunities overall in conflict zones, as well as reduced access to important natural resources including land, social understandings of masculinity


are often challenged or threatened


during conflicts (Enloe 2016; MenEngage-UNFPA, n.d.). Such destabilizations often lead to heightened violence towards women (and other men) as men try to reassert their control in everyday domains (Strachan and Haider 2015; Specht 2013). Such violence often continues well into the post-conflict period (UN Women 2013); in Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia and Sierra Leone, for example, documented levels of domestic violence against women have skyrocketed in the past decade of post-conflict recovery (UNEP, UN Women, PBSO and UNDP 2013).


Despite increasing recognition of women’s multi- faceted roles in situations of conflict, including through such prominent agreements as UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (Box 2.7.2), the international community’s dominant focus on women as victims of conflict – particularly as victims of sexual and gender-based violence – limits their ability to fully engage in all aspects (political, economic and social) of post-conflict recovery (Cohn et al. 2004). Peacebuilding interventions


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