Elizabeth Imti
Guns affect women’s lives when they are not directly in the firing line. Women become the main breadwinners and primary caregivers when male relatives are killed, injured or disabled by gun violence. Women are displaced and forced to flee their homes for an uncertain future. The relationship between women and guns is a complex one. Women are not only killed and injured by the use of weapons, they also play other roles- sometimes as perpetrators of armed violence, sometimes encouraging the use of guns, and sometimes as activists of change.
Article 1 of the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women states that: “The term ‘violence against women’ means any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or private life.” According to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, gender-based violence against women is violence “directed against a woman because she is a woman or that affects women disproportionately.” Such violence takes many forms, among them murder, stabbing, beating, rape, torture, sexual abuse, sexual harassment, threats and humiliation, forced prostitution and trafficking. Violence may be physical, psychological and sexual. It may be manifested through deprivation or neglect as well as through overt use of force or harassment.
Violence against women, whether committed with boots or fists or weapons, is rooted in pervasive discrimination which denies women equality with men. It cuts across borders, religion and class. Violence against women in the family and community, and violence against women as a result of state repression or armed conflict, are part of the same continuum: much of the violence that is targeted against women in militarizes societies and during armed conflict is an extreme manifestation of the discrimination and abuse women face in peacetime. Whatever the context or immediate cause of the violence, the presence of guns invariably has the same effect: more guns mean more danger for women.
Large numbers of women suffer directly and indirectly from armed violence. Although women & girls are not majority of direct victims, they are affected by gun violence in a range of ways. Low status or lack of legal protection can make women more vulnerable, whether in war zones or peaceful nations. Every year, many thousands of women and girls are shot, traumatized, intimidated, enslaved, robbed and raped at gunpoint.
In the US, having a gun in the house increases the overall risk of someone in the household being murdered by 41% and for women the risk is tripled. When guns are used in intimate partner violence, it increases the chance of death by 12 times compared to other means of violence. In France, which has 30 guns per 100 people, 33% of women killed by their partners are shot. In the US, which has 96 guns per 100 people, this percentage rises to 66%.
Women’s attitudes can sometimes contribute to the powerful cultural conditioning that equates masculinity with owning and using a gun, and regards gun abuse by men as acceptable. The perception that a gun provides some measure of protection can be found in many different contexts and is not confined to situations of armed conflict alone. Many men carry guns as part of their perceived and constructed roles as “protectors “of women, the argument used by gun lobbyists is that they need the guns to protect their families form armed intruders or attackers. But the reality of gun ownership and use is very different. The link between men and arms is not a biological result of being a man. Men and women in most cultures are socialized to regard violence as an integral element of masculinity.
Like many other societies, Indian society is a society in transition changing roles, increased stress and alterations in lifestyles bring with them newer problems. In rural India especially in parts of Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, country made revolvers and guns are wielded by grooms as they embark on for the wedding procession. Guests and family members fire rounds in the air, yet no one has ever raised the question of what happens to those guns? Women are increasingly subjugated to violence within the four walls of her home, to threats and control by the use of arms and weapons. Indian society still thinks that what happens in the home is a domestic, private affair and would keep a distance from interfering in other hearths, and families. Women are always living under the fear, the threat of violence and of control. Having a gun in the house does not always guarantee security for the family rather it can have adverse effects.
Widespread and unregulated access to small arms and ammunition following ceasefire and peace agreements facilitates further armed violence against women. The brutalizing effects of armed conflict do not disappear with the end of conflict. For returning combatants, both men and women, the transition from the violence of the frontline to home life can be extremely problematic. The return of male relatives, many traumatized and brutalized by the conflict, can bring violence directly into the home. If men bring weapons home with them, the danger to women increases.
The actions of armed gangs can also shape public spaces for women. If armed gangs are on the street and they are known to attack and rape women, then getting to work and going about their daily lives become dangerous for women. The restrictions, fear and danger that women and girls experience in such situations are intensified by the uncontrolled proliferation of firearms. This danger is clearly increased when gangs are wielding automatic and semi-automatic military specification firearms which can fire many rounds in rapid succession.
Rape was unheard of before in Naga society but now, it is not just a stray incident hitting newspapers but almost a regular occurrence. Where is the safety for women if they don’t feel secure in their own homes, their community and state? Have we ever taken time out to think what happens in the households of men who have been shot dead? Do we think it’s just another statistic in the paper? Who burdens the loss, the care of the entire family? It’s the women who are the most hard-hit in situations such grave as this.
Civil society has an important role to play in changing attitudes towards guns and ensuring that governments do not perpetrate human rights violations while working to eradicate crime. Young people need to be offered alternative ways to make a living and to spend their leisure time. They need to have access to alternative role models that are not based on equating masculinity with armed violence and associating femininity with passivity and objectification.
