Women: The Unnoticed Victims of War

During a war, the world concentrates on political leaders, military strategies and territorial gains. But amid the chaos of bombings, blockades and battles, there live women- mothers, sisters, daughters- at the center of another kind of war. The wounds of war run deep in conflict zones, and for women they come layered with cultural, economic and gendered forms of oppression. As buildings fall down and people die, women are the ones who end up picking up the pieces without any support and credit. 

There is no doubt that men play the most crucial roles in wars and are deeply affected by it. They endure physical injuries, violence and mental traumas. They are sung about and celebrated. But in all this, we always brush aside the women and fail to recognize their struggles.

Wars affect women physically, mentally, socially and in every other way imaginable. Sexual violence, repeated rapes and harrassment are pervasive. Women are forced out of their homes and left to themselves. They have to look after their families, provide for them and ensure their well-being. And in doing all this, they barely get time for themselves. There is compromised menstrual hygiene, no safe food or shelter or medicines etc. But this doesn’t even equate to half of their problems. Women’s plight can be explained for hours and hours but even that won’t be enough. We can never fully understand their situation unless we experience it ourselves. And I pray we never have to. 

As an illustration, we can consider the case of women in regions like Sudan, Congo and those stuck in the palestine-israel conflict etc. Without taking sides, I think we all agree that innocent people don’t have to suffer the doings of conflict-hungry insane men.

The real question here, I think, is how we can help such people. There are many ways to do that. To get women out of their plights, it is requisite for the global community to unite and provide long term assistance for them to receive basic necessities such as healthcare and protection. The best thing we can do is advocate for peace talks and negotiations, and build up women organizations. 

Raising awareness is another vital thing. We should host social media campaigns and never stop talking about them until their issue is resolved.

Women are the unsung, uncelebrated heroes of war. They are the overlooked victims. You don’t need to be a woman to understand this, you only need to be a human being. Such problems may seem trivial and unimportant sometimes, but it is our duty to take a  stand. Our feminism and our humanity is incomplete otherwise.

By Hajira Ehsan