International Relations

In my countryside, it is believed that women cannot do anything but serve their husbands - who are thought to be representative of position and power. Most of the women here (including my mother) have to bear domestic violence without being capable of resisting.

These scenes are much familiar to me. It seems like a legitimate behavior. This evokes an invisible fear of whether acts of violence against feeble women on a global scale such as rape in wartime are legitimatized like domestic violence, because, violence against women is associated with international relations in unsuspected ways.

Unfortunately, this has become true. Sexual violence has been used deliberately as a strategic tool of war. For example, Isis forced thousands of women into sexual slavery in 2014 to satisfy the demands of fighters, which helps to build and reinforce a (violent) type of hegemonic masculinity needed for warfare. Also, this is one of the useful political strategies adopted by Isis to build a caliphate.

These are grim realities women have to face, not only inside the home but also outside the world. It is time to address conflict-related sexual violence and women abuse to protect human rights and ensure peace and security.