Hidden Wars: Gendered Political Violence in Asia's Civil Conflicts (Oxford Studies in Gender and International Relations)

## Abstract Hidden Wars documents the gendered political violence that is frequently neglected or ignored in conventional analysis of war and conflict, affecting how we understand conflict and which violence we prioritize with implications for postwar peace. Specifically, the book-length study examines the relationship between reports of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and structural gender inequality in three conflict-affected societies in Asia: Burma, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. It is based on extensive field research and analysis of an original dataset on conflict-related SGBV in each country. The longitudinal data is purposively contextualized within conflict dynamics, political struggles, and local understandings of gender relations. Existing social science research shows that structural gender inequality is the most significant risk factor for SGBV. Building on this scholarship, the authors argue that the presence and type of SGBV in Asian civil conflicts reflect distinct and highly politicized, gendered societies. Scholars and policymakers are aware that reporting silence is a major problem for identifying and responding to SGBV. As a result, however, they rarely note the limitations of the data and our knowledge of who perpetrates or is a victim of SGBV, when, and where, due to the politicized contexts of reporting and data collection on the ground. Hidden Wars addresses these real-world limitations by examining the social and political conditions—especially the reporting conditions—for SGBV. Localized patterns of SGBV and the prospects for its prevention in low-intensity conflict environments, like those predominant across Asia, are explicated. Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) has always been a part of warfare. In Asia, testimonies of egregious rape and sexual violence extend back to the Rape of Nanjing, to the experience of the Korean comfort women in World War II, and to forced marriages and sexual slavery during the Cambodian genocide. The past two decades have yielded crucial new insights about SGBV, but scholars and researchers still struggle to explain why and when this violence occurs. A major problem is that incidences of SGBV are vastly underreported; reliable data is especially scarce in Asia, where demographic and health surveys are infrequent and national reporting systems are underdeveloped relative to other parts of the globe. Asia also has some of the most protracted conflicts in the world but the complexity of subnational conflicts in Asia often masks the gendered dimensions of violence. In Hidden Wars, Sara E. Davies and Jacqui True examine the relationship between reports of SGBV and structural gender inequality in three conflict-affected societies in Asia--Burma, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. Based on extensive field research and an original dataset on conflict-related SGBV, Davies and True show how reporting is significantly constrained by a variety of factors, including normalized gendered violence as well as political dynamics affecting local civil society, humanitarian, and international organizations. They address the real-world limitations of data collection and argue that these constraints reinforce a culture of silence and impunity that perpetuates SGBV and permits governments to abrogate their responsibility for this violence. Hidden Wars breaks new methodological ground in showing that what we know about SGBV can be understood fully only if the politicized context of reporting SGBV and data collection is taken into consideration. Cover Series Hidden Wars Copyright Contents List of Tables and Graphs Acknowledgments List of Abbreviations Introduction: Conflict-​related Sexual and Gender-​Based Violence as a “Hidden War” 1. Reframing Sexual and Gender-​Based Violence in Conflict 2. Rethinking Methodologies for Sexual and Gender-​Based Violence in Conflict 3. Interrogating Rumors: Beyond the “Rape as a Weapon of War” Narrative in Burma 4. Probing Silences: Sexual and Gender-​Based Violence in Conflict and Peace in the Philippines 5. Deconstructing Victory: Narratives of Absence of Conflict-​Related Sexual and Gender-​Based Violence in Sri Lanka 6. Comparing Regional Patterns and Trends in Conflict-​Related Sexual and Gender-​Based Violence across Asia Conclusion: Exposing Hidden Wars and Interrogating Silences to End Impunity Notes References Index