PEACE MONITOR

AN ISSUE DIGEST OF THE POLICY GROUP

Volume II, Issue No. 1

March 2015

The Cost of War on Women

War takes a heavy toll, the most visible casualties of which are the direct combatants, mostly able-bodied male. An estimated 100,000 to 120,000 persons
have been killed between 1972-1996 in the Mindanao conflict alone. However,
of this number, some 20% are reportedly civilians caught in the crossfire.
Casualties of war are not merely the dead and injuredthese include as many
as four million internally displaced persons in Mindanao since 2000. Of the
displaced, the largest bulk is comprised of women and children, with the elderly
and the persons with disabilities accounting for another sizeable segment.

You are invited to attend a

brown bag session on the
History of the Bangsamoro
Struggle on 6 April 2015
(Monday), 2:00-5:00pm at the
Kapayapaan Conference Room,
with guest lecturer Prof. Juvanni
A. Caballero of Mindanao State
UniversityIligan Institute of
Technology.

NEXT
BROWN BAG
TOPICS
Armed Forces of the
Philippines Organizational
Structure and Rules of
Engagement
7 May 2015

____________________
Philippine Political
Spectrum
11 June 2015

The displacement suffered by women and children does not simply reside in
the physical dislocation from the home. Displacement may also mean economic dislocation. In 2006, the poverty rate in the Autonomous Region in Muslim
Mindanao (ARMM) was 55.3%. But for women in the ARMM, the poverty rate
was higher at 58.9%, the figure reportedly rising in subsequent years. Furthermore, the ARMM has often had the lowest elementary completion rate in the
country.
Displacement usually means that physical conditions in evacuation centers are
unfit for social activity and family rearing, most especially for nursing mothers.
Spaces for feminine hygiene are often inadequate and unsanitary. The absence of reproductive health services has increased the number of pregnant
women and subsequently increased morbidity and mortality rates. Lack of adequate space for families also breeds sexual violence against women and girls.
Another effect on women is that after the body count of men post-armed encounter, the women of the family have to assume paternal duties. This most
often implies having to be the sole breadwinner of the family. It also means,
however, that they eventually take charge of physical security of the family. In
some instances, female kin of slain non-state combatants take the place of
their male partners in the battlefront.
Studies on rido show that male clan members involved suffer from very limited
mobility from their community, hence educational and economic opportunities
become strained. Female family members therefore fill in the gaps. They are
the ones who are more mobile and thus, are more likely to gain greater educational attainment and economic mobility than their male kin.
Perhaps the greatest paradox in the gender dimension of conflict is that with
males taking on active combat duty, females are forced to take up new socioeconomic roles. They have to attain higher education and/or obtain greater
employment or livelihood opportunities. The challenge now is how to increase
the number of females with access to social mobility and to increase the quality
of education, livelihood and employment opportunitiesshort of ending conflict
outright.
SOURCES:
Busran-Lao, Yasmin and Sampaco, Nawal Nassreena. Horizontal Peace Building in Mindanao: Perspectives
from a Moro Woman. March 2011.
Dwyer, Leslie and Cagoco-Guiam, Rufa. Gender and Conflict in Mindanao. The Asia Foundation, 2010.
Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre. Conflict-related displacement concentrated in Mindanao. Retrieved
from http://www.internal-displacement.org/south-and-south-east-asia/philippines/figures-analysis
National Statistical Coordination Board. 2006 Poverty Statistics for the Basic Sectors. 2006.
Rodil, Rudy. Kalinaw Mindanaw: The Story of the GRP-MNLF Peace Process, 1975-1996. Davao City:
Alternate Forum for Research in Mindanao, 2000.

For comments & suggestions, you may e-mail peace.monitor.opapp@gmail.com