Gender, Conflict and Peace in Kashmir

This book demonstrates that gender is a key component of conflict and peace discourse. The marginalization of women in conflict and peace is all pervasive. Kashmir is a mirror image of this global scenario. Kashmiri women aided the militant movement in significant ways though they did not take part in direct combat. They played key roles to sustain and nourish the movement - as protestors, protectors and motivators, and facilitators. Their experiences of participation in the conflict, however, remain subdued by the dominant masculinist discourse. Kashmiri women are excluded from the militancy discourse as contributors as well as from peacemaking discourse as stakeholders. The study interrogates theory and practice of women's participation in conflict and argues that changed gender-roles during conflict do not necessarily revolutionize socially ascribed norms. The book also examines the experiences of women in sustaining conflict to make a case for their due place in negotiating formal peace.