Women and Borders

Seema Shekhawat is a Political Scientist with a PhD on the intersection of gender, conflict and displacement. She has researched and taught at the Universities of Jammu and Mumbai, India and is the author of Gender, Conflict and Peace in Kashmir and editor of Female Combatants in Conflict and Peace. Emanuela C. Del Re is Professor of Political Sociology at the University Niccolo Cusano in Rome. She is the chair and founder of EPOS International Mediating and Negotiating Operational Agency and creator of MY FUTURE project for the Syrian Refugees funded by the Italian Foreign Affairs Ministry and by the European Commission. Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra is a social scientist with a PhD in conflict resolution from the University of Massachusetts Boston. He received the Scholar of Peace Award (New Delhi) in 2007 and Kodikara Award for Young South Asian Researcher (Colombo) in 2010. Dr. Mahapatra has published extensively on issues related to conflict and peace. He is the author of Conflict Management in Kashmir and editor of Conflict and Peace in Eurasia.

• Introduction: Borders, Violence and Gender by Debidatta Aurobinda Mahapatra, Seema Shekhawat and Emanuela C. Del ReGendering the European borders: The Role of Female Migrants and Refugees by Emanuela C. Del ReThe Refugee’s Passage: Liminality, Gendered Habits, and the Emergence of Difference in Flight by Leila Hudson Pregnant Crossings: A Political Economy of Care on Europe’s External Borders by Vanessa Grotti, Cynthia Malakasis, Chiara Quagliariello, Nina Sahraoui and Daniela Arias Vargas Acknowledging and Addressing the Risks of Gender-Based Violence that Follow Refugees Across Borders: Escalation of Domestic Violence in Refugee Populations by Melinda Wells, Suhail Abualsameed, and Suse ProsserTrapped in a Cycle of Abuse and Violence: A Case Study of Nigerian Women in Italy by Carolina MontenegroUnhindered Flow of Gendered Suffering through India-Nepal Border: Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation by Seema ShekhawatMigration, Border Crossing and Women: Female Migrant Sexualities Between Objectification and Empowerment by Andreanne Bissonnettea and Elisabeth Vallet Gendered Everyday Bordering: An Ethnographic Case Study on the Border Between Finland and Russia by Olga Davydova-Minguet and Pirjo PöllänenGendered Geographical Edges: Border, Contestation and Women in Kashmir by Debidatta Aurobinda MahapatraKakching Gardens: Experiments in Normalcy in Manipur by Duncan McDuie-Ra

`Borders affect all sections of the population, with multiple consequences for vulnerable sections, particularly women. The state-centered bordering practices are highly restricting and even discriminatory, targeting women in specific ways. The engagement of women with the borders, contested or even settled, hence can be highly exploitative; leading to victimization and alienation. The border regions are highly violence-prone to women residing nearby, while crossing or even after the crossing. This book, focusing on the intersection of gender and border also with relevant case studies such as refugees and migrants, brings in the forefront a highly relevant issue of concern for academics, practitioners as well as policymakers. Through examining an array of related issues, developing further the innovative concept of 'gendered borders', the volume is certainly a great addition to the existing literature on the issue.' - Padraig O'Malley, John Joseph Moakley Distinguished Professor of Peace and Reconciliation, John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston