Seminar: Gender and militarism, Israel

Today it is becoming increasingly clear that consistent feminism cannot do without a thorough analysis of militarism and that consistent antimilitarism cannot do without a deep understanding of gender issues in both theory and practice.

On the one hand, patriarchy and male dominance crucially rely on militarism, on the way militarism and war shape what is considered to be security, what is considered to be part of the public, rather than private, sphere, and on the constant dangers generated by weaponry and war. On the other hand, manipulating notions of masculinity and femininity is central in motivating people to support war in word and deed, and to take part in it. Gender awareness is also indispensable for effectively resisting war and injustice. The continued marginalisation of women in movements of conscientious objectors to military service around the world gives a living example of how important it is to foster gender awareness in ourselves as anti-militarist activists.

The Gender and Militarism Seminar, to be held in Israel in August 2007 will bring together activists and academics from all over the world to study the mutual connections between militarism and gender. The seminar is organised by War Resisters' International together with the Israeli feminist antimilitarist movement New Profile. This project builds on a long history of work on issues of gender and militarism by both organisations, and continues and deepens the long-standing cooperation between them.

Since 1976 WRI has organised a number of international women's conferences, alone and in cooperation with other organisations. Since1986 the WRI women's working group is a place of debate and support among women within WRI, and publishes an irregular newsletter. In 1998, the WRI Triennial conference adopted a strategic plan, which states as one of WRI's over-arching objectives the incorporation of a feminist perspective into all of WRI's work. Consequently, a critique of militarised masculinity is an integral part of WRI's work on conscientious objection.