Christiane Fröhlich

Gender, conflict and global environmental change

Gender has long been identified as an important variable in both conflict (de-)escalation processes and vulnerability or adaptive capacity toward global environmental change. We understand gender as the socioculturally and politico-economically constructed roles and responsibilities ascribed to men and women that change over time, are contextand history-specific, and are inseparable from power relations. With increasing scarcity and degradation of land and water, those who are poor in resources, income, and power—many of them women—lose their rights to use these existential resources. The loss of livelihood due to environmental change, regardless of whether it was caused mainly by global warming or more by bad governance, is often the starting point of resource-related conflicts on the micro and meso levels. Such escalation processes have gender-differentiated causes and consequences: each societal group is affected differently both by environmental change and by conflict, depending on its specific position in the respective structures along which access to resources, income, and decision-making power is distributed. This position is defined by various inand out-group markers: age, ethnicity, (dis-)ability, religion, and so on—and, crucially, by gender. Thus, gender is a relevant category both for the analysis of (de-)escalation processes in violent conflicts and for examinations of the different vulnerabilities and adaptive capacities of women and men to (global) environmental change.

The Political Dynamics of Human Mobility: Migration out of, as and into Violence

Simplistic correlations between human mobility and political violence are on the rise in the European discourse on immigration, especially – but not only – in populist rhetoric. This not only lacks an empirical foundation, but also leads to simplistic solutions for a major political and humanitarian challenge of our time. However, we still lack comprehensive knowledge on the migration-violence nexus. By bringing insights from migration studies and peace and conflict studies into fruitful dialogue, this contribution aims to fill this gap. It first maps some of the central questions regarding the migration-violence nexus. Second, and on this basis, it proposes an analytical framework for future research which encompasses the interdependence of violence-migration dynamics on and between the macro, meso and micro levels by examining human mobility as: (1) a movement out of (physical and structural) violence; (2) a violent process in and of itself; (3) a path into (physical and structural) violence; and (4) it formulates some recommendations that can provide a more holistic basis for policy programmes regarding human mobility.

Water Security Across the Gender Divide

This book examines water security as a prime example of how the economic, socio-cultural and political-normative systems that regulate access to water reflect the evolving and gendered power relations between different societal groups. Access to water is characterized by inequalities: it depends not only on natural water availability, but also on the respective socio-political context. It is regulated by gender-differentiated roles and responsibilities towards the resource, which are strongly influenced by, among others, tradition, religion, customary law, geographical availability, as well as the historical and socio-political context. While gender has been recognized as a key intervening variable in achieving equitable water access, most studies fail to acknowledge the deep interrelations between social structures and patterns of water use. Proof of these shortcomings is the enduring lack of data on water accessibility, availability and utilization that sufficiently acknowledges the relational nature of gender and other categories of power and difference, like class and socioeconomic status, as well as their comprehensive analysis. This book addresses this major research gap.

A Gendered Lens for Genocide Prevention

An understanding of gender and the ways in which gender is performed is central to achieving effective, long-term, humanist mechanisms for genocide prevention. This book develops the concept of “a gendered lens for genocide prevention,” providing innovative and effective ways in understanding the role of gender in genocide studies, and new tools for policymaking and preventative efforts. A gendered lens for genocide prevention is based on recognizing early warning signs of preconditioned behavior for perpetrating genocide and mass atrocities.

Bridging Troubled Waters: Water Security Across the Gender Divide

An increasing number of world regions is expected to become chronically short of water in future climate scenarios, even if there is no global water scarcity as such (Hejazi et al. 2014; Arnell 2004; Vorosmarty et al. 2000). The main factors are structural inequalities, a blatant lack of comprehensive and efficient water management in places that are already suffering from water stress, as well as a global water use that is growing at more than twice the rate of the population increase in the last century. The impacts of these dynamics will inevitably vary for different individuals and segments of society, with gender often playing a major, but not the only, role in mediating needs, vulnerabilities and access to coping strategies.