Women and the Law of Armed Conflict : Why the Silence?

In this article, Judith Gardam argues that the rules of the law of armed conflict which relate to the protection of women fail spectacularly to protect women in times of armed conflict and import a gendered hierarchy, i.e., the rules dealing with women are regarded as less important than the rules dealing with others and their infringement is taken less seriously. To do this, she (i) describes the effect on warfare on women arguing that, in addition to being major victims of armed conflict, women experience warfare differently from men; (ii) identifies distinctive features of the law of armed conflict which are obstacles to advancing protections for women; and (iii) and examines feminist critiques of human rights that help to explain why the law of armed conflict is inadequate to protect women. Next, Gardam offers a proposal for reform: a protocol to protect women in times of armed conflict.