Women, Armed Conflict and International Law

In this article, Helen Durham reviews Women, Armed Conflict and International Law by Judith Gardam and Michelle Jarvis. According to Durham, Gardam and Jarvis argue that international humanitarian law (1) addresses women not as individuals in their own right, but in terms of their relationships with others especially in light of sexuality and reproduction; (2) places greater importance on protecting combatants in armed conflict rather than on protecting victims of armed conflict, suggesting that the lives of combatants are more valuable than those of victims; (3) fails to recognize the systematic inequality between men and women in societies when addressing humanitarian needs in armed conflict. Durham argues that (3) overlooks the limited mandate of international humanitarian law: to ensure the survival of as many people as possible during the most extreme situations a society may experience, not to deal with the basis of social structure in general.