Gun Violence: A Gendered Issue
Gun control measures have crucial implications for human rights worldwide. However, victims of gun violence do not always share the same experiences. In order to fully understand the issue of gun violence, we must use a “gendered lens” to understand that men and women are not impacted by this crime in the same way [1].
According to the International Small Arms Control Standard, “the ideologies of masculinity and femininity are socially constructed and largely reflect power dynamics in which men as a group have power over women as a group” [2]. This power differential is pervasive and worsened by the fact that men are “almost always the bearers of guns” [3]. Men’s attraction to weapons is also socialized from a young age. Young boys are often given toy guns, and “small arms are...implicated in rites of passage from boyhood to manhood” in some cultures [4]. Men comprise the majority of people in professions that use smalls arms, those who participate in small arms recreation, and those who commit crimes using small arms [5]. Finally, men who work in the aforementioned professions and develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are more likely to turn violence against their intimate partners, while females suffering from PTSD are more likely to direct violence against themselves [6].
Although men constitute the majority of victims in very violent areas, women’s risk to the dangers of gun violence is greater [7]. Small arms put women’s rights in jeopardy even in their personal relationships. The Center of Disease Control states that homicide is a leading cause of death for women under the age of 44 in the United States, with more than half of homicides relating to intimate partner violence (IPV) [8]. Moreover, IPV is the only type of homicide in which female victims outnumber male victims [9]. Guns in the hands of those who commit crimes such as IPV worsen the issue of violence against women. In fact, “firearms are used in a third of all femicides worldwide” [10].
Other crimes against women such as rape can be associated with men armed with illicit small arms. The United Nations states that some refugee women in conflict zones “cite rape as a primary reason for fleeing their homes and report that rape is primarily perpetrated by armed men” [11]. There are numerous indicators of whether rape involving small arms is occurring in a community, including house raids, mass displacement, and infiltration of refugee camps by arms bearers [12]. This fact is demonstrative of how women in conflict areas may face multifaceted danger in relation to small arms.
While small arms can be used to perpetuate issues such as intimate partner violence and sexual assault, armed conflict has given women a platform for challenging gender stereotypes in the past. For example, when men are fighting in conflicts away from their home communities, women are encouraged to step into leadership roles. Moreover, the United Nations encourages gender equality by calling for all people to take a stand against gun violence [13].
References
[1] International Small Arms Control Standard 06.10. PDF. United Nations Coordinating Action on Small Arms, 2017.
[2] International Small Arms Control Standard 06.10
[3] "The Impact of Firearms on Women." Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. May 4, 2016. Accessed June 05, 2018. https://wilpf.org/the-impact-of-firearms-on-women/.
[4] International Small Arms Control Standard 06.10
[5] International Small Arms Control Standard 06.10
[6] International Small Arms Control Standard 06.10
[7] International Small Arms Control Standard 06.10
[8] Petrosky, Emiko, MD, Janet M. Blair, PhD, Carter J. Betz, MS, Catherine A. Fowler, PhD, Shane P.D. Jack, PhD, and Bridget H. Lyons, MPH. "Racial and Ethnic Differences in Homicides of Adult Women and the Role of Intimate Partner Violence." Center for Disease Control and Prevention 66, no. 26 (July 21, 2017): 741-46. Accessed June 5, 2018. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/wr/mm6628a1.htm?s_cid=mm6628a1_w.
[9] International Small Arms Control Standard 06.10
[10] Matthias Nowak, as in "The Impact of Firearms on Women." Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. May 4, 2016. Accessed June 05, 2018. https://wilpf.org/the-impact-of-firearms-on-women/.
[11] International Small Arms Control Standard 06.10
[12] International Small Arms Control Standard 06.10
[13] International Small Arms Control Standard 06.10
