Vulnerable Women: A Critical Reflection On Human Rights Discourse and Sexual Violence

I write as a historian by training, who is now working on gender, violence,and human rights in contemporary Africa. In this Essay, I hail the great interventions made by women's rights' activists and supporters in placing violence against women on the international human rights agenda, but examine critically the emphasis on female vulnerability in recent UN decisions and documents. I analyze the U.N. Security Council resolutions on the experiences of women in wartime and peace, particularly Resolution 1820. I suggest that an exclusive focus on sexual violence against women and girls limits our ability to understand the root causes of sexual violence, and to build different and sustainable futures for women and men. I explore the implications of the figure of the vulnerable woman for post-conflict reconstruction, arguing that an exclusive focus on sexual violence against women and children leads to the articulation of rights in ways that might actually hinder the objectives of human rights.