Women, gender and guns

Women are disproportionately affected by gun violence. Although men comprise around 90% of deaths by guns, they are almost 100% of the buyers, sellers and users.  Women are also victimised by sexual violence at gunpoint, through threats and other trauma, and through their role as caregivers and survivors. In this way, armed violence is a heavily gendered phenomenon.

The IANSA Women's Network is the only international network focused on the connections between gender, women’s rights, small arms and armed violence. The IANSA Women's Network is composed of individuals and groups working to:

- Stop gun violence against women in the home, on the streets or on the battlefield;

- Involve women fully in peacemaking, peacebuilding and disarmament;

- Ensure that women’s interests are served by policies on guns;

- Reduce military spending;

- Break the link between violence and masculinity

- Prevent gun violence around the world.

More on www.iansa-women.org

Latest news

16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence.

An International campaign for the Elimination of Violence against Women is under way.

UN Small Arms Conference Reaches Agreement on Final Afternoon

IANSA is pleased that the Second Review Conference of the UN Programme of Action (UNPoA) managed to reaffirm States’ commitments to address the illicit trade of small arms and light weapons (SALW).

Second UNPoA Review Conference - IANSA's Civil Society Summaries

 

IANSA has a presence at UN Headquarters these two weeks to ensure that civil society is strong and visible at the 2012 Review Conference on the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons (UNPoA), taking place from the 27th August to 7th September.
 
The summaries below provide some highlights of the work of the Review Conference.
 
IANSA Members Address UN States at the PoA Review Conference

IANSA's presence at the Second Review Conference of the UN Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons (PoA) was launched as three members, Jasmine Nario-Galace (Director, Center for Peace Education, Philippines), Hector Guerra (Network Coordinator, IANSA, Mexico), and Marie-Thérèse Ngandji (Executive Director, Caritas, Gabon) delivered speeches addressing IANSA's review of PoA Implementation so far, and hopes for further progress in the future.

Transcripts of the three speeches are available below.

UNPoA Second Review Conference

The Second Review Conference of the UN Programme of Action (PoA) to Prevent, Combat and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects, is due to run from 27th August to 7th September at UN Headquarters in New York.

More than a decade has passed since the adoption of the PoA in 2001, which has laid the foundation for action at the national, regional and global levels.

Latest resources

Gender, Peace and Security Update from PRIO
The first ‘Gender, Peace and Security Update (GPS)’ for 2012 from the Peace Research Institute Oslo, features PRIO researcher and Deputy Director Inger Skjelsbæk’s new book ‘The Psychology of War Rape: Studies from Bosnia and Herzegovina and the launch of the US Peace Research Endowment'.
PoA PrepCom 2012: Mainstreaming gender in the UN PoA

This policy brief was developed by the IANSA Women's Network for the UN PoA Preparatory Committee (PoA PrepCom), 19-23 March 2012.

New IANSA Womens Network position paper on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT)

The IANSA Women's Network has released its latest position paper, ‘The Arms Trade Treaty: An Important Opportunity to Prevent Gender Based Violence at Gunpoint’

Women, Gender and Gun Violence in the Middle East

Written by IANSA Woman Rebecca Gerome, this report presents the main findings of an assessment conducted in Lebanon, Jordan and Occupied Palestinian Territory from January to May 2011

Why Women? Effective engagement for small arms control

This new publication from the IANSA Women's Network aims to show why it is important to include women in small arms control and disarmament initiatives

The 16 Days Tool Kit now available

The 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign will take place from 25 November to 10 December 2011.

2011 Global Study on Homocide UNODC

Firearms are behind rising murder rates in Central and South America, the Caribbean and Central and Southern Africa, according to the 2011 Global Study on Homicide by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

IANSA Women's Network Bulletin - July 2011 now available

A new IANSA Women’s Network Bulletin is now available.

Resources on guns and domestic violence

The National Online Resource Center on Violence Against Women in the US has compiled several factsheets and reports on firearms as a “High Lethality Risk Factor” in domestic violence on their website.

UN Security Council Monthly Action Points

The NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security, of which IANSA is a member, has released its July Monthly Action Points (MAP) for the UN Security Council.

Arms Trade Treaty Preparatory Committee, Summary Report of Side Event 11 July 2011

A summary report of the side event "Health, women and development and the Arms Trade Treaty", co-organised by the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

WHO courses on violence and injury prevention

The World Health Organisation has released a new series of short courses on violence and injury prevention, including on intimate partner and sexual violence prevention.

The Arms Trade Treaty: why women?
This article was written by IANSA Women's Network coordinator Sarah Masters for the openDemocracy website and makes the case for an Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) that protects women by linking to the existing binding international instruments covering gender-based violence.
 
Voices of survivors: the different faces of gun violence

This publication, written by IANSA woman Laura Lyddon, features 16 testimonies acquired by IANSA of women survivors of gun violence from a number of different countries.

MGE 2011: How and why to include women in international efforts to trace and uncover the illicit trade in SALW

An article by the IANSA Women’s Network was published in the MGE Monitor on Tuesday 10 May 2011 and calls upon states to integrate a gender perspective in their tracing efforts, and actively include women at all stages of the process including capacity building and cooperation initiatives.To read it go to: http://www.iansa-women.org/node/630

UN Security Council Monthly Action Points

The NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security, of which IANSA is a member, has releasedMonthly Action Points (MAP) for the UN Security Council for May 2011.

Article on the risks of keeping a gun in the home

Focusing on the US, this article, written by David Hemenway and published in the American Journal of Lifestyle Medicine, summarises and compares scientific literature on the health risks and benefits of having a gun in the home for the gun owner and his/her family.

Peacemaking in Asia and the Pacific: Women’s participation, perspectives and priorities (2011)
Issued by the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, this collection of articles explores the reasons for women’s under-representation in peace processes, in terms of both participation in peace processes and gender content in agreements.
Limit Arms Exports to Reduce Violence Against Women

This article, written by IANSA woman Rebecca Gerome, was originally published on Atlantic.Community.org.

NGO Presentations at the ATT Prepcom, 3 March 2011

On 3 March, members of the Control Arms Campaign addressed the UN, as part of the second session of the Preparatory Committee on the Arms Trade Tready (ATT).

The Arms Trade Treaty: What about women?

This short article by IANSA women participating in the Arms Trade Treaty Preparatory Committee (ATT PrepCom) was published in the ‘Arms Trade Treaty Monitor’, a joint initiative of Reaching Critical Will of WILPF, Global Action to Prevent War, Oxfam International, and IANSA.

IANSA Women's Network

The IANSA Women's Network is the only international network focused on the connections between gender, women’s rights, small arms and armed violence.

USA: Armed domestic violence

In the USA, black females murdered by men are most often killed with a gun, almost always by someone they know according to the new Violence Policy Center (VPC) report.

UN Security Council Monthly Action Points

The NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security has released the September 2010 Monthly Action Points (MAP) on Women, Peace and Security for the UN Security Council.

WN bulletin translated

The latest issue of the IANSA Women's Network Bulletin is now available in French, Portuguese and Spanish.

Geneva Declaration newsletter

The latest newsletter from the Geneva Declaration on Armed Violence is now available.

New IANSA Women’s Network Bulletin

The latest bulletin of the IANSA Women’s Network is now available. This issue highlights a campaign for ‘Gun Free Kitchen Tables’ in Israel

New Cross the Lines

A new issue of ‘Cross the Lines’, a quarterly publication by the Women Peacemakers Program of the International Fellowship Of Reconciliation, is out.

UN Security Council Monthly Action Points

The NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security has released the August 2010 Monthly Action Points (MAP) on Women, Peace and Security for the UN Security Council.

UN Security Council Monthly Action Points

The NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security has released the July 2010 Monthly Action Points (MAP) on Women, Peace and Security for the UN Security Council.