Impact of protracted conflict on women in Kashmir: tracking multidimensional exclusions within social and political institutions

Abstract

ABSTRACT Diminishing accountability of state institutions in Kashmir and the expectation from women to adhere to strict socio-cultural norms are subtly imposing multidimensional social exclusion on them. It limits women's mobility and choices. Security, political and institutional compulsions of conflict zones further heighten the impediments to women's lives. Civil societies in many conflict zones have demanded that violence against women and discriminatory cultural practices and stereotypes be addressed by holding state and non-state actors accountable for structural inequalities which further marginalize women. Certain dimensions of social exclusion faced by women, specifically engendered due to conflict situations, become invisible and unnoticeable by getting eclipsed by the meta-narrative of the political discourses of conflict, creating the binary of the state and the combatant. Seeing women as separate entities gives deeper insights into the graded vulnerabilities of a conflict zone. This paper attempts to see how women's agency in everyday life is affected by a persistent state of turmoil. Besides, it also looks at the structural fault lines in state institutions in addressing women's issues in the aforementioned regard.