Adviser in Bosnia sees need to tackle male chauvinism in Balkans to halt persistent sexual violence against women
LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Nearly 20 years after it ended, the Bosnian war is still remembered for the atrocities committed against women.
Up to 20,000 women were raped in the three-year ethnic conflict that ended in 1995, many of them held in prison camps until abortion was impossible.
The abuse was so serious that it led to rape being defined as a war crime for the first time, by the U.N. tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
The fighting has ended, but violence remains very much part of women’s lives in 21st century Bosnia.
A 2012 survey funded by charities CARE and Promundo found that 45 percent of women in Bosnia had experienced some kind of gender violence.
“There were a lot of attitudes that saw women as second-class citizens,” said John Crownover, adviser on a CARE International initiative that works with young men in the Balkans.
A persistent macho culture combined with stigma and a lack of support means that many women survivors of the war are still struggling to get on with their lives, Crownover told a panel discussion on Tuesday held on the fringes of a global summit to end sexual violence in conflict.
“In many cases, boys and men feel entitled to their privileges, and they feel like if they want to demand sex that’s perfectly OK,” Crownover told Thomson Reuters Foundation after the debate on tackling the roots and repercussions of sexual violence.
He said that after the conflict, both church and state helped to reinforce the idea that men were the heads of the households, the defenders and protectors of their families – marginalising women.
“If you look at the politicians – a lot of them are often promoting this very hyper-masculine attitude and behaviours that contribute to homophobia and gender inequalities that still exist in the region,” he added.
Working with young men and boys is one way of tackling chauvinism - much of it with roots in the male-only sports clubs and paramilitary groups that flourished in the 1990s, espousing an extreme form of nationalism.
CARE has organised workshops and worked with the education ministry to hold discussions about gender roles, violence and sex and “provide more space for diverse masculinities, not just the hyper-masculine, aggressive, ‘always have to be tough guy’ type of masculinity”, Crownover said.
He said he hoped governments represented at this week’s summit hosted by British Foreign Secretary William Hague and Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie would consider using their national curricula in schools to tackle the problem of sexual violence.
“We know this is relevant – whether it’s college campuses in the US or if it’s in the DRC or if it’s in the Balkans,” he said.
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