We Who Have Borne the Battle: Women Combat Veterans Post 9/11

Mansfield, Larissa

4. term

Development and International Relations, Master

2013

2013-09-30

138

Denne afhandling undersøger de levede erfaringer hos amerikanske kvinder, der deltog i de nylige krige i Irak og Afghanistan, med fokus på både udsendelsen og tiden efter hjemkomsten. Formålet er at forstå, hvordan krig omformer kvinders liv, og hvordan kønnede eftervirkninger fortsat præger hverdagen. Studiet anvender en kritisk feministisk tilgang til international politik og insisterer på, at global politik må analyseres gennem et kønsperspektiv frem for kun på statsligt niveau. En feministisk standpunkt-epistemologi—en tilgang, der sætter viden fra kvinders levede erfaringer i centrum—og en feministisk forskningsetik guidede designet. Undersøgelsen bygger på personlige, dybdegående kvalitative interviews med tre kvinder med kamperfaring. Deres fortællinger kaster lys over en overset del af efterkrigstiden: kvindelige kampsoldaters liv. Det er særligt vigtigt i lyset af de lange krige i Irak og Afghanistan, som har skabt en ny generation af kvinder med kamperfaring. Fortællingerne synliggør også en modsætning mellem den amerikanske hærs officielle forbud mod kvinder i kamp og virkeligheden i krigszoner, hvor kvinder rutinemæssigt blev udsat for kamp. På tværs af beretningerne fremstår køn som både komplekst og vedholdende i hverdagen: kvinderne udfordrer til tider den eksisterende kønsorden og opretholder den til andre tider. Alle tre erkender kønsparadokset ved at være kvindelige soldater, fastholder deres identitet som kampsoldater og arbejder for at udvide anerkendelsen af andre kvindelige veteraner. Afhandlingen anbefaler yderligere forskning i de kønnede dimensioner og virkninger af militære politikker vedrørende familieforhold.

This thesis explores the lived experiences of American women who served in the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, focusing on both deployment and life after returning home. It examines how war reshapes women’s lives and how gendered aftereffects continue to influence everyday life. The study uses a critical feminist approach to international relations, arguing that global politics should be examined through a gender lens rather than only at the level of states. A feminist standpoint epistemology—an approach that centers knowledge built from women’s lived experiences—and a feminist research ethic guided the design. The research is based on in-depth, in-person qualitative interviews with three women who served in combat. Their stories illuminate a largely overlooked part of the post-war landscape: the lives of women combat veterans. This is especially important given that the long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan produced a new generation of women with combat experience. The narratives also expose a contradiction between official U.S. military policy that banned women from combat and the reality in war zones, where women were routinely exposed to combat. Across their accounts, gender appears as both complex and persistent in everyday life: the women sometimes challenge the existing gender order and at other times find themselves maintaining it. All three recognize the gender paradox of being women soldiers, claim their identity as combat veterans, and work to extend recognition to other women veterans. The thesis recommends further research into the gendered dimensions and effects of military policies related to family issues.

[This abstract was generated with the help of AI]

women combat veterans ; post-war ; feminist standpoint theory ; critical security studies ; women in the US military

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