The missing half: How conflict reporting erases women's experiences

Curious women watch in disbelief Tirap area in West Pokot County where they alleged to have lost their animals to cattle rustlers. [File, Standard]

Conflict and violence in most cases are reported and often experienced through a masculine lens. We see men in the frontlines with guns, mishale and machete. They are either attacking, retaliating, defending, and dying as well. As a result, narratives and responses mainly center on male experiences. Yet this framing erases half the population and some of the most vulnerable victims from the story.

Women are not absent from these conflicts. They are at work or at home when raiders attack. They are hiding in bushes with their children when villages burn. They are the daughters and mothers sexually assaulted or murdered in some extremes. In many cases, they are also active agents. They are peacebuilders and sometimes even unwilling or willing participants in cycles of retaliation.