World War Three: The Fate Of Women
With World War III news trending on the internet, everyone is on their toes wondering what will happen next. America’s fight with Iran has so many people scared and asking will World War Three happen? Well, the answer to that question now is that we are not sure. It is obvious that America’s aggression towards Iran on the pretext of killing a terrorist has caused some bad blood but will it spark out a World War?
Some say the war that is coming will be a war between Christianity and Islam. Whichever the case, every wise person feels a shiver whenever the word war is spoken and for good reason. The previous world wars have taught us that war is a thing to dread.
World War I lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918 which is more than four years of war, claiming about 25 million lives worldwide (click here for more info). World War II lasted from 1939 to 1945 and involved over 30 countries. It is recorded as the deadliest conflict in human history marked by about 85 million deaths worldwide. Wars and deaths will always stand side by side. This is the reason why every wise nation puts measures in place to make sure peace is sustained.
Most of these lives that will be lost are civilian lives. If World War Three breaks out, the bloodshed will be more than the world ever imagined. When you consider the type of weapons of war the world possesses at this moment you wonder how many of us will be left when the war ends. Apart from death, there are other problems the crisis of war brings upon society and most especially, its women.
The Place Of Women In Wars
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Although when the word war is spoken, most people think male soldiers and battles. It is wrong to believe that war is only fought on the battlefront. While soldiers fight for the country on battlefields, women fight for their survival and the survival of their children on the roads and in refugee camps.
They witness the same bloodshed and are subject to even more personal brutality meted on them by soldiers of opposing forces. Sometimes, even soldiers of the same country abuse their women because they believe they have a right to the women’s bodies just by virtue of the fact that they are fighting for the country.
It is true that every war is the same and there is no need for us to hope for a “better” war because it only gets bloodier. If war breaks out, civilization is forgotten and the fight for survival will reduce men to their most primal forms. Women’s place in wars is the place of the victim, the sacrificial lamb who is most times made to pay for the sins of their country and their men.
Below are some predictions of the problems women will most likely face if the war brewing in the middle east breaks out and hits the rest of the world:
Problems Of Physical And Sexual Assault
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During the war, women are most vulnerable to physical assault. In most societies, women are seen as being under the care and support of their men and as a result of that, any affront to women is an affront to their men. Soldiers have been known to raid communities and brutally assault the women by raping them in front of family members or in public and killing their children in front of them.
One of the major causes of this practice is the belief that hurting women hurts the community. Although the belief that women are naturally weak and vulnerable has been deflated somewhat by the stellar contributions of women in society, it is hard not to admit that women will also be in danger if World War III breaks out.
Firstly, just like in the previous world wars, a large population of women will be left in communities just so they can continue the running of affairs to prevent a total economic breakdown of society. These women as before will become sitting ducks for the hoards of soldiers that will eventually reach them with the aim of satisfying their blood lust and whetting their sexual appetites.
Secondly, it is most likely that women will continue to act in their former traditional roles of care caregivers and not actually take up arms to protect themselves against soldiers who come to terrorize them. Also, it is most likely that if they do decide to fight back, those soldiers who might most certainly have greater firepower will overpower them and torture them even more severely for their act of defiance.
Women have been used as sex slaves during the war. Girls as young as 12 years of age have been given to soldiers for “entertainment”. In refugee camps, women are also in danger from soldiers and other refugees who take advantage of their lesser strength and subject them to physical and sexual abuse. Women however have been known to be very resilient in the face of these challenges but many a woman has died while being sexually and physically assaulted.
Economical Problems
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During the war, there is a shortage of even the most basic resources such as food, clothing, and shelter. Women are compelled to scrounge for food for themselves and their young ones. It is important to note that these limited resources will be shared in greater portions to the men who are believed to have higher nutritional needs. Leaving the women to starve and suffer from malnutrition.
Even as women suffer to obtain a portion of these scarce resources, soldiers sometimes raid houses and steal food from women. Women have difficulties finding water and cooking utensils to prepare meals while on the road and in refugee camps.
Health Problems
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During the war, women sometimes have to flee the privacy of their homes to live on the road, in tents or refugee camps. Here they are exposed and are unable to practice proper hygiene, especially in cases where there are no wash houses and women have to take their bath in front of the glaring eyes of the entire camp. Women also have special needs like menstrual pads and sometimes pain killers to help cope with cramps. These needs go unmet during the war, leaving women literally swimming in their own filth.
Nutritional problems caused by a shortage of food will cause stunted growth in girls, increased infant and maternal mortality, and cause problems for lactating mothers. Infections and diseases caused by unhygienic environments and dirty water used for washing up will also cause great discomfort and pain to women.
Women who will get pregnant through sexual assault might be unable to reach adequate health care to help in the termination of the pregnancy. This unavailability might cause some distressed women to resort to crude practices in an effort to terminate the pregnancies and these can be fatal. In other words, women will die like flies.
Emotional and Psychological Problems
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Women who will literally have their world torn out from under their feet will suffer from psychological problems. The brutality of war will most certainly leave a lot of women with mental injuries and emotional issues. Women who are victims of rape will find it hard to cope with the reality of things, and suicide deaths will increase as women who cannot cope will take their life.
These problems will reduce their efficiency in work and in taking care of their children. It will also make them easy prey. War changes people all the time, and never for the better. Watching people die is never fun to anyone sane and during the war? People die in the hundreds every day, and sometimes they are people you used to know.
Women are also considered part of the booty of war and will be taken forcefully by soldiers of opposing forces. Let us not ignore the painful part that after the war, the soldiers will be returning home with the expectation of seeing their women unchanged.
They will expect the woman to picked up from where she left off and continue to carry out her marital duties as wife and bearer of children. No one will actually care about the psychological trauma women will have faced, and the damage it would have wrought their person.
Conclusion
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If during times of peace and stability, women’s rights are still being infringed upon, what happens in times of war when there is a total breakdown of societal institutions that control the actions of people? Women in war are exposed to untold sufferings and hardships because of their place as women in society. In her bid to stay alive and take care of her family, a woman sacrifices herself at the expense of her physical and mental health.
In the eventuality of World War III, no woman is safe anywhere, and there will be nowhere to hide from the brutality that will definitely accompany the war. My advice to the world is that we try and stop this war that is slowly brewing and continue to fight for peace. When war breaks out, it is our mothers, sisters, and daughters who suffer the most.
Let us all put hands together and declare that there will be no war. Perhaps this was one of the things the Democrats saw. Donald Trump might have been trying to protect the people of America when he approved an attack on Iran but at what cost?
Disclaimer: The opinions in this article belong solely to the writer.
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