Some people assume that women are culturally considered and trained to be peacemakers while males are trained for warfare and to be aggressive, but that is a social construct.
Diana Francis observes that
22Some other versions of the causes of the genocides will be provided in the next chapter. Timothy Longman (2004) gives his understanding of how a simple conflict can generate into open violence, then gives the details about the evolution of Rwandan ethnic violence. He describes how the matter started as just an ethnic conflict shortly before the independence in 1959, when ethnic identities gained increased significance during the colonial period. The colonial system then reinforced the conflicts which already existed between the two ethnic groups, Hutu and Tutsi, by empowering the minority Tutsi (15% of the population) over the majority Hutu through the indirect rule of Germany and Belgium. Thus, there was an uprising of Hutu in 1961, but in reality it had started earlier in 1959 with the first acts of violence against Tutsi by the Hutu, who felt increasingly powerless and exploited. Then in November 1959, a Hutu uprising drove many Tutsi chiefs from power and initiated a process of transferring power to Hutu. This led to the deposing of the Tutsi King in 1961. By that time the conflicts were no longer easy to control and the violence led to the killing of many Tutsi while thousands of them were forced to flee the country. Conflicts continued and in 1990 the Tutsi refugees were not allowed to come back to the country. They then decided to attack and the consequences were the genocide in 1994.
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People laugh when little boys fight and say that, ‘boys will be boys’, recreating on a daily basis the notion that to be properly male is to be aggressive. Fighting is seen as an aberration in little girls. They, by contrary, are expected to be gentle and caring…It is inescapable that when we think of violence in general we think – first and foremost – of men, or of men-in–the making. When we think of wars, and images of war, the same is true. Young men are prepared by the society for war (Francis 2004:66-67).
Indeed some cultures and traditions consider women to be more caring and prone to unity building. That assumption is often expressed in their adages and proverbs. This is exemplified by the Rwandan culture where the woman is assumed to have attributes that make her an instrument of social cohesion. The saying Umugore ni gahuza miryango, meaning, ‘a woman serves as a bridge between families and tribes’ expresses Rwandans’
belief in the idea that a woman is a mediator or a bridge-builder between extended families, clans, tribes and neighbours. The tradition then assumes that women are endowed with the capacity to restore broken relationships and create long-lasting friendships with the members of different groups. Umugore ni nyina w’Imana (a woman is a mother of God) is another adage which refers to her compassion as that of God. In terms of conflict resolution, the saying expresses the role of a mother in maintaining stability and peace in the family, as God does in the creation.
John Paul Lederach (1995) observes a similar tradition in Mexican culture. He notices that there is no specific vocabulary that defines the term ‘conflict’. They use the word desmadre which translates ‘disorder’ or ‘chaos’. The term, however, does not stand for conflict but literally, the term means to be ‘without a mother’. Lederach attracts the attention of the reader by commenting that the metaphor of desmadre as conflict does not refer to the absence of the father, but to the situation of the more total and devastating disintegration that emerges without the presence of a mother. Lederach believes therefore that practically, this raises a clearer understanding of the central role of women in the resolution of the family conflicts in the Latin American context. According to Lederach, this term highlights two major things about women: their significant natural inclination for resolving conflicts and their key conciliatory role in maintaining harmony among people (Lederach 1995:75-76).
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However, I argue that women have a tendency to avoid conflict not because they are genetically programmed to be more pacific than men but because of reasons related to their vulnerability. While women may appear to be more pacific than men, their conciliatory stance arises from the consequences that many of them suffer from conflict, whether physically and emotionally. Further, sometimes, apart from physical suffering because of being at risk of mutilation, murder, and exploitation, they also undergo psychological problems when they are obliged to carry unwanted pregnancies and to take care of unwanted children as the result of rape. Khaminwa concurs with this observation by adding that in times of peace, women make up the majority of people at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder, and the environment of conflict places them in even more jeopardy. She observes that even inflation and the scarcity of necessary items such as food and medicine places them at a greater risk of malnourishment, starvation, chronic disease, and death (Kaminwa and Cate 2004:10).
Reardon points to another reason in trying to explain why some women appear more disposed to be peacemakers than men - because they are considered life-givers.
According to Reardon, women bring forth life and carry a great deal of responsibility for maintaining it (Reardon 1993:23). Women then may be more pro-peace than men because of their socialization rather than their genetic make-up. The combination of their vulnerability and their role in life-giving and life-sustaining socializes them, along with cultural traditions, to be peace-makers.
This research however, neither aims at proving that women are more apt to be peacemakers than men, nor focuses on women because of their assumed natural or inner qualities as being peacemakers or peace-builders. Simply, I believe that being part of the society, women also need to be part of its building; they should not be excluded. When women are given opportunities to utilize their abilities, they can be as good a manager of conflict in their communities as men, sometimes even better. But it was noticed above that the static structural functionalist model of conflict resolution does not take sufficient account of the social change that can transform and promote the interests of all the
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members of the community as a whole. Failure to challenge old traditions has been one of the handicaps for women’s participation in the development of their communities.
The present work therefore strives to adopt theories of conflict resolution that would help to awaken the spirit, for creating a moral conscience, promoting conditions for a peaceful world by fighting against injustice, inequality and exclusion, as well as promoting respect for human rights for everyone regardless of their gender. As discussed before, the combination of conflict theory with the biblical theory of conflict resolution will help to bridge the gap by its inclusive capacity of allowing even women to operate in their community by challenging the structures of traditions and gender barriers. More hands are then necessary for effective work because as it is expressed by an old saying, where conflicts are concerned, just as in case of illness, prevention is better than cure. Hygiene is always preferable to chemotherapy. Even though in our current situation in Rwanda it is not prevention, the role of women may contribute to the cure as well as the prevention of conflict for other generations.
The process of dealing with reconciliation in Rwanda after the tragedy of genocide is crucial to this research work. Much research has been done in this area but there has been little focus on the potential of the biblical text to facilitate transformation and reconciliation in an ongoing situation of conflict. I concur with this statement from those who are not aware of the depth of Rwandan problems that, “It can be argued that there is peace in Rwanda but not reconciliation…Rwanda is not yet free from the dark cloud brought about by genocide: it will take longer than a decade to eradicate the division of race, caste and class and to fully establish democratic structures…” (Fuller and May 2006:6). If Rwandan women are motivated and allowed to contribute freely to this role of peacemaking and reconciliation, there will be hope for a better future for the country, even if it is a complex and long-term process which has to deal with traumatic memories by whatever means are available (Fuller and May 2006:7). In this process, this thesis hopes that Rwandans may draw on the rich resources of John’s Gospel for inspiration and direction. Before the exegesis of the biblical text, we need to examine the plight of
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women from their context, both the Mediterranean regional culture of the first century and the Rwandan culture. We start with the context of Rwanda.