Moving the Story Forward
Utilizing Deminer Narratives to Increase Women’s Empowerment in Mine Action and Beyond
CISR Journal
This article is brought to you by the Center for International Stabilization and Recovery (CISR) from issue 25.1 of The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction available on the JMU Scholarly Commons and Issuu.com.
By Brenna Matlock [ Center for International Stabilization and Recovery ]
The humanitarian mine action (HMA) sector, as a part of the wider security and peacebuilding field, has made significant gains related to gender equity in field operations. In recent years, women deminers have received increased donor and media attention. As a result, there now exists a wide breadth of texts, literature, documentaries, etc., about women who work to remove landmines and other explosives from the ground.The availability of this new information and recent increased public and media attention generates the following questions: Are the narratives accurate, and do women deminers agree with them? How do women deminers view the ways that they are represented in the media? What has been shared about female demining with the world? How can HMA organizations use information on women deminers’ experiences to make meaningful connections with the wider security and development sector?
