Why Militarism?

What is militarism and why is the Global Fund investing in an initiative to support women working across the world to dismantle it?

Militarism…

• is the belief that violence and armed force is the way to resolve conflicts. Militarism is sustained through institutions, investments and structures that promote a culture of fear and systems of violence that exist even in situations where is no active conflict.

• values allocating significant resources for defense purposes. To divert human and financial resources away from the military is considered unpatriotic or putting the country at risk. It assumes that the defense industry is economically valuable.

• perpetuates gender stereotypes: women should be grateful for being protected; men should take pride in being the protector. Soldiers are revered as those making the greatest sacrifices —not doctors, nurses, teachers, or childcare providers.

Since 1987, the Global Fund for Women has awarded more than $31 million to nearly 2,000 women’s groups in 141 countries working on building peace and ending gender-based violence. Our grantee partners around the world tell us that:

• Military conflict between state actors and the rise of violence by non-state actors, such as militias, guerrillas and gangs, threaten the lives of women and girls.
• Gender-based violence and threats to women human rights defenders during and post conflict must be globally and systematically confronted.
• Global militarism campaigns, like the U.S.-led ‘Global War on Terror,’ lead to the repression of everyone’s rights and thwart the ability of peoples to build just and democratic societies—even in societies not engaged in active conflict.

The grave consequences of militarized violence against women and girls call for an urgent, bold, global response: the Women Dismantling Militarism Initiative.

Between August 2008 and June 2011, under the Women Dismantling Militarism Initiative, the Global Fund invested over $3 million in the actions and efforts of 169 women-led grassroots organizations in 51 countries engaged in the following:

• Ensuring women’s participation in peace processes and post-conflict reconstruction.
• Trying to halt the flow of arms and put into place legal mechanisms to hold accountable perpetrators of sexual terrorism within armed conflict; and
• Leading national and regional peace, security and conflict prevention processes

In the second phase of WDMI, the Global Fund aims to support the learning of the global women’s movement, philanthropy and policymakers through three activities:

1. Participatory learning and research on effective strategies women’s groups are using to respond to the daily impact of violence on women while working towards deeper societal change to end militarism.
2. Engage the philanthropic community to increase investments in women’s peace groups and take on a more holistic approach to address militarism.
3. Partner with donor networks and advocacy initiatives to educate U.S. policymakers on the impact of U.S. militarism on women’s security around the world.