Abstract
Dynamics of a protracted conflict and restrictive norms and customs have created gender specific vulnerabilities for women living in rural areas of the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (drc). Despite a growing awareness about women’s rights and protection needs among state actors and local authorities, women’s agency to break the culture of silence around violence remain limited. Based on extensive field work with selected communities in North and South Kivu in eastern drc, we analyse how this culture of silence limits the agency of individual women to seek self-protection. We also examine the role of women’s groups in these study areas and the strategies these groups use to advocate for their self and collective protection needs. We argue that the use of various frames to gain support of stakeholders, creating informal networks with key figures to gain access, and building allies among men have enabled women members of these groups to challenge restrictive norms around women’s access to decision-making spaces and visibilised their presence in public and break the culture of silence. We also point out that the sustainability of these mechanisms is open to question and backlash against women’s groups remains a possibility.
Introduction
The ways in which women’s agency can be supported to tackle gender-based violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (drc) have steadily gained attention in global discourse in humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding circles. The focus on women’s experience during conflict gained ground in these circles as the public visibility of sexual violence in wartime heightened with the award of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize to Denis Mukwege for his effort to end sexual violence in the drc. Though well intentioned, this increased focus on sexual and gender-based violence in international narratives framed by UN agencies about women has come at a cost. The dominant narratives in humanitarian, peacebuilding and development circles on women in eastern drc largely portray them as passive victims constrained by restrictive customary norms and culture (Godin, 2016). In recent years, we see a shift in narratives about women, highlighting women’s agency in scholarship on drc, as well as in international policy discourse and in popular culture (ibid.). Our study adds to this growing body of work.
This article engages conceptually and empirically with debates around women’s agency, individual and collective protection, and the culture of silence. While the recent scholarship on gender and peacebuilding emphasises the enabling functions of silence, our data shows that individual women’s agency is greatly constrained by gender specific vulnerabilities created by militarization, insecurity and restrictive gender norms and customs in the North and South Kivu in eastern drc, especially among the most marginalised groups. Despite a growing awareness of women’s rights among state and non-state actors at the national and local levels, these dynamics contribute towards the creation of a culture of silence with respect to violence against women where women publicly speaking about domestic violence is considered by those in the community as shameful, a practice which is strongly discouraged by the in-laws, the village leaders, and the church. Furthermore, silence becomes a protection strategy that women use to contain the various risks they face within their families and the community. While individual strategies by women in terms of self-protection is limited (such as walk to the agricultural plot in groups and during specific times of the day), women’s protection groups set up by International Non-Governmental Organisations (ingo s) provide mechanisms that allow women to break this culture of silence around violence and exercise collective agency.1 By participating in these groups, women mobilise both legal and traditional repertoires on women’s protection and rights and build alliances with local leaders and traditional and state authorities to secure protection. By doing so, they create the possibility of gradually shaping protection practices and challenging gender norms. However, the sustainability of this change process is closely linked to the material support and the leverage they gain through their relationships with ingo s, and the absence of these support mechanisms may make women vulnerable to backlash.
This article is based on field research in 2021 in the villages of Shasha and Bweremana in North Kivu, and in five different localities in Kabare territory (Cirunga, Kalulu, Bushwira, Miti and Bugorhe) in South Kivu. A total of 37 focus groups and 67 key informant interviews were carried out on the topics of self and community protection and gender-based violence. Participants included women’s group’s leaders and members, protection project staff in ingo s, customary, state and military authorities, and leaders of civil society and of different societal groups. In these localities, programs by International ngo s and local ngo s are in place to address women’s protection. In North Kivu, this was a project that ran between 2018 and 2021, funded by Oxfam in collaboration with the local ngo, Solidarité pour la Promotion et la Paix (soprop). In South Kivu, a similar project has been implemented by oxfam in collaboration with the local ngo, Syndicat d’Initiative de kasha (sikash). South Kivu also had two additional projects, one implemented by International Recue Committee (irc) called the Women Protection and Empowerment Program (wpe) and another project led by a local ngo, Action pour le développement des milieux ruraux (admer), that was initially funded by ActionAid.
The article is divided into three sections. The first section aims to connect the literature on civilian agency and nonviolence to feminist literature on women’s agency and identify the ways in which women’s agency and silence in settings like the drc can be interpreted. The second section examines how individual women’s agency in our study areas is severely constrained by a culture of silence. The third section examines how women’s groups, through the mobilisation of both legal and traditional repertoires and building alliances with leaders and traditional and state authorities, attempt to gradually shape protection practices and create possibilities for challenging gender norms.
1 Civilian Agency, Gender and Nonviolence in Protracted Crisis
In this article, we aim to connect feminist research on women’s agency to the literature on civilian agency and nonviolence, and explore how we can interpret gendered practices of breaking silence on violence against women in protracted crises.
The literature on civilian agency in war and militarised contexts has examined how civilians respond to violence, access humanitarian aid, and adapt to the war economy (Allouche & Jackson, 2019; Allouche & te Lintelo, 2022; Allouche & Zadi Zadi, 2013; Baines & Paddon 2012; Bliesemann de Guevara & al. 2021; Gorur 2013; Jose & Medie 2016). Studies have also examined nonviolence in the context of civil war (Arjona, 2016; Chenoweth & Cunningham, 2013; Kaplan, 2016), but the focus on the gender dimension of civilian agency and nonviolence has been more limited. There are some notable exceptions which include very recent scholarship by Hilhorst, et al (2018); Krause (2019), Gowrinathan & Mampilly (2019); and Hedström & Olivius (2021). This general lack of focus on gender relations is symptomatic of the shortcomings of the security and peacebuilding literature.
Feminist scholars have long pointed out that women’s security concerns always existed in war and militarised contexts (Cockburn 2010; Steans 2012). Inclusion of a gender lens into security studies is very recent (McLeod and O’Reilly, 2019). Feminist scholars have also pointed out that the emphasis on war in security studies fails to capture countries experiencing protracted conflict, which have been through a long process of militarisation (Elthasin, 1987). They argue that protracted crises and militarised contexts create political economic conditions that have gender specific impact in terms of the reproduction of local patriarchal norms and traditional ideas around masculinities and femininities, and can adversely influence women’s security needs and access to livelihood (Steans, 2012).
A key feature of the incorporation of a gender lens in the security and the peacebuilding literatures is their focus on rape as a weapon of war (Steans, 2021). For over a decade feminist scholars have critiqued the ‘victim’ narrative pointing out that these limit discussion ‘within narrow spaces of recognition’, (Ailoian, 2012: 205) creating simplistic narratives of women’s experiences and leaving out other forms of structural violence that women face in conflict affected settings. For example, conflicts may lead to an increase in incidents of domestic violence (Domingo, et al, 2013). The emphasis on sexual and gender-based violence has meant that the protection agenda related to sexual violence has gained priority compared to the promotion of the mandate for women’s participation in international policy circles (Goetz and Jenkins 2018). Scholars have pointed out that the focus on sexual and gender-based violence in these circles has led to portrayal of women as victims without agency (Connell, 1997; Steans 2021). But the current scholarship has shown that despite experiencing multiple forms of violence and vulnerability resulting from militarization and the persistence of longstanding restrictive gender norms in various contexts, women do exercise individual and collective agency to secure protection and their economic and social interests (see for e.g., Henrizi, 2015). Understanding the different ways women exercise agency to secure self-protection is therefore key to deepen our knowledge of women’s agency in contexts of protracted conflict.
Feminist scholars define agency as the ability to make strategic life choices on issues that affect one’s well-being and interests (Kabeer, 1999: 438). The literature on civilian agency so far has mostly focused on equating civilian’s agency with negotiating their own survival strategy (Gowrinathan & Mampilly, 2019), leaving out how women engage in navigating or manoeuvring various power structures in everyday situations in conflict affected settings. Connell’s (1997) work has pointed out that in war and in conditions of protracted conflict, it is important to focus on resistance and attempts of self determination used by women to examine the ways women attempt to gain control of their lives (1997: 118). Utas (2005: 407) argues that this is a useful way to analyse the agency of individuals constrained by power saturated conditions of war. Based on Honowa’s (2000) work, Utas points out that agency is highly dependent on social situations. Capturing these actions requires an examination of the use of ‘tactical agency’ or short-term responses to social structures, and ‘strategic agency’ which is the ability to think about the future and using tactical agency of others. For us, both of these conceptualisations are important to allow us to distinguish between the short-term survival response of women in eastern drc and instances where women are attempting to use other actors’ agency to protect their long-term interests.
Distinguishing between tactical and strategic agency is also useful for understanding women’s responses to acts of violence. Literature on agency stresses resistance and challenge to structural oppression as expressions of empowerment (Kabeer, 1999) that prioritises ‘positive’ aspects, such as the ability to take independent action and recognition by other actors of one’s action (Rao, 2015). However, unpacking women’s choices and decisions in the face of violence and structural constraints requires a focus on understanding that women’s choices may be influenced by their perceptions of ‘material advantage, ideologies of appropriate behaviour, and the threat of coercion’ (Rao, 2015: 417). Hence women may express agency in violent contexts by deciding to endure, be patient, and maintain stability and continuity. Reader (2007) argues that in this context, endurance or decision to maintain stability ‘not a self deluded’ option ‘but a difficult choice’ (cited in Rao, 2015: 417). This analysis of women’s choices connects with Mahmood’s (2005) analysis of women participating in mosque-based movements in Cairo, which shows that women can engage with social constraints placed upon them and reshape ways to express agency.
The distinction between tactical and strategic agency and Mahmood’s analysis of how the most illiberal doctrines contain openings for women enable us in this paper to focus on women’s actions that go beyond victim’s agency, and explore women’s decisions and the range of choices they make as agents. However, women’s decisions to maintain status quo and indirect forms of agency, where women choose to stay within the culturally appropriate or sanctioned actions and not directly challenge authorities within the family or community spaces, carries the possibility that women may not be recognised as agential actors by other societal actors. These actions and choices by women may be interpreted as confirmation of women’s subjugated status (Reader, 2007). We explore this aspect by highlighting in this paper how other actors view women’s actions and choices in negotiating self and collective protection from violence.
In exploring the range of actions undertaken by women, it is important to focus on the fact that negotiations between civilians and state and local authorities is nuanced, and resistance to how power is exercised by authorities can be covert (Scott, 1987). As highlighted before, agency here is not simply women choosing to directly challenge cultural and social expectations, but can take subtle forms. Feminist scholars point out that unpacking these subtle forms requires us to explore the informal and everyday ways of “bargaining and negotiation, deception and manipulation, subversion and resistance” (Kabeer, 1999: 438) to understand women’s agency, which connects to the conceptions of everyday resistance as subtle, indirect, and non-confrontational actions that make daily life sustainable for civilians (Thomson, 2011).
The focus on subtle ways of expressing agency requires us to examine how silence could be interpreted. In gender and peacebuilding literatures, silence is mostly linked to lack of agency and as marginalisation and erasure of voices and experiences. However, in certain contexts, given the male dominated nature of traditional and state authorities in local contexts, silence may be considered as a desirable strategy for a range of complex reasons (George & Kent, 2017). There is thus an ‘active quality of silence’ (George & Kent, 2017: 519). Mannergren Selimovic (2020) argues that there is both disabling (meaning imposed) and enabling (articulations of experience and part of communication) functions of silence. In terms of enabling function, silence can act as a desire to not relive particular experiences, or in some cases, a refusal to be further shamed by perpetrators, as well as a strategy for coping with a precarious everyday, a form of tacit communication of ambiguity as well as a claim-making strategy. In our specific case study in North and South Kivu, the culture of silence was a fundamental part of understanding women’s agency. Reprisals and cultural norms meant that silence was a disabling factor; however, silence was also enabling for women, as a strategic decision to enable a form of protection.
The feminist literature on agency also shows that individual agency incorporates the critical consciousness about one’s interest and wellbeing and the ability to voice and advocate for one’s interests and act to secure these (Cornwall, 2017). As stated earlier, the decision to exercise individual agency depends on the nature of choice, the consequences of making that choice, and the resources (both material and social) one can use to make the choice (Kabeer, 2016). What facilitates individual voice is the presence of a collective and acting as a group: this collective agency plays an important role in renegotiating terms with authorities. Collective agency includes the ability to act together to change one’s group position (Nazneen, 2023). It requires the building of support networks and processes to strengthen solidarity among different groups of women (Rowlands, 1997). Rowlands (1997) point out that collective agency involves following dimensions of power: critical consciousness among women about one’s common condition and positions (power within); and solidarity among women to act together (power with), leading to taking action (power to). This understanding of women’s agency is useful for us to unpack when and how individual women make decisions around making claims for self-protection (see section 2). With respect to collective agency, it is important to explore the strategies women’s groups use to build critical consciousness and networks, and how they navigate structures collectively (see section 3).
2 Culture of Silence and Constrained Protection Strategies
Women’s agency has been portrayed as highly restricted due to the conservative, gendered cultural norms and the culture of silence in North and South Kivu. One of the first questions is therefore to understand this culture of silence, and the impact of this culture on individual women’s agency and protection strategies. It may be surprising to a certain extent to talk about a culture of silence in a country where women on paper enjoy substantial rights. These rights are stipulated under various national legal frameworks and the 2006 Constitution. Women’s participation in public life, representation in formal decision-making bodies and protection from violence are guaranteed in these frameworks, which in theory should enable women to exercise agency and claim protection from various authorities. With respect to women’s protection, article 15 of the 2006 Constitution states that public authorities are responsible for tackling all forms of sexual and gender-based violence. A 2015 law stipulates gender parity in terms of representation in all public functions including in decision making bodies at all levels. This in theory creates the possibility for women to access these decision-making bodies through female representatives, and to participate in spaces from which they were previously excluded. The Family Code amended in 2016 addresses gender discrimination in inheritance practices (including for widows) and secures rights of recognised children (including girls), extending protection from poverty to these groups.
However, these formal protection measures developed to reduce gender specific vulnerabilities are implemented to different degrees across the drc. The reasons behind ineffective implementation are many, ranging from issues of state capacity to how customary authorities view formal legal measures to address violence against women (see more details below). Women’s lack of trust in state institutions (especially the police and the military) limits their actions when violence takes place. Finally, many women in the communities we studied did not use legal and administrative mechanisms as these lacked confidentiality measures. Women were reluctant to use these mechanisms as they feared that as the news of the complaint spread, they would face stigmatisation by the community and retaliation at the hands of the accused. In fact, in our fieldwork, we were told of several cases where young women had reported incidents of sexual violence and were killed by their abuser (fg-38).2 These risks of further violence contribute towards silencing of women. All these factors point to the fact that both the distrust in the state machinery and women’s agency and protection strategies need to be situated and understood in their relationship with local customs and norms.3
2.1 Interpreting Link Between Silence, Women’s Agency and Protection
Interpreting women’s silence and its link to women’s agency in the communities we studied is difficult as the decision to remain silent may have contradictory meanings and effects. On the one hand, women’s reluctance to lodge complaints and seek redress reinforces women’s insecurity by perpetuating a culture of impunity for perpetrators of violence. On the other, the decision to remain silent may be a strategic choice and constitute a form of protection, as speaking out and reporting may lead to reprisals. Our findings show both aspects at work with respect to cases of domestic violence, sexual violence, and other forms of violence.
With respect to domestic violence, the interviewees pointed out that women were reluctant to report violence perpetrated by their husbands both to protect themselves from future reprisals and out of respect for the prevalent customs that emphasise the role of a dutiful, patient and loyal wife who does not bring shame on her marital home. One civil society leader in Shasha in North Kivu explained the reluctance to report their husbands to the police and resulting silence in the following way:
They [women] have respect for their husbands. They cannot report this to the police for fear that their husbands will be arrested. Some of them put up with it [violence], others come to ask us or the local chief for advice. If we see that this is a recurring case, we ask … to go to the police, but they tell us that it is forbidden by custom to bring her husband to justice. (kii-38)
The findings from the focus groups with both men and women reveal that they consider women publicly speaking about domestic violence shameful (kii-2; kii-22; fg-7; fg-9; fg-10). This view held by the community acts as a strong deterrent as women know they will receive limited support. A female leader of one of the women’s protection groups interviewed explained that customs dictate that a good wife would be discrete about internal family matters, and inability to do so brings shame not only on the marital home but also the women’s natal family (kii-22). Women are socialised by their natal family to be patient and not engage in disputes or react to provocations by their husbands, thereby women’s agency (Mweze, 1987).
We also found that women facing domestic violence sometimes choose to speak to their in-laws, especially the husband’s mother or father. According to custom, the father-in-law is responsible for the daughter in law’s safety and protection, and can intercede on her behalf. In practice, women receive limited support from their in-laws. Unless the husband’s conduct is extreme, women mostly tolerate ‘normal’ levels of violence and choose to remain silent about domestic abuse. When women do decide to speak up or lodge complaints, the in-laws may pressure the daughter in-law to be silent or withdraw a formal complaint made to the police by involving the customary leader (fg-43).
When women do speak up and denounce their husband’s behaviour or ask their in-laws to intercede or go back to their natal families, they face both social and economic risks. In the best-case scenario, they are rebuked and mocked by their own family and the wider community for being a disrespectful wife. They may also face the risk of physical retaliation from their husbands. In most cases, separation from the husband and the risk of being destitute keeps women from seeking protection (kii-10).
The possibility of securing help from village leaders is also limited. Seeking help from village leaders may result in women facing more rebukes and women may be urged to preserve the family unit by remaining silent. Women reported during focus group discussions (fgd s) that in matters of domestic violence, some village leaders refuse to intervene and stress that their remit does not include dealing with ‘family matters’, recommending that ‘women continue to endure violence in their homes.’ (fg-21). One woman reported that:
we do not confide in our leaders because often they are on the side of the executioner [husband], whether he is right or not; they do not condemn him (....) [the leader] finds it normal for a man to discriminate against a woman (fg-7).
The possibility for securing help from the churches is also limited for women. One of the women’s protection leaders in Shasha declared that “Churches, religions are also a blockage because women are taught to forgive and let go” (fg-39). This lack of support reinforces a culture of silence and limits women’s agency to seek redress.
With respect to sexual violence, women’s decision to speak out may depend on their marital status. Married women may decide to remain silent as speaking out publicly about sexual assault affects the family’s honour and creates difficulties within the marriage. Survivors of sexual assault reported that their husbands found public discussion of the incident shameful and ‘could not handle the impact which had adversely affected the marriage’ (kii-10). Most unmarried girls choose to remain silent about sexual assault for the fear of stigma. Sometimes, they may decide to inform their mothers if a pregnancy results from the assault. In these cases, their decision to speak out is motivated by the need for support from their family during pregnancy and early motherhood. However, speaking out about sexual assault may then lead to injunctions that the girl would have to marry the perpetrator as dictated by custom. However, through our interviews and focus groups, it was clear that men, in majority of the cases, refuse this responsibility. In some instances, creating pressure on the men may create further insecurity for women. An example was given of a married man who, after sexually assaulting a minor, mobilised some young men to beat her up and scare her into going back to her parents’ home (fg-41).
Women’s agency to advocate for their concerns in public is constrained by gender norms that dictate that women should not speak in front of men in public forums. In some of the study areas, we observed that women were not allowed to sit on a chair or walk through a group of men (kii-43). One male interviewee explained women’s absence in public forum in the following way: ‘the rare women who are head of a house block (nuymba kumi) have nothing to say in front of us men’ (kii-35). These restrictive norms and practices contribute towards limiting women’s agency to speak in public. When an individual woman does attempt to speak out, the men informally sanction the woman by creating barriers for her to be heard. Men engage in whispering, commenting, labelling the woman as ‘difficult woman’ or a prostitute (kii-43). These practices by men limits individual women’s agency to exercise their voice in public and contribute to a culture of silence. The difficulties women face, and the costs involved with voicing, explain why silence may remain a preferable choice for women.
Using silence as a form of protection is more prevalent among the marginalised groups in our study areas, particularly the displaced or Twa (pygmy) communities. During the focus group with the Twa women, when asked: when your husbands commit acts of violence within the household, do you feel free to report?, one replied: “No no, we can’t denounce. It’s a household secret.” (fg-6). As women from a marginalised ethnic group, they experienced multiple axes of marginalisation – because of their gender, ethnicity and class. One displaced woman offered the following explanation about the decision by women in their group not to lodge complaints and remain silent in the following manner:
We [women] keep quiet because we have nowhere to go or to complain. We keep quiet because even if we go to the police office, even though we are displaced, we will not get a solution because we have no means or money to motivate the police. This also makes us afraid to express ourselves (fg-37).
The discussion shows how the culture of silence around violence against women is deeply connected to restrictive norms, customs, and practices within the studied communities. The consequences for women if they exercise agency to speak about violence in public and seek redress is high. These barriers are further reinforced by the general environment of insecurity and gender power dynamics. Furthermore, as women have no say in terms of access to land and inheritance, their economic dependency further limits their agency. In this context, the consequence of the choice to exercise agency carries a heavy cost, and women lack both material and social resources (i.e. support from family, community and religious/ traditional authorities). The choice to remain silent, in this context, is a strategy that women use to contain the various risks they face within their families and the community.
2.2 Impact of Culture of Silence on Individual Women’s Agency and Protection Strategies
Given the culture of silence around violence against women and the general lack of support from authorities to mitigate violence, what kinds of strategies do individual women use for their protection? Our findings show that individual women are obliged to put in place their own protection mechanisms to respond to the threats they face. One female community worker in Shasha made the following point: ‘nobody will say “because you are a woman, we will protect you”, no, you have to protect yourself’ (kii-41). The kinds of protection strategy women use are aimed at ensuring they can engage in economic activities and other forms of livelihood related work while minimising the risks. As the primary (often unpaid) worker of the household, women cannot avoid places which they identify as dangerous, such as the remote fields, the water sources, and the roads to marketplaces. However, working alone on the land or collecting firewood or going to the market carries the risk of being robbed, assaulted, or raped. To minimise the risk most women interviewed reported that they went to the field in groups and during specific times of the day. The strength in collective numbers is frequently used by women (fg-41) although it does not remove the risk of an armed assault. Women also collectively create savings to help each other.
To support each other, the women are organized into vsla (Village Savings and Credit Association, also known as muso – Mutuelle de Solidarité) to be able to help each other. But these are small contributions that cannot do much help or provide for the needs of the home in the long term. That’s why I said that it would be necessary for us to find people who can help us by supporting us with a little means. We need a lot of protection (fg-3).
Other strategies include seeking assistance from the men in their community. In some instances, individual women reported that their husbands accompanied them to the field. Women may also petition the village leader to provide young men to guard areas where women tend to gather, for example the water sources (fg-27).
What the above strategies reveal, is that individual women do exercise both tactical and strategic agency, and engage in negotiations and bargaining, to ensure protection from violence inflicted by outsiders. However, their agency is constrained as these strategies cannot mitigate the risk of violence in many contexts when women engage in extra-household matters. For example, women across our study sites reported being highly vulnerable to extorsion at legal and illegal checkpoints on the road. Armed men may demand women share their produce. In these instances, women comply to these demands by agreeing to give up small amount of their goods in order to mitigate the risk of other forms of violence, such as sexual assault (fgd-23).
In the domestic sphere, women exercise agency by deciding to be submissive and avoid conflict with their husbands. The discriminatory and violent social norms discussed in the earlier section are exacerbated by high levels of male unemployment and alcohol consumption. Our findings show individual women exercised agency to manage risks rather than seeking redress, because speaking up or complaining about one’s husband’s misbehaviour can result in physical violence. Given the lack of alternative support systems, women chose not to make waves. In fact, ‘women do their best to avoid useless conflicts’ (fg-28). Whether in the house or in the community, in the fields or on the road, women take daily decisions to reduce their exposure to violence.
The discussion above shows that in a context where interpersonal and social relations are imbued with violence, individual women are faced with decisions that require them to develop a set of violence avoidance and mitigation strategies (Maubert et al, 2022), which includes being silent and compliant. While these strategies enable them to contain escalation of violence, they also involve a trade off with respect to women’s wellbeing, and reinforce the culture of silence.
3 Breaking This Culture of Silence: Women’s Groups
Given that individual women’s agency is severely constrained, what are the ways through which women are enabled to exercise agency to counter this culture of silence? We found that both in North and South Kivu, local and international ngo s are implementing a women-led community-based approach which works with local organisations (see Green, 2015 for Oxfam, or ActionAid, 2022). The approach focuses on development of women’s protection groups that are spaces where women can discuss their problems and find collective solutions. These groups are designed to break the culture of silence around violence as having their own space allows women to speak freely without being sanctioned. Given the different social and ethnic positions of groups members, the focus is on trust building and reducing social isolation of women. The groups are encouraged to have open conversations about experiences of violence so that women are able to identify the key protection issues around which they are vulnerable, as well as community-wide issues, and feed this knowledge into a community protection plan that is developed with the wider community. The approach emphasises building ‘power within’ (Rowlands, 1997) through consciousness and awareness raising of group members about their context and rights and strengthening the groups’ solidarity or ability to act as a collective or ‘power with’ (ibid., 1997). The latter involves building and utilizing the groups’ networks and social capital.
Our data shows that these women’s groups can foster collective leadership of women, and that groups serve as mechanisms to build alliances around issues and enable women to collectively influence decisions related to their protection and break this culture of silence around violence. Women’s groups use various strategies to break the culture of silence, which includes legal frames to advocate to for their protection needs and rights, building relationship with the wives of local authorities to gain access spaces, and creating male allies and securing support of key actors within the community. While these strategies enable women to exercise collective agency and voice their concerns, the varying outcomes in North and South Kivu raises questions about whether these mechanisms are enough to challenge these established and entrenched gender norms.
3.1 Shasha and Bweremana, North Kivu
The women’s groups we studied in Shasha and Bweremana were set up by Oxfam and soprop in 2018. The programme has several committees: the Community Protection Committees, Women’s Forums, and Village Focal Points. Women’s Forums are composed of 15 women from various sections of the community (i.e., ethnic, age, socio-economic and education diversity) who are elected by community members. The groups document women-specific protection issues and gendered barriers to accessing services, contribute to the preparation of the community protection plan, carry out advocacy with authorities and, sometimes, directly mediate with armed groups to address violence. They also raise awareness among women about the Congolese law and international human rights instruments, as well as the mechanisms available to them for support and problem-solving.4
In both Shasha and Bweremana, the presence of a culture of silence and gender norms with respect to women’s presence in public forums meant that not all women were willing to participate in the Forums that were set up. Many women were unwilling to accept the roles and activities of committee members as they felt these fell under traditional male domain. Women who came forward to take up leadership roles were mocked as ‘men’ by other women in the villages as by taking up leadership positions they had transgressed gender norms. One of the staff member of Oxfam described the situation in the following way:
the main obstacle comes from women themselves. If a woman is a leader and wants to change things she will always be brought down by other women. They will give her nicknames, use stereotypes such as saying that she is the boss in her house and doesn’t respect her husband…they say that a woman who stands up and speaks in a village meeting brings shame on all other women (kii-44).
The restrictive norms that limited women’s public roles and reinforced a culture of silence, also meant that women were afraid to come forward as they lacked confidence in their ability to speak in front of local authorities and men and feared social sanctioning (kii-35; kii-43)
The culture of silence was broken through intensive awareness raising among women and also within the community, and setting up new spaces that enabled women to participate equally with men. The new spaces or forums, where formal rules required equal participation of men and women, created openings for women to claim public space in front of men and exercise agency. One of the local ngo interviewees based in Shasha explained the slow change process:
In Shasha women struggled to speak in public. But since [the committee was set up], they are able to stand in front of men and express themselves in front of an assembly (…) At the beginning women remain usually in the background, but after two or three months they are at the forefront and they are often the ones presenting advocacy notes to the authorities (kii-43).
Forming alliances with key figures within the community is a way for the Women’s Forum to gain influence. One of the ways through which the Forum seeks to increase its influence is through building relationships with the wives of local authority. This is done through organising meetings with the local chief’s wife first and convincing her of the activities of the Forum, which is not without tensions. The wives accompany the group in their advocacy work, thus the wives are the main channels to gain access to decision making spaces to advocate and to gain legitimacy for the advocacy work of the group (kii-44).
The awareness raising activities are targeted to increase women’s knowledge of legal rights and the various protection mechanisms that are in place in case these rights are violated, and the procedural aspects and roles of public authorities in this process. In parallel, Oxfam provides training to local authorities in the area to increase receptiveness to the community’s complaints around protection. In this process Women’s Forum, along with the Community Protection Committee, raise the awareness of state actors on the law and its applications with respect to women’s protection. These include measures like separating women from men in the police station’s jail, knowing which services to refer women victims of gender-based violence to, and not requesting payment to file a complaint. In some cases, authorities are asked to sign commitments to collaborate fairly with the community (fg-34). These are small steps to change the relationship and the nature of interaction that takes place between women and state actors and other public authorities.
Women are also trained on Congolese law, particularly the family code, and UN resolutions in their advocacy. This is done so that women are able to use legal frames to counter discriminatory customary practices when dealing with cases of violence against women or other women’s rights issues (fg-20). A protection manager in Oxfam explained the strategy in strengthening women’s agency to use legal repertoires and break the silence in the following manner:
[Sometimes] the custom and the law are in conflict, and it causes some issues. Even though custom is often the basis of decisions in the community, it is not superior to the law. There are customary practices that are old and violate the law. So, when we speak with authorities, we need these arguments (kii-45).
However, these awareness raising sessions with the community and the authorities are not without risks and require delicate handling. Members of women’s forums or leaders may be specifically targeted for challenging customary practices or social norms which are discriminatory towards women. This was one of the difficulties encountered by those working for soprop in Bweremana.
The project was highly successful in challenging inheritance practices, where men have changed their way of seeing things and share assets equally with women (fg-29). However, changing the political economy around inheritance was not met without strong resistance. One of the interviewees mentioned:
[After an awareness session on inheritance] the brothers of one woman who attended came to threaten me. They said they were warning me because I am putting ideas in their sister’s head by saying she also has a right to inherit. They told me if I wasn’t careful, they would drive me mad. I kept being threatened despite their family’s intervention (kii-43).
The above incident shows the risk of backlash from the community. Backlash also may come from local authorities. This requires women to work strategically to build credibility and support from key allies. Various strategies enable women to this.
The ability to use legal repertoires enables women to establish their credibility among the local state actors and traditional authorities they must deal with to negotiate protection demands and influence decision making processes. However, these interactions are not without tensions. Women strategically collect testimonies and decisions from various elders to use as precedents to bolster their claims (fg-42).
Another key strategy used by the Women’s Forums’ member to enhance collective agency to influence outcomes is through creating allies among men, especially among local leaders. This serves as a significant asset from women. In some cases, when directly approaching conservative leaders may lead to confrontations, women leverage the leaders’ wives to influence them indirectly and privately.
Another strategy was with respect to networking and other feminist associations. As recalled by a protection leader in Bweremana:
The other strong point is that at the beginning these women’s associations worked here as antennas and their headquarters were based in Goma, so there were times when women from here travelled to Goma in order to exchange experiences and that helped them to be enlightened and to obtain further knowledge. Thus, the women from here also began to descend on Goma and those from Goma also came here to us. (fg-40)
As alliance building is critical for women’s groups who aim to increase their ability to advocate for their interests and influence decisions, women adapt the frames used to secure support from various groups. Not only do women’s advocacy frames vary, whether they use legal frames or critical interpretation of customs or text, they also vary their approach in targeting authorities and stakeholders. The women engage in direct advocacy or act as intermediaries depending on context. These strategies help them break the culture of silence and overcome some of the initial resistances and allow them to gain support among influential members of the community.
The discussion above reveals that in Shasha and Bweremana, the success of women’s protection groups was due to their ability to work within the existing system and improve the community’s ability to interact with authorities. Strengthening women’s skills and confidence, and facilitating their access to reporting mechanisms to denounce some of the violence to which they are subjected, created enabling conditions for the group to challenge the gendered status quo and break the culture of silence around violence. However, the discussion also shows that this process is not without tension and what remains to be seen is whether these practices and spaces created by the project endures beyond the project life cycle.
3.2 Cirunga, Kalulu, Bushwira, Miti and Bugorhe (Kabare Territory), South Kivu.
Similar to Shasha and Bweremana, women’s forum, as well as protection committees, were set up in the Kabare territory through a project funded by Oxfam and in collaboration with the local ngo, Syndicat d’Initiative de kasha (sikash) in 2018. Women’s Forum was a space for women to discuss their issues and protection needs and to interact with authorities. The project faced similar challenges in ensuring women’s participation in forums and later witnessed similar changes in the community’s attitude towards women’s participation in public forums. In one of the fgd s, the participants described the changes in the following manner:
We have a substructure called Women’s Forum, these mothers if they are together, they tell each other all the problems. So before, before sikash came here, women could not participate in the meetings where there are men, they were not even allowed to give their opinion, but today when we organize the meetings which we call meeting mixed, we also invite the woman to come and participate and even the girl is also invited to come and participate. And in these meetings, the woman is free to express herself in relation to the problem she encounters, and we can help her find a solution to her problem that she encounters. (fg-19)
The localities had also benefited from other programs, most notably the Women Protection and Empowerment Program (wpe), whose objective was to combat domestic violence against women, using the Engaging Men through Accountable Practice (emap) approach. This approach was evidence-based, field-tested and aimed to involve men in the process of behaviour change based on the opinions of women in the target community. This project was implemented by irc (international Rescue Committee) in Cirunga, Kagabi and Bugobe in 2014.
A third project, led by a local ngo, Action pour le développement des milieux ruraux (admer), which was initially funded by ActionAid, was about protection monitors. The monitors educate the community to alert them whenever there is a problem, provide conflict resolution sensitivity to deal with violence, and raise community awareness on gender-based and children violence.
Only a few of the interviewees however attributed the changes in gender relations to the trainings and the committees setup by the various projects. One of the interviewees stated:
thanks to the various teachings and the trainings of the irc and the emap we had observed a change within my household, formerly my husband consumed these alcoholic drinks and got drunk every day but since we two had started to participate in these different trainings there has been an improvement in my home and I would like the others to also benefit from it because it is very important and it helps couples (fg-5).
But a majority of those living in these villages did not mention these programmes. While these committee and protection monitors still exist and are functional, many of the interviewees pointed out that the lack of funding makes them powerless. For instance, during a focus group, one person declared:
sicash brought us suggestion boxes in which we can lodge our complaints anonymously, which is a good thing, but we are never given any follow-up and we remain confused (fg-4).
Absence of vertical links to ingo s and material support meant that the women’s forums and the protection committees were unable to use these as a leverage to sustain the alliances built with local authorities and state actors. So, their ability to influence outcomes varied widely compared to the committees functioning in Shasha and Bweremana in North Kivu.
Those involved with the women association stressed during a focus group the role that the relationship with ingo s played in their ability to access local authorities for advocating women’s protection needs and that the mechanisms set up for protection were functional. One of them explained their limited strength in the following manner:
the mechanism for the protection of women were put in place with the support of the irc, they came to complain to us and found the protection of the irc, but since irc cut the bridges, it became difficult for us because we no longer have anyone to support us (fg-7).
Furthermore, the participants of the focus group in Kalulu also echoed similar views: “[W] hen irc had organized the training for some members of the community for conflict resolution, we had a lot of strength, but as irc left, we are not strong enough” (fg-5). Other participants in a focus group in Bushwira mentioned that, “Before there were listening houses but lately these houses which allowed us to denounce the bad acts committed against us, but since irc left, these listening houses hardly exist anymore” (fg-3).
This raises concerns that while setting up of women’s forums enable women to voice their concerns and develop skills to advocate for their rights with authorities, the sustainability and effectiveness of these groups also requires material support and relationships with ingo s and other actors, which they are then able to use as leverage with various stakeholders. While the forums are still functional in South Kivu, what remains to be seen is how long and far the women’s groups will go on being able to challenge norms and breaking the culture of silence around violence.
Conclusion
In this article we examined how women groups in selected communities in North and South Kivu exercise agency to meet their self and collective protection needs and how do they attempt to break the culture of silence around violence against women. The dynamics of a protracted conflict has created gender specific vulnerabilities and limited women’s agency. Women face multiple forms of violence in the drc. But poverty and the risk of attack by armed groups in conjunction with restrictive gender norms and customs create a situation where women tolerate violence inflicted by family and community members and other actors. The risks and sanctions women face in seeking redress means that the culture of silence is reinforced.
We found that in the study areas the individual women’s agency to counter this culture of silence is severely constrained. With respect to domestic violence the sanction for breaking the code of being a good wife publicly complaining about the husband’s behaviour is severe. The women can hope for little support from in-laws or local authorities. Sexual violence is not brought forward as it brings shame on the family. Given this context, women in North and South Kivu try to organise their own self-protection by mitigating risks of violence. They do this through being silent and compliant within their interactions with the family (particularly the husband) and by acquiescing to the demand of extortion made by armed groups. They also arrange for protection by restricting their mobility and avoiding remote areas or traveling in groups to dangerous places.
In this context, the creation of women’s groups in North and South Kivu created channels for women to develop leadership skills, and the establishment of other support forums enabled women to publicly contribute to community protection plans, and advocate for their protection needs with various local authorities and state actors. Women became effective by learning to use legal frames, informal networks to access leaders, and creating male allies. These practices have created the possibility for slowly changing gender norms (around women’s access and presence in decision making, and ideas around women’s protection needs and rights) and to challenge the culture of silence around violence. However, our findings from North and South Kivu also shows that the functioning of women’s groups as a pathway to enhance women’s agency in settings experiencing protracted conflict is not without challenges and backlashes.
Overall, the literature on the gender dimension of civilian agency and nonviolence as highlighted in our literature review is limited and focuses on the idea of hegemonic masculinity and its relationship with violence and nonviolence. Protracted crisis and militarised contexts can adversely influence women’s security needs and access to livelihood by the reproduction of local patriarchal norms and traditional ideas around masculinities and femininities. The current literature also attempts to go beyond the idea of women as victims and without agency. The literature tends however to associate concepts such as neutrality, avoidance, or silence with a form of victim agency. This article therefore provides a more subtle understanding of nonviolent practices. While silence is on the one hand clearly a disabling tactic linked to the reproduction of strong patriarchal norms, silence was also enabling for women, as a strategic decision to enable a form of protection. Distinguishing between tactical and strategic agency is also useful for understanding women’s nonviolent responses to acts of violence. The literature on civilian agency and nonviolence so far have mostly focused on equating civilian agency with negotiating their own survival strategy and their tactical responses, leaving out how women’s group engage in navigating or manoeuvring various power structures in terms of strategic agency.
Acknowledgements
This paper has been written as part of the ahrc-fcdo Collaborative Humanitarian Protection Research Programme.
For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a Creative Commons Attribution (cc by) licence to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising.
Notes
It should be noted that there are women’s groups that have developed organically without ingo help in the drc. Our focus is on ingo supported groups as in the larger study we also explored the disconnect between local actors and international actors in how protection needs are understood and in the localisation of protection agenda.
We will refer to Focus Groups as fg and Key Informant Interviews as kii throughout the paper. See Appendix for details about each of these with code, description, place and date.
The analysis in the next two sections has benefitted from the analysis by Camille Maubert and Gauthier Marchais for the working paper produced for this project.
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Appendix: List of Focus Groups (fg) and Key Informant Interviews (kii)
| CODE | DESCRIPTION | PLACE | DATE |
|---|---|---|---|
| fg-1 | FGD_OCB_RHULWIR’EKA | CIRUNGA | 06/11/2021 |
| fg-2 | FGD_MONITEURS DE PROTECTION | CIRUNGA | 16/11/2021 |
| kii-1 | KII-FEMME LEADER RELIGIEUSE | KALULU | 09/11/2021 |
| fg-3 | FGD- BAHEMBA | BUSHWIRA | 17/11/2021 |
| kii-2 | KII_HOMME SAGE CIRUNGA | CIRUNGA | 16/11/2021 |
| kii-3 | KII_SOCIÉTÉ CIVILE BUSHWIRA | BUSHWIRA | 17/11/2021 |
| kii-4 | KII_FEMME LEADER | CIRUNGA | 05/11/2021 |
| kii-5 | KII_CHARGÉE GENRE CHEFFERIE | CIRUNGA | 10/11/2021 |
| kii-6 | KII_SOCIÉTÉ CIVILE CIRUNGA | CIRUNGA | 29/11/2021 |
| kii-7 | KII_CURÉ DE LA PAROISSE DE KABARE | KABARE | 12/11/2021 |
| kii-8 | KII_PASTEUR | CIRUNGA | 11/11/2021 |
| kii-9 | KII_CHARGÉ DES PROJETS À LA CHEFFERIE DE KABARE | CIRUNGA | 08/11/2021 |
| fg-4 | FG_OCB_RHUGENDE KUGUMA | CIRUNGA | 08/11/2021 |
| fg-5 | FG_OCB RHUZUSANYE | KALULU | 08/11/2021 |
| kii-10 | KIIS_SURVIVANTES DU VIOL | KALULU | 9/11/2021 |
| kii-11 | KII_ARTISTE MUSICIEN LOCAL | KABARE/CIRUNGA | 23/11/2021 |
| kii-12 | KII_SECRÉTAIRE ADMINISTRATIF DE LA CHEFFERIE DE KABARE (SCAD) | CIRUNGA | 12/11/2021 |
| kii-13 | KII_HOMME SAGE CIRUNGA | CIRUNGA | 05/11/2021 |
| fg-6 | FG_PYGMÉES BUYUNGULE | BUYUNGULE | 15/11/2021 |
| fg-7 | FGD_FORUM DES FEMMES DE BUGORHE | KAVUMU | 15/11/2021 |
| fg-8 | FGD_ CRA _TUPENDANE CIBINGU | CIBINGU | 04/11/2021 |
| fg-9 | FGD_FEMMES LEADERS DE PROTECTION | CIRUNGA | 04/11/2021 |
| fg-10 | FGD_ASSOCIATION FEMMES TUPENDANE_KABARE | KABARE | 05/11/2021 |
| fg-11 | FGD_OCB RUKENGANE | CIRUNGA | 05/11/2021 |
| fg-12 | FGD_CRA_UJAMAA | KABARE/KAGABI | 10/11/2021 |
| fg-13 | FGD_OCB_RHUBEMUGUMA | BUSHWIRA | 10/11/2021 |
| kii-14 | KII_TRADIPRATICIEN | KABARE/KAGABI | 10/11/2021 |
| fg-14 | FGD_OCB_BOLOLOKE | KABARE/KAGABI | 11/11/2021 |
| fg-15 | FGD_MONITEURS DE PROTECTION | KABARE | 11/11/2021 |
| kii-15 | KII_CONSEIL LOCAL DE LA JEUNESSE | BUSHWIRA | 17/11/2021 |
| kii-16 | KII_COMITÉ DE DÉVELOPPEMENT GROUPEMENT | BUSHWIRA | 17/11/2021 |
| fg-16 | FGD_OCB SISIMUKA | BUSHWIRA | 15/11/2021 |
| fg-17 | FGD_FEMMES PYGMEES | KAMAKOMBE | 18/11/2021 |
| fg-18 | FGD_FORUM DES FEMMES | KAMAKOMBE | 18/11/2021 |
| fg-19 | FGD_COMITE DE GOUVERNANCE COMMUNAUTAIRE HOMMES | COMBO/MITI | 19/11/2021 |
| fg-20 | FGD_AGENTS DE CHANGEMENT | CIBUMBIRO/KABARE | 19/11/2021 |
| kii-17 | KII_FEMME LEADER | KAGABI | 20/11/2021 |
| kii-18 | KII_HOMME LEADER | KAGABI | 20/11/2021 |
| kii-19 | KII_FEMME LEADER | KAGABI | 20/11/2021 |
| kii-20 | KII_ARSENE_ADMR KABARE | CIRUNGA | 17/02/2022 |
| kii-21 | KII_GODEFROID_COORDO SIKASH | BUKAVU | 08/03/2022 |
| kii-22 | KII_DANIELLA_LEADER DE PROTECTION | KABARE | 18/02/2022 |
| kii-23 | KII_HELENA_LEADER DE PROTECTION | KABARE/KALULU | 18/02/2022 |
| kii-24 | KII_KISHESA_LEADER DE PROTECTION_KABARE | KABARE/KALULU | 28/02/2022 |
| kii-25 | KII_NELLY_POINT FOCAL PROTECTION_SIKASH | BUKAVU | 28/02/2022 |
| kii-26 | KII_SIKASH | PANZI/BUKAVU | 28/02/2022 |
| kii-27 | KII_JOEL_CLINIQUE JURIDIQUE_KABARE | KABARE | 17/02/2022 |
| kii-28 | KII_HONORE_ADMR | BUKAVU | 14/02/2022 |
| kii-29 | KII_FURAHA_SOPROP/ART ET CULTURE | BWEREMANA | 10/12/2021 |
| kii-30 | KII_CASTRO_FOPAC/ ART ET CULTURE | SHASHA | 10/12/2021 |
| fg-20 | KIIS_LEADERS COMMUNAUTAIRES | KABARE | 08/11/2021 |
| kii-31 | KII_FEMME LEADER | CIRUNGA CENTRE | 16/11/2021 |
| kii-32 | KII_CLD | CIRUNGA | 16/11/2021 |
| kii-33 | KII_CLD | KAGABI | 16/11/2021 |
| kii-34 | KII_AUTORITÉ RELIGIEUSE | SHASHA | 12/12/1021 |
| fg-21 | KII_ARTISTES ET VIEUX SAGES | BWEREMANA/ SHASHA | 13/12/2021 |
| fg-22 | FGD_FORUM DES FEMMES/ART ET CULTURE | BWEREMANA | 10/12/2021 |
| fg-23 | FGD_FORUM DES FEMMES | SHASHA | 11/12/2021 |
| fg-24 | FGD_COMITE DE PROTECTION | SHASHA/KITUVA | 27/08/2021 |
| fg-25 | FG_LEADERS FEMMES | SHASHA | 27/08/2021 |
| fg-26 | FGD2_COMITÉ DE PROTECTION | BWEREMANA | 26/08/2021 |
| fg-27 | FGD_FORUM DES FEMMES | BWEREMANA | 26/08/2021 |
| fg-28 | FGD_RESEAU DE PLAIDOYER | BWEREMANA | 30/08/2021 |
| fg-29 | FGD_OPA (ORGANISATION DES PRODUCTEURS AGRICOLES | BWEREMANA | 31/08/2021 |
| fg-30 | FGD_NOYAU DE PAIX ET DE DEVELOPPEMENT SHASHA | SHASHA | 01/09/2021 |
| kii-35 | KII_HOMME LEADER | SHASHA | 02/09/2021 |
| kii-36 | KII_HOMME LEADER | KIROTSHE | 02/09/2021 |
| kii-37 | KII_HOMME LEADER | KYESHERO | 02/09/2021 |
| kii-38 | KII_HOMME LEADER | SHASHA | 02/09/2021 |
| kii-39 | KII_FEMME LEADER | KIROTSHE | 02/09/2021 |
| fg-31 | FGD_POINTS FOCAUX VILLAGES VOISINS | KASHENDA | 28/08/2021 |
| BISHANGE | |||
| KASHENDA | |||
| RENGA | |||
| KABASE | |||
| fg-32 | FGD_ORGANISATION DES PRODUCTEURS AGRICOLES SHASHA | SHASHA | 03/09/2021 |
| fg-33 | KII_HOMMES ET FEMMES LEADERS | SHASHA2 | 27/08/2021 |
| fg-34 | FGD_NOYAU DE PAIX ET DEVELOPPEMENT BWEREMANA | BWEREMANA | 26/08/2021 |
| kii-40 | KII_CHEF DE VILLAGE | KITUVA | 04/09/2021 |
| fg-35 | FGD_DEPLACES | SHASHA | 31/08/2021 |
| fg-36 | FGD_SOPROP/FOPAC | BWEREMANA | 5/9/202127 |
| fg-37 | FGD_PYGMEES | SHASHA | 27/08/2021 |
| kii-47 | KII_PRESOCIV | SHASHA | 06/09/2021 |
| fg-38 | FGD_AGENTS FOPAC | GOMA | 15/02/2022 |
| fg-39 | FGD_LEADERS PROTECTION SHASHA | SHASHA | 25/02/2022 |
| kii-41 | KII_ SUPERVISEUR FOPAC | Q. MABANGA | 15/02/2022 |
| fg-40 | FGD_LEADERS PROTECTION BWEREMANA | BWEREMANA | 24/02/2022 |
| kii-42 | KII_HOMME LEADER DE PROTECTION | Q. KYESHERO | 16/02/2022 |
| kii-43 | KII_AGENTS SOPROP | Q. KYESHERO | 16/02/2022 |
| BWEREMANA | 24/02/2022 | ||
| kii-44 | KII OXFAM 1 | GOMA | 01/03/2022 |
| kii-45 | KII OXFAM 2 | GOMA | 05/04/2022 |
| fg-41 | RESTITUTION KABARE | KABARE | 15/06/2022 |
| fg-42 | RESTITUTION BUKAVU | BUKAVU | 16/06/2022 |
| fg-43 | RESTITUTION SHASHA | GOMA | 22/06/2022 |
| fg-44 | RESTITUTION BWEREMANA | GOMA | 23/06/2022 |
| kii-46 | TRANSCRIPTION KII LEADER FEMME 1 BWEREMANA | BWEREMANA | 12/10/2021 |
