Gendered Resistance to Genocidal Violence: Mothers who Rescued in Rwanda

• In Event: WCCJ Panel 2 – Mothers, Motherhood and Criminal Justice

Abstract

While research has been conducted on male heads of household (i.e. men) who rescued others during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, this study shifts the focus to women who engaged in rescue efforts during mass violence in Rwanda. To begin, this paper frames the case as one of gender and political invisibility in which women, mothers in particular, escaped recruitment to the genocidal movement due to their seemingly political invisibility and lack of communal power. This research relies on 51 in-depth interviews of women who engaged in “mother-work” during the Rwandan genocide capturing three central dynamics of their labor: (1) the ways in which political invisibility, allowed them to engage in prosocial behavior that saved hundreds of lives, (2) importance of mother-work in rescue efforts through physical and emotional labor and (3) women rescuer’s invisibility in the aftermath of genocide more generally. To conclude, this research finds that political invisibility provided a social buffer between those engaging in “mother-work” and those participating in killing groups in Rwanda. Our findings address implications for Rwanda, as well as research and policy pertaining to genocide human rights and gender equity in the aftermath of atrocity crimes.

Authors

• Nicole Fox, California State University Sacramento

• Hollie Nyseth Nzitatira, The Ohio State University