Citation

Banwell S. Third World Q. 2015; 36(4): 705-722.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/01436597.2015.1024434

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Adopting a transnational feminist lens and using a political economy approach, this article addresses both the direct and indirect consequences of the 2003 war in Iraq, specifically the impact on civilian women. Pre-war security and gender relations in Iraq will be compared with the situation post-invasion/occupation. The article examines the globalised processes of capitalism, neoliberalism and neo-colonialism and their impact on the political, social and economic infrastructure in Iraq. Particular attention will be paid to illicit and informal economies: coping, combat and criminal. The 2003 Iraq war was fought using masculinities of empire, post-colonialism and neoliberalism. Using the example of forced prostitution, the article will argue that these globalisation masculinities - specifically the privatisation agenda of the West and its illegal economic occupation - have resulted in women either being forced into the illicit (coping) economy as a means of survival, or trafficked for sexual slavery by profit-seeking criminal networks who exploit the informal economy in a post-invasion/occupation Iraq.

Keywords:neoliberalism; gender-based violence; globalisation masculinities; post-colonialism; political economy; transnational feminism, Human trafficking

Language: en