Female Involvement During World War II - amazonia.fiocruz.br

Female Involvement During World War II Video

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Born inItalian painter Artemisia Gentileschi was the first woman to establish herself as a successful artist in a profession long dominated by men. One of the most striking aspects of her work is the way she paints women. Her male contemporaries tended to portray women as passive victims or tentative actors.

When Italian painter Caravaggio painted the biblical scene of Judith beheading Holofernes, he depicted Judith as uneasy — even squeamish — as she decapitates him. Yet four centuries after Artemisia painted Judithgender stereotypes and outdated assumptions about women as peaceful and innocent prevent women from being seen as blameworthy. This matters, because if women are treated as less capable in one regard — even one that involves horrible atrocities — it can extend to other realms, too. Take the Nuremberg trialsthe series of international military tribunals that prosecuted Nazi war criminals. Many Nazi women escaped trial and punishment for their roles in the Holocaust because prosecutors focused on high-level Nazi leaders, exempting those in roles commonly held by women, such as secretaries and clerks.

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Decades later, the United Nations international tribunals that investigated atrocities committed in Rwanda and Yugoslavia in the s brought, in each instance, only one woman to justice. Women were overlooked by international tribunals despite their involvement in perpetrating violence because they were rarely in positions to command others.

Nonetheless, Rwandan women participated in murders of adults and childrenrevealed hiding spots to killing squads and refused to feed refugees.

Some of the thousands of women who served in military units across the former Yugoslavia participated in ethnic cleansing by committing extrajudicial killings and acts of torture. IInvolvement same double standard prevails in the 21st century. Inshe was convicted of undermining the security of the state and sentenced to 20 years in prison by an Ivorian court.

She was later acquitted of crimes against humanity and in received a presidential pardon. She was ultimately never brought before the International Criminal Court.]