Women, Violence, and War: Wartime Victimization of Refugees in the Balkans

Based on interviews with seventy women refugees, this is a book about war as it is seen, lived and interpreted by women who were citizens of the former Yugoslavia. Many of the accounts portray the horrific experiences the victims had to face and the book addresses issues of sexual, physical and psychological violence, as well as problems of confinement, upheaval and family separation. In a completely new insight the book dispels the myth that many of the women were peasants, and shows that in fact they were educated, middle-class women with independent careers. The study also depicts how some of the victims attempt to come to terms with the aftermath of wartime abuse. The authors maintain that violence against women in war is not independent of peace-time victimization and the imbalance of power between sexes.