5. Securitization and Desecuritization

This chapter investigates the gendered assumptions that underpin policy makers’ responses to the question, “Why did so few women and girls participate in the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) process in Sierra Leone?” It claims that the majority of policy responses to this question send three specific gendered messages. First, they perpetuate the notion of women as ideal victims lacking agency during war. Second, these accounts of the DDR presume that the program was effective and that the problem was that women and girls were not sufficiently included in the process. Third, those organizations that acknowledged the need to address women’s and girls’ specific gendered needs never asked women or girls what these needs were, implying that gender sensitivity can be achieved without speaking to beneficiaries.