Gender-Sensitive Approaches to Small Arms Control: A feminist analysis contextualising Kosovo’s small arms control efforts with regard to gender provisions
The proliferation of small arms and light weapons poses a significant threat to human security around the world. Past research has demonstrated the gendered dimensions of small arms ownership, misuse and victimhood. This thesis further examines the intersectional experience of small arms violence based on gender, connecting such violence to contextual factors that underpin and reinforce it. In addition, this study explores gender-responsive approaches to small arms control by examining how they are included and portrayed in the ongoing policy framework of Kosovo. The context of Kosovo is used as a case study due to its struggle with small arms proliferation, and importantly, its active framework of action against it. The research objective of this study does not aim to provide policy recommendations, but rather increase attention to the intersectional experiences and impacts of small arms abuse, open a conversation about the complex intersectional factors between gender and small arms and consequently argue for gender-sensitivity in small arms programmes.
To answer the main research objective, the study is divided into three sub-research questions. First, data from the Armed Violence Monitoring Platform is used to investigate the extent of gendered dimensions to small arms violence in Kosovo. Next, a critical feminist perspective is used to explore different contextual factors which intersect with gender, gender-based violence and small arms violence. Lastly, the findings of the first research questions are applied to the small arms control framework of Kosovo to understand how gendered dimensions of small arms are understood and incorporated in their approach. Central to the full study are the theoretical underpinnings, which are grounded in feminist peace theory and critical and feminist security studies.
The findings of this study indicate that small arms violence in Kosovo has highly gendered dimensions that are structurally embedded in Kosovo society. Issues of small arms proliferation and misuse intersect with several contextual factors, making them highly complex. The current small arms control framework in Kosovo takes these gendered dimensions into account but treats small arms violence mainly as a standalone issue. Through a feminist epistemological perspective, this thesis argues for a focus on small arms violence in its relation to the structural factors that reproduce it to enhance a holistic and intersectional approach to small arms control.
Author: Rani Deleersnijder
Programme: Master's in Peace, Mediation and Conflict Research at Tampere University
Read the thesis at: https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:tuni-202505175699
