The Consequences of Violence Against Women and Children in Armed Conflicts for their Intangible Cultural Heritage: A Diachronic Perspective on the Universality of Women’s Rights

Traditional gender roles persist in modern societies. A division would not be detrimental to women if it were not based on their subordination. Unfortunately, gender inequality is part of a burdensome historical legacy that is common to both Western and non-Western religious and social contexts. Ironically, in patriarchal communities, women are responsible for passing on this legacy of subordination to future generations. Their role as pillars of family honour and custodians of cultural heritage highlights the ambiguity of the term “intangible cultural heritage” and the need to draw a line between what is worth protecting and what should be relegated to the past. The last sentence of Article 2 of the 2003 Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage draws this line, but more research is needed to clarify its content and scope. Until then, armed conflicts seem to be a decisive factor in the selection of historical legacies that survive from the devastation they cause, both in terms of tangible and intangible cultural heritage. Violence against women in armed conflict is used as a means of disrupting the enemy s community. The individual and social trauma caused by mass rape leads to the alienation and loss of social identification of the victims in their social environment. Feeling rejected by the community to which they would naturally belong, women and children lose their cultural heritage. Paradoxically, however, armed conflict can also create unexpected opportunities for the living cultural heritage. In some scenarios, the need for social reconstruction following dramatic demographic changes has led to faster progress towards women’s empowerment. This article emphasizes the potential impetus of a visible common trend towards gender equality, which makes it possible to reconcile tradition and evolution in the protection of intangible heritage. By suggesting the adoption of a diachronic perspective, it highlights the need to demystify the opposition between the need to uphold the universality of women’s rights and the need to respect intangible cultural heritage. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024.