This thesis problematises women’s participation in transitional justice processes by
analysing the relationship between women’s participation in these processes, and the
ways in which women are discursively constructed in transitional justice contexts. This
thesis thus responds to research to date in the transitional justice field which has
proposed that women’s participation in transitional justice processes is inadequate,
while processes are gendered to disadvantage women. In doing so, the thesis asks:
“what relationship exists between women’s portrayal in transitional justice processes
and the modes of participation available to them in law?” To answer this question,
the thesis adopts a methodology referred to as “critical spatial discourse analysis”. By
using legal geographical concepts to understand how legal discourses constitute
women in the transitional justice context, this thesis makes a unique contribution to
the transitional justice field. Applying this method to the reporting of the Liberian
Truth and Reconciliation Commission as its case study, the thesis argues that the
discursive practices which emerge through the TRC’s reports established a conceptual, discursive space, with that space constituting women as participants in the TRC. It proposes that this discursive space produced “flattened” portrayals of women which emphasised their victimhood, their vulnerability, and their passivity, while reducing them to their gender. The thesis proposes that this “constitutivity” of women is rooted in the TRC’s “documentary heritage”. It argues that the TRC’s mandate and
international legal standards on participation provide limited opportunities for women
to participate in transitional justice processes, which in turn produce a limited
construction of the woman subject of transitional justice. In this way, the thesis argues
that a mutually constituting and reinforcing relationship exists between women’s
portrayal in transitional justice processes and the modes of participation available to
them in law. As such, the thesis reveals law’s role in perpetuating women’s
participation “problem”.
| Date of Award | 1 Jul 2024 |
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| Original language | English |
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| Awarding Institution | - University Of Strathclyde
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| Sponsors | University of Strathclyde |
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| Supervisor | Therese O'Donnell (Supervisor) & Jane Scoular (Supervisor) |
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