Transitional justice or transitional injustice? : a gendered analysis of transitional justice, with a case study on Bosnia and Herzegovina

Abstract

This work will seek to prove that even though women are left out of transitional justice processes, and their agency is left unrecognized, through their own initiative they prove to be active agents of change and work towards bringing justice to the community. Transitional justice is not only an opportunity for rebuilding the society, but also for eliminating inequalities, and changing traditional gender roles. Women have been entirely absent or highly underrepresented throughout transitional justice processes, while their presence is reduced to passive victimhood, leaving their agency unrecognized. This work assesses the gendered implications in transitional justice, and seeks to explore the reasons for the exclusion of women by analysing how masculinity impacts war, and the ways this flows as a continuum in the post-conflict period. The first chapter defines and analyses transitional justice efforts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, while the second chapter analyses the gendered implications of the war in Bosnia. The third chapter will establish the link between transitional justice and gender, while the final chapter will implement this analysis to the role of women in transitional justice processes in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The results show that even though their agency is not recognized, women in Bosnia have managed to work towards justice through their own initiative.