Research Information System
in: Resilience as a Deterrence Strategy: Towards a Comprehensive Security Panorama, Jussi Laine,Bo Peterson, Editor, SAGE Publications, London, pp.201-210, 2025
The
resilience experiences of women during conflict and displacement offer valuable
insights into the gendered dimensions of resilience, particularly given the
protracted nature of conflicts, their wide-reaching impact, and situational
complexity. Since the onset of the wars in Syria and Ukraine, refugee women
have acquired significant experience and played a central role in fostering
resilience – both within war-affected regions and during cross-border mobility
and asylum in host countries. Drawing on fieldwork findings, the lived
experiences of Syrian and Ukrainian refugee women, and critical literature,
this chapter introduces an engendered understanding of resilience in times of
conflict. It explores the resilience practices and strategies employed by
refugee women to foster both local and cross-border resilience. The study
highlights gendered, bottom-up resilience practices developed by displaced
women, mobilized at strategic, social, informal, and survival levels. Lessons
learned from these women provide valuable insights for advancing
gender-informed societal resilience planning within NATO and its member states.