SPEAKING at a rally in Belfast on Saturday to mark International Women’s Day, former President Mary Robinson focussed on Israel and the United States’ attacks on Iran, stating that they are “illegal and breach international law”.

She spoke about the situation of women, saying “Women and the civil society in Iran have been suffering over the years and suffering very badly, especially recently”, but stressed that this suffering did not justify an aggressive war that was causing even more misery.

That misery befell the families of at least 165 primary school girls in Minab, Iran, just 10 days ago in an air strike that it now seems was carried out by the United States.

It brings into focus once again how women and children are disproportionately impacted by war and conflict around the world: wars usually started by men.

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Modern warfare increasingly harms civilians rather than soldiers, and the burden falls especially heavily on women and children.

Beyond death and injury, armed conflict magnifies existing gender inequalities.

War and violence disrupts education, increases poverty, heightens exposure to sexual violence, and places care-giving and survival burdens primarily on women.

According to the UN, women and girls account for about 95% of victims of conflict-related sexual violence, while more than 75% of displaced people are women and children.

As we are witnessing once again in Iran, the gendered impact of war can be seen clearly in the targeting or destruction of civilian infrastructure such as housing, schools, hospitals, and water systems.

This affects all the population, but it magnifies the gender-specific harm of war because women are primarily responsible for care-giving, food provision and household stability, so the destruction of infrastructure disproportionately increases their responsibilities.

Over the last two and a half years in Gaza, women and children constitute the majority of civilian casualties because they are more likely to be indoors or in residential areas during attacks.

Israeli air strikes on al-Shifa and Nasser hospitals resulted in the loss of power and oxygen to neo-natal intensive care units, resulting directly in the deaths of at least 13 babies.

The destruction and collapse of health systems is especially damaging because it limits maternal care and reproductive services.

The genocide in Gaza provides one of the starkest contemporary examples of the disproportionate impact on women and children.

According to UN Women, around 70% of those killed in Gaza during the conflict have been women or children, highlighting the civilian toll of urban warfare.

The acronym WCNSF had to be coined because the numbers of children falling into the category of “wounded child, no surviving family” is so high.

Thousands of children have been left without mothers and the death toll continues to rise under a so-called ceasefire and a new air war used as justification for shutting borders and aid routes to Gaza once again.

Alongside this, the ethnic cleansing and mass displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank is continuing.

Thousands of Palestinians have been forced from their homes in the last two years, their land and livelihood stolen by Israeli settlers.

They face homelessness, severe movement restrictions and acute food insecurity.

Beyond immediate casualties, air wars produce long-term impacts that include displacement, widowing, and poverty.

Women who lose husbands and partners in war frequently become sole providers for children in fragile economic conditions.

These structural pressures make them more vulnerable to exploitation, trafficking, and early marriage among displaced girls.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 triggered one of the largest refugee crises in Europe since World War II. The majority of those fleeing the country were women and children because men of fighting age were required to remain and fight.

This displacement had several gendered effects. Women entering neighbouring countries often faced economic insecurity, language barriers, and increased vulnerability to exploitation.

Reports by international organisations documented cases of conflict-related sexual violence in occupied areas, demonstrating how sexual violence is used as a tool of intimidation and control during war.

Globally, such violence is a persistent feature of armed conflict, used to terrorise populations and fracture communities.

Locally, we are only just beginning to scratch the surface of the forms and instances of sexual violence that happened during our own conflict.

Multiple American male politicians have spoken about the Iranian regime’s treatment of women in a way that lumps it in as partial justification for their latest war in support of Israel.

If the US hadn’t abandoned the women of Afghanistan to their fate under Taliban rule, that argument might have had a shred of credibility.

The reality is that women cannot be free whilst warmongering men decide whose life is disposable in pursuit of money, land, natural resources or simply greater power.

From Afghanistan to Ukraine to Palestine and Iran, the pattern is consistent: war reshapes societies in ways that disproportionately harm women and children.

From Afghanistan to Ukraine to Palestine and Iran, the pattern is consistent: war reshapes societies in ways that disproportionately harm women and children

They face not only the direct violence of conflict but also the cascading effects of displacement, poverty, sexual violence, and political exclusion.

Addressing these disparities requires recognising that war is not gender-neutral and designing policies that actively protect those most vulnerable when conflict erupts.

Bombing civilian targets and denying aid in breach of international law is not how you support women.

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