"Innocent Women and Children"
Gender, Norms and the Protection of Civilians

Examines the influence of gender constructs on the international regime protecting war-affected civilians. This work is of interest both to international relations theorists and to human rights scholars, students and activists alike.

Examining the influence of gender constructs on the international regime protecting war-affected civilians, R. Charli Carpenter examines how in practice belligerents, advocates and humanitarian players interpret civilian immunity so as to leave adult civilian men and older boys at grave risk in conflict zones. Arguing that in order to understand the way in which laws of war are implemented and promoted in international society, we must understand how gender ideas affect the principle of civilian immunity, the author provides a wealth of ground breaking case studies. Each demonstrates the importance of assumptions about gender relations in shaping international politics, and in developing a framework for incorporating an attention to gender into the often gender-blind scholarship on international norms. As such this book will be of interest both to international relations theorists and to human rights scholars, students and activists alike.

Introduction
Gendered innocence: The concept of the civilian in international society
Implementing the civilian immunity norm
Advocating for civilians
Protecting civilians in conflict zones
Conclusion
Index.