"I never poured blood" : women accused of genocide in Rwanda / by Nicole Hogg.

In this thesis the author explores the role of women as participants in the Rwandan genocide. The thesis is informed by the insights of Western feminist criminologists, as well as a consideration of women's status in pre-genocide Rwanda. The author then draws from empirical research conducted both with female genocide suspects in the Rwandan prisons and with persons working in the Rwandan criminal justice system to reveal that popular understandings of ‘participation’ in the genocide do not always equate with formal legal meanings. She also considers questions of power and women's motivations for participating in the genocide. She argues that despite the adoption of a formal ‘equal treatment’ approach to genocide suspects, gender comes into play at almost every step of the Rwandan and international criminal justice processes, with the effect that some women appear to be receiving impunity for their actions, while others are being unfairly disadvantaged.