Women and Peace

Building
Okumba Miruka
COPA
March 17, 2021
 FISH BOWL DISCUSSION
• Why is it important to include women in peacebuilding and conflict
resolution?
• Based on international experiences, what unique strategies have women
applied to resolve conflict and build peace?
• What are the main obstacles to women’s participation in conflict
resolution and peace building?
• How can the obstacles be overcome?
 Why Include Women?
1. They make the gender dimension more visible i.e. women & men
experience conflict differently.
2. Women focus more on socio-economic solutions (education, health,
water, sanitation, housing) rather than military and political ones.
3. Women are motivated by practicalities of life, men by the positions they
would get.
Why Include Women?
6. Women tend to hold less rigid
positions/ are more ready to
compromise.
7. Women highlight
intersectionality of gender
discrimination with other forms
of marginalization.
8. Their presence in peace keeping
forces reassures other women.
 Obstacles to Women’s Participation
1. Misconception that conflict is a political issue hence peace negotiations
should be done only by politicians.
2. Belief that women’s role is domestic and not public: Burundi - some
delegates said “The women are not parties to this conflict. This is not
their concern. We …represent them”.
3. Tense, polarized and adversarial atmospheres exclude women who often
want to be neutral.
 Obstacles to Women’s Participation
6. Vulnerability to abduction, assassination, threats, ridicule, sexist
language, patronage and insults etc.
7. Political partisanship among women themselves.
8. Poor attention to women’s contributions.
9. Difficulty in combining political and domestic roles.
10.Lack of resources & experience to claim space at high level negotiation
tables.
Strategies Applied by Women
In South Africa, women compared
racial discrimination to
discrimination against women.
Palestine & Israel, women raised
self determination for women as part
of the nationalistic agenda.
They held a rally at no man’s land
which they called women’s land.
Their initiative coalesced into the
Jerusalem Link, an NGO that has
been participating in peace
negotiations.
Strategies Applied by Women
Use of women’s civil society
movement to gain entry into
political negotiation processes.
Liberia: Inspired by Mary
Brownwell, a retired school
teacher, women formed the
Liberian Women’s Initiative
(1994) which insisted on
disarmament before elections.
They physically assisted in
collecting the arms and thanking
the soldiers for giving them up.
Strategies Applied by Women
9. Withdrawal of conjugal rights
(Lysystrata by Sophocles).
10.Palestine: Women defied the Israeli
army in the occupied territories to
rescue their people.
10.Balkans/Caucasus: Women hid
husbands and sons, lied to authorities
and appeared at front lines to claim
husbands and sons.
11.Colombia: Held marches for peace
in most violent zones.
12.Formation of broad coalitions across
party lines.
 Video
• Leymah Gbowee on Liberian Women and Peace