Peace Processes

Peacebuilding Through a Gender Lens and the Challenges of Implementation in Rwanda and Côte d'Ivoire

Citation:

Hudson, Heidi. 2009. “Peacebuilding Through a Gender Lens and the Challenges of Implementation in Rwanda and Cote d'Ivoire.” Security Studies 18 (2): 287–318.

Author: Heidi Hudson

Abstract:

With the hypothesis in mind that discrimination against women increases the likelihood that a state will experience internal conflict, this article contends that considering gender is a key part of an effective peacebuilding process. Evidence gathered by studying peacebuilding from a feminist perspective, such as in Rwanda and Cote d’Ivoire, can be used to reconceptualize the peace agenda in more inclusive and responsible ways. Following from this, the article argues that a culturally contextual gender analysis is a key tool, both for feminist theory of peacebuilding and the practice of implementing a gender perspective, in all peace work. Using the tools of African feminisms to study African conflicts, this contribution warns against “adding women” without recognizing their agency, emphasizes the need for an organized women’s movement, and suggests directions for the implementation of international laws concerning women’s empowerment at the local level. The article concludes by suggesting that implementation of these ideas in practice is dependent on the way in which African feminists employ mainstreaming, inclusionary, and transformational strategies within a culturally sensitive context of indigenous peacebuilding processes.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Feminisms, Gender, Gender Analysis, Women, Gender Balance, Gender Mainstreaming, Gendered Power Relations, Genocide, Governance, Indigenous, Peace Processes, Peacebuilding, Post-Conflict Regions: Africa, Central Africa, East Africa, West Africa Countries: Côte D'Ivoire, Rwanda

Year: 2009

Rebuilding With or Without Women?

Citation:

True, Jacqui. 2012. “Rebuilding With or Without Women?: Gendered Violence in Postconflict Peace and Reconstruction” In The Political Economy of Violence Against Women. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Author: Jacqui True

Abstract:

Chapter 8 examines the spike of sexual and gender-based violence in postconflict and peace-building environments. Despite recent UN Security Council resolutions, the invisibility of this violence against women during and after conflict marginalizes women in postconflict state-building and economic reconstruction processes. This economic and political marginalization of women exacerbates violence after conflict and hinders these peace-building efforts. The first part of the chapter applies the political economy approach of the book to reveal how gendered peacekeeping economies exacerbate violence against women. It critiques the prioritization of law and order over social and economic opportunities. The second part examines the role of women in peace-building decision making and economic reconstruction in places as diverse as East Timor; Aceh, Indonesia; Mindanao province in the Philippines; Iraq; Afghanistan; Colombia; Guatemala; the Congo; and Darfur. The chapter concludes by critically assessing two approaches to postconflict prevention of violence against women: the “good practice” of placing women peacekeepers in postconflict zones and the role of reparations in ensuring women's equal access to postconflict development.

 

Keywords: post conflict, peacekeeping economies, reparations, peacebuilding, economic reconstruction

Topics: Armed Conflict, Development, Economies, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Peacebuilding, Peacekeeping, Peace Processes, Political Economies, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS, Violence Regions: Africa, MENA, Central Africa, East Africa, Americas, Central America, South America, Asia, Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania Countries: Afghanistan, Colombia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guatemala, Indonesia, Iraq, Philippines, Sudan, Timor-Leste

Year: 2012

Women, Violence, and Social Change in Northern Ireland and Chiapas: Societies Between Tradition and Transition

Citation:

Hoewer, Melanie. 2013. “Women, Violence, and Social Change in Northern Ireland and Chiapas: Societies Between Tradition and Transition.” International Journal of Conflict and Violence 7 (2): 216–31.

Author: Melanie Hoewer

Abstract:

Violence against women occurs in peacetime, intensifies during wartime, and continues in the aftermath of armed conflict. Women sometimes make gains during conflict and their efforts to break the pattern of violence have led to a greater awareness of gender-based violence. However, a lack of acknowledgement of transformations in gender identity at the macro-level during peace processes may create conflict in intimate partnerships. This study brings to light the complexity of changes occurring during peace processes in a multi-level analysis of women’s perceptions and positioning towards the state, their community, and their intimate partnership. This comparative analysis of fifty-seven female activists’ narratives from Chiapas and Northern Ireland demonstrates how a one-dimensional peace process (Northern Ireland) can limit the space for addressing women’s concerns, while peace processes that transcend the ethno- national dimension of conflict (Chiapas) can open a dialogue on issues of contention in male-female relationships.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Ethnic/Communal Wars, National Liberation Wars, Combatants, Domestic Violence, Ethnicity, Gender, Women, Men, Gender Roles, Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Hierarchies, Gender Equality/Inequality, Governance, Post-Conflict Governance, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Militaries, Paramilitaries, Non-State Armed Groups, Peacebuilding, Peace Processes, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Violence Regions: Americas, North America, Europe, Northern Europe Countries: Mexico, United Kingdom

Year: 2013

Women and Peace Building: From Historical to Contemporary African Perspectives

Citation:

Shulika, Lukong Stella. 2016. "Women And Peace Building: From Historical to Contemporary African Perspectives." Ubuntu Journal of Conflict And Social Transformation 5 (1): 7-31.

Author: Lukong Stella Shulika

Abstract:

The subject of women and peacebuilding is arguably an area of research which, prior to the 21st century, remained undeveloped and unexplored in the field of conflict and peace, and in the practice of peacebuilding. This development signalled a new attentiveness on the importance of women's roles as indispensable stakeholders in peacebuilding processes. However, pre contemporary consciousness, women did leverage standard decision-making prowess that served diverse political, socio-economic, and security goals. Through a review of relevant literature and purposive unstructured interviews in Liberia, this paper examines the changing landscape of women's peacebuilding roles using examples from cross-cultural African experiences. The paper asserts that before the internationalization of women's role in the affairs of peacebuilding, women were already subconsciously or consciously involved in such decision-making processes, especially under the aegis of women organizations. Likewise, it contends that patriarchy and marginalization of women was quite in existence and these challenges which are unquestionably in continuity in the contemporary impede women's peacebuilding efforts. From these, this paper contributes to the evolving literature on women and peacebuilding discourses.

Keywords: women, women organizations, peacebuilding, Liberia, African perspectives, international policies

Topics: Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Peacebuilding, Peace Processes Regions: Africa, West Africa Countries: Liberia

Year: 2016

Engendering the Peace Process in Africa: Women at the Negotiating Table

Citation:

Diop, Bineta. 2002. "Engendering the Peace Process in Africa: Women at the Negotiating Table." Refugee Survey Quarterly 21 (Special Issue): 142-154.

Author: Bineta Diop

Abstract:

The article discusses a case study about the contribution of women in peace negotiations in Africa. According to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan, women are better equipped than men in conflict resolution or prevention. The Femmes Africa Solidarite (FAS) is one of the non-governmental organizations helping in conflict prevention and resolution. The organization has created a multi-dimensional approach which aims to support and enhance the role of women in peace processes.

Topics: Conflict Prevention, Feminisms, Gender, Women, Gender Analysis, Gendered Power Relations, International Organizations, NGOs, Peace Processes Regions: Africa

Year: 2002

Análisis de la problemática del feminicidio en un posible escenario de posconflicto

Citation:

Huertas-Díaz, Omar, María Cristina Patiño-González, and Angie Lorena Lorena Ruíz-Herrera. 2016. “Análisis de la problemática del feminicidio en un posible escenario de posconflicto.” Principia Iuris 12 (23): 186–215.

Authors: Omar Huertas-Díaz, María Cristina Patiño-González, Angie Lorena Lorena Ruíz-Herrera

Abstract:

Este trabajo destaca la interdependencia existente entre los contextos públicos y privados de relacionamiento, lo cual se evidencia en la normalización de la violencia como forma de resolución de los conflictos. Esta normalización es el resultado de una historia caracterizada por las confrontaciones armadas, especialmente desde el establecimiento de organizaciones guerrilleras y paramilitares en el país. En paralelo a esta normalización, se encuentra la consolidación de imaginarios de género que relegan a la mujer a una posición de víctima u objeto sexual que se refleja en las acciones de los combatientes tanto en las acciones emprendidas bajo el contexto de la confrontación, como en las que se desarrollan luego de la dejación de las armas. Ante este panorama, el trabajo plantea la necesidad de considerar tales imaginarios de género, especialmente sobre aquellos individuos cuyas nociones de pensamiento se vieron moldeadas por su pertenencia a una organización militar, teniendo en cuenta el posible escenario de posconflicto y en consecuencia la salida de la guerra de cientos de hombres y mujeres combatientes; esto en miras de la prevención de actos de violencia contra la mujer, específicamente de actos de feminicidio. En este sentido, la formulación de estrategias dirigidas a la prevención y erradicación de la violencia contra la mujer deben considerar no sólo medidas de carácter punitivo ejemplificado con la reciente Ley 1761, sino también la reconstrucción de las estructuras de pensamiento que sustentan tales violencias.

Keywords: violencia contra la mujer, femenicidio, violencia sexual, imaginarios de género, desmovilizados, proceso de paz, posconflicto, Ley 1761

Topics: Combatants, DDR, Gender, Women, Post-Conflict, Peace Processes, Sexual Violence, Violence Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Colombia

Year: 2016

A Seat at the Table—Is it Enough? Gender, Multiparty Negotiations, and Institutional Design in South Africa and Northern Ireland

Citation:

Waylen, Georgina. 2014. “A Seat at the Table—Is It Enough? Gender, Multiparty Negotiations, and Institutional Design in South Africa and Northern Ireland.” Politics & Gender 10 (4): 495–523. 

Author: Georgina Waylen

Abstract:

Women actors and gender concerns have often been absent from the negotiated settlements that bring an end to violent conflicts and create new political institutions. And although scholars and activists argue that both women actors and gender concerns should be incorporated, there is less consensus about how this can happen effectively. Taking up Jane Mansbridge's (2014, 11) recent call for political scientists to analyze “negotiations to agreement” and the institutions that facilitate negotiations, this paper argues that analyzing not only the involvement of women and gender actors and their outcomes, but also the form and structure of the negotiations themselves, will give us a greater understanding of how these processes are gendered. Through a comparative analysis of two negotiated settlements—in South Africa and Northern Ireland—this paper examines how institutional design processes were gendered and the impact that gender actors (understood here as actors organizing around gender interests) had on these “new” institutions/structures. In each case, women, organized as women, attempted to influence from the inside the creation of new institutional frameworks intended to end long-standing conflicts. (Cambridge University Press) 
 

Topics: Gender, Women, Gender Roles, Conflict, Governance, Post-Conflict Governance, Peacebuilding, Peace Processes, Political Participation, Post-Conflict Regions: Africa, Southern Africa, Europe, Western Europe Countries: Ireland, South Africa

Year: 2014

Rethinking ‘Sexual Exploitation’ in UN Peacekeeping Operations

Citation:

Simic, Olivera. 2009. “Rethinking ‘Sexual Exploitation’ in UN Peacekeeping Operations.” Women’s Studies International Forum 32 (4): 288–95. doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2009.05.007.

Author: Olivera Simic

Abstract:

This article will question definitions used by researchers in their studies of “sexual exploitation” in UN peacekeeping operations. The article will suggest that there is confusion about the definition of “sexual exploitation” not only among scholars undertaking empirical studies and exploring “sexual exploitation” issues in several peacekeeping missions, but also among UN peacekeeping personnel and local people. I look closely at nine empirical studies and explore the language used, the definitions of “sexual exploitation”, the identified causes of “sexual exploitation” and the difficulties of gathering evidence in cases of “sexual exploitation”. My article will suggest that the term “sexual exploitation” is broadly defined and contentious, and might cover activity that is not necessarily “sexually exploitative”. The article concludes that researchers have not questioned the over inclusive and broad term of “sexual exploitation” defined in the Secretary General's ‘zero tolerance policy on sexual exploitation and sexual abuse’ [SGB (Secretary General's Bulletin) (2003) Special measures on protection from sexual exploitation and sexual abuse. UN Doc ST/SGB/2003/13] and, consequently, conflate all forms of sexual relationships with forced prostitution, rape, human trafficking and other forms of sexual offences.

Topics: Gender, Women, Peacebuilding, Peacekeeping, Peace Processes, Sexual Violence, Rape, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, SV against Women, Torture, Sexual Torture

Year: 2009

Transforming Nationhood from within the Minefield: Arab Female Guerrilla Fighters and the Politics of Peace Poetics

Citation:

Al-Samman, Hanadi. 2009. “Transforming Nationhood from within the Minefield: Arab Female Guerrilla Fighters and the Politics of Peace Poetics.” Women’s Studies International Forum 32 (5): 331–39. doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2009.07.011.

Author: Hanadi Al-Samman

Abstract:

This research addresses the corpus of war narratives penned by Arab female authors in general, and Hamida Na'na', a Syrian writer in particular. In her novel The Homeland (1979), Na'na' examines the ways in which Arab female guerrilla fighters transform the concept of nationhood from a totalitarian “imagined community,” in Benedict Anderson's (1983) sense, to an all-encompassing, post-war, humanist rhetoric. The experience of the heroine as a former freedom fighter and highjacker convinces her to abandon organized patriarchal paradigms of violence that rely on the propagation of a sacred war myth, and to embrace a peace poetics model in the reconstruction of the national narrative. In the final analysis, the novel endorses post-modern, national definitions of citizenship that are built on the dialogue of words rather than guns—on the constant shifting and reshuffling of all centers of power so as to ensure equal participation of all fragmented and previously—excluded national selves including that of the feminine. The positionality, however, of this counter-feminine, national consciousness has to focus on centering itself in the homeland if it is to succeed in eliminating the hegemony of the essentialist, national narrative. Hence the insistence in this novel on homecoming, even if the first attempts are met with initial disappointments, and even if physical sacrifices leading to death have to be made. The only answer to transforming these essentialist dichotomies lies in deconstructing systematic, institutionalized patterns of violence from within, in advocating human love instead of sectarianism. This goal can only be accomplished if women act as active participants in the construction of a new, national, humanist, aural narrative, and not as voyeurs from the side-lines. Recent theories of location and nationhood such as those by Caren Kaplan (1996) are employed to frame the discussion of this novel and other related texts.

Topics: Armed Conflict, Combatants, Female Combatants, Gender, Women, Nationalism, Peacebuilding, Peacekeeping, Peace Processes Regions: Asia, Middle East

Year: 2009

Revisiting the United Nations Decade for Women: Brief Reflections on Feminism, Capitalism and Cold War Politics in the Early Years of the International Women’s Movement

Citation:

Ghodsee, Kristen. 2010. “Revisiting the United Nations Decade for Women: Brief Reflections on Feminism, Capitalism and Cold War Politics in the Early Years of the International Women’s Movement.” Women’s Studies International Forum 33 (1): 3–12. doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2009.11.008.

Author: Kristen Ghodsee

Abstract:

Between 1975 and 1985, there were three U.N. conferences on women held in Mexico City, Copenhagen and Nairobi. This article is a brief reflection on the tensions that informed these first 10 years of the international women's movement seen from the point of view of the American women who believed that their leadership of that movement was being challenged by the strident anti-imperialist rhetoric of the Soviet Union and its allies. Soviet support for the international women's conferences was instrumental in forcing otherwise reticent American politicians to take the emerging international women's movement seriously. Fearing that socialist women would hijack the deliberations with their anti-capitalist “peace” agenda, U.S. congressmen became actively involved in constructing a definition of “appropriate” women's issues for the U.S. delegates attending the conferences, laying the bedrock of what would later become the relatively hegemonic, internationalized form of Western feminism that would ironically be exported to Eastern Europe after the collapse of communism in 1989.

Topics: Gender, Women, Justice, Nonviolence, Peacebuilding, Peacekeeping, Peace Processes, Rights, Human Rights

Year: 2010

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