Peace Processes

The Endurance of Women’s Mobilization During “Patriarchal Backlash”: A Case from Colombia’s Reconfiguring Armed Conflict

Citation:

Zulver, Julia Margaret. 2021. “The Endurance of Women’s Mobilization during ‘Patriarchal Backlash’: A Case from Colombia’s Reconfiguring Armed Conflict.” International Feminist Journal of Politics 23 (3): 440–62.

Author: Julia Margaret Zulver (she/her/hers)

Abstract:

Despite the signing of a peace accord between the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) and the Government of Colombia in 2016, it is increasingly apparent that the country’s armed conflict is reconfiguring rather than abating. This is evident in the widespread targeting of social leaders with threats, violence, and death. This article focuses on the Alianza de Mujeres Tejedoras de Vida, an association of women in Putumayo who mobilized for peace and women’s rights during Colombia’s armed conflict. Since 2018, however, they have been specifically targeted by armed groups for their activism and support of the peace process. This has led to increased – and gendered – acts of violence against them. This article frames the violence that they currently face as an example of what Berry refers to as “patriarchal backlash,” a reaction to the gains that women make in their communities during war that threaten men’s hegemonic control. I argue that while the resurgence of violence represents a limitation to women’s mobilization, it is not insurmountable. Indeed, the Alianza’s ongoing mobilization can be understood as a function of the repertoires of action developed during previous moments of conflict. This article contributes to wider conversations about the durability of women’s mobilization beyond the permeable bounds of a conflict/post-conflict binary.

Keywords: women's activism, Colombia, patriarchal backlash, repertoires of action, women social leaders

Topics: Gender-Based Violence, Gendered Power Relations, Patriarchy, Peace Processes, Violence Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Colombia

Year: 2021

Ordinary Geographies: Care, Violence, and Agrarian Extractivism in ‘Post-Conflict’ Colombia

Citation:

Berman‐Arévalo, Eloísa, and Diana Ojeda. 2020. “Ordinary Geographies: Care, Violence, and Agrarian Extractivism in ‘Post-Conflict’ Colombia.” Antipode 52 (6): 1583–1602.

Authors: Eloísa Berman‐Arévalo, Diana Ojeda

Abstract:

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:
In Colombia’s agrarian spaces, war and extractivism are deeply entangled. Almost four years after the peace accords signed between the national government and the FARC guerrilla, post-conflict geographies are best characterised by the ongoing dispossession of local populations related to the entrenchment of extractivism. Drawing from ethnographic work carried out in the Colombian Caribbean on the ordinary practices and spaces of social reproduction, the ordinary geographies, this article explores gendered practices of care and their role in both sustaining and disrupting paramilitary violence and agrarian extractivism. The focus not just on the gendered effects of war and extractivism, but on gender’s constitutive role in the configuration of these processes and dynamics, allows us to contribute to recent literature on extractivism, dispossession and violence from a feminist standpoint.
 
SPANISH ABSTRACT: 
La guerra y el extractivismo estan profundamente entretejidos en los espacios agrarios en Colombia. Casi cuatro a~nos despues de la firma de los acuerdos de paz entre el gobierno nacional y la guerrilla de las FARC, las geografıas del post-conflicto estan caracterizadas por el despojo sostenido de poblaciones locales tras el afianzamiento y la expansion del extractivismo. A partir de trabajo etnografico llevado a cabo en el Caribe colombiano sobre las practicas y los espacios cotidianos de la reproduccion social, que definimos como geografıas ordinarias, este artıculo explora las practicas de cuidado atravesadas por genero y su papel en el mantenimiento y la irrupcion de la violencia paramilitar y el extractivismo agrario. El enfoque, no solo en los efectos generizados de la guerra y el extractivismo, sino tambien en el papel constitutivo del genero en la configuracion de estos procesos y dinamicas, nos permite contribuir a la literatura reciente sobre el extractivismo, el despojo y la violencia desde un punto de vista feminista.

Keywords: ordinary geographies, gender, care, extractivism, dispossession, war, Colombia, geografías ordinarias, género, cuidado, extractivismo, despojo, guerra

Topics: Agriculture, Armed Conflict, Extractive Industries, Gender, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Non-State Armed Groups, Paramilitaries, Peace Processes, Post-Conflict, Violence Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Colombia

Year: 2020

Strategies for Including Women’s and LGBTI Groups in the Columbian Peace Process

Citation:

Cóbar, Kosé Alvarado. 2020. Strategies for Including Women’s and LGBTI Groups in the Columbian Peace Process. Stockholm: SIPRI.

Author: José Alvarado Cóbar

Annotation:

Summary: 

In order to have a more nuanced understanding of inclusive peace processes, it is important to understand how civil society can connect to formal peace negotiations. The Colombian peace negotiation process is highly regarded as one of the most inclusive processes; involving civil society groups from diverse backgrounds, including both women’s and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender/ transsexual and intersex (LGBTI) groups. But how do these groups leverage influence among the main conflict actors, and what specific challenges and opportunities do they face? This paper applies a conflict resolution and negotiation framework to assess the involvement of women’s and LGBTI groups in the most recent Colombian peace negotiation process. In doing so, the suggested framework provides a practical application of conflict resolution and negotiation strategies that can further complement discussions on inclusion of marginalized groups in other peace negotiation processes. (Summary from original source)

Topics: Armed Conflict, Civil Society, Justice, LGBTQ, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Peace and Security, Peace Processes, Post-Conflict Regions: Americas, South America Countries: Colombia

Year: 2020

Gender Equality and Sustainable Development Within the Scope of Peace as a Global Public Good

Citation:

Şeren, Gamze Yıldız. 2020. "Gender Equality and Sustainable Development Within the Scope of Peace as a Global Public Good." In Interdisciplinary Approaches to Public Policy and Sustainability, edited by Rituparna Das and Nivedita Mandal, 83-102. Hershey, PA: IGI Global.

Author: Gamze Yıldız Şeren

Abstract:

In this chapter, it aimed to bring a multidimensional approach to the “peace” process. The elements of this multiple approach are gender equality and global public policies. It is thought that the mobilization of these two elements in the peace process will be the cornerstone of sustainable development in the world. In this context, gender equality (Goal 5) and peace, justice and strong insights (Goal 16), which is one of the United Nations' sustainable development goals, are engaged in the global public policies. Accordingly, public policies and the peace process involving women will lead to a chain impact that will support sustainable development. While ensuring gender equality provides a solution in the peace process, peace building, and gender equality contribute to sustainable development together. Because the empowerment of the most damaged society in the post-war period will undoubtedly contribute to sustainable development.

Topics: Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Peace Processes, Post-Conflict, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Year: 2020

Unfulfilled Promises: Women and Peace in Post-Taliban Afghanistan

Citation:

Farhoumand-Sims, Cheshmak. 2007. “Unfulfilled Promises: Women and Peace in Post-Taliban Afghanistan.” International Journal: Canada’s Journal of Global Policy Analysis 62 (3): 643–63.

Author: Cheshmak Farhoumand-Sims

Annotation:

"Following 30 years of protracted conflict, Afghanistan has begun a slow and laborious path to peace, and Canada has been one of its most staunch supporters both in words and deeds. Understanding the root causes of the conflict is a difficult task requiring analysis of a plethora of issues, actors, motivations, and other complexities" (Farhoumand-Sims 2007, 643).
 
"As already mentioned, the complexities resulting from militarism and violence are beyond the scope of this article. Instead, I would like to touch on three main issues that are particularly relevant to discussions of peace in Afghanistan" (646). 
 
"The first is the deteriorating security situation that poses a severe challenge to development and reconstruction efforts, particularly in the rural areas" (647).
 
"The second ongoing concern is the undeserved and continued power and authority bestowed upon warlords who support and benefit from the drug trade and who use threats, intimidation, and injury to secure support" (648).
 
"The third concern is the lack of progress on the advancement of women and the international community’s failure to deliver on promises made to Afghan women five years ago. The status of women is a litmus test for success in Afghanistan. The ability of women to enjoy equal rights and access equal opportunities in any given society is an important—though less talked-about—characteristic of sustainable peace" (649).

Topics: Conflict, Development, Economies, War Economies, Gender, Women, Peace and Security, Peace Processes, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Asia, South Asia Countries: Afghanistan

Year: 2007

Towards an Indigenous Model of Conflict Resolution: Reinventing Women's Roles as Traditional Peacebuilders in Neo-Colonial Africa

Citation:

Isike, Christopher, and Ufo Okeke Uzodike. 2011. “Towards an Indigenous Model of Conflict Resolution: Reinventing Women’s Roles as Traditional Peacebuilders in Neo-Colonial Africa.” African Journal on Conflict Resolution 11 (2): 32–59.

Authors: Christopher Isike, Ufo Okeke Uzodike

Abstract:

Women have always been at the centre of peace processes across different pre-colonial African societies. Their peace agency in these societies can be located in their cultural and socio-political roles as well as their contributions to the overall well-being of these societies. It is noteworthy that women’s peacebuilding roles then were reinforced by perceptions which stereotyped women as natural peacemakers, and as being more pacific than men. However, women in neo-colonial African states appear to have lost this myth/sacredness that surrounded their being and social existence in pre-colonial Africa. This is because apart from being marginalised socially, economically and politically, they have increasingly become victims of male violence. How and why did women transform from being active participants in precolonial politics and peace processes to being passive observers of politics and peacebuilding in neo-colonial Africa? And second, given their pre-colonial peacebuilding antecedents, do women have the potential to transform politics and conflict in neo-colonial Africa?In building towards an indigenous model of conflict resolution and peacebuilding, this paper contends that the feminist ethic of care (defined by ubuntu) that was appropriated by pre-colonial African women to wage peace and maintain societal harmony, is still very much a part of the core of contemporary African women, and can be appropriated in resolving subnational conflicts in neo-colonial Africa. Indeed, it is possible to develop it into a model of African feminist peacebuilding which can be utilised as an ideological rallying point to transform politics and create a suitable environment for development in the continent.

Topics: Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Indigenous, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Peace Processes, Peacebuilding Regions: Africa

Year: 2011

Gendered Preferences: How Women’s Inclusion in Society Shapes Negotiation Occurrence in Intrastate Conflicts

Citation:

Nagel, Robert Ulrich. 2020. “Gendered Preferences: How Women’s Inclusion in Society Shapes Negotiation Occurrence in Intrastate Conflicts.” Journal of Peace Research (April): 1-16.

Author: Robert Ulrich Nagel

Abstract:

To what extent do gender relations in society influence the likelihood of negotiations during intrastate disputes? A substantial body of literature recognizes gendered inequalities as integral to understanding conflict, yet they have received little attention in systematic studies of conflict management. I argue that patriarchal gender relations that reflect a preference for masculinity over femininity influence states’ propensity to negotiate with rebels. I draw on the concept of practices to explain how gender relations shape government preferences for negotiations. Specifically, I contend that practices of excluding women from fully participating in public life institutionalize violence as the preferred way of managing conflict. The implication is that countries with more patriarchal gender relations are less likely to engage in negotiations during intrastate conflicts. I test this argument on all civil conflict dyads between 1975 and 2014. The analyses show that countries that marginalize women’s participation in public life are significantly less likely to engage in negotiations. The results provide strong support for my theoretical argument and offer systematic evidence in support of core claims of the feminist peace theory.

Keywords: conflict, negotiation, gender inequality

Topics: Conflict, Feminisms, Gender, Femininity/ies, Masculinity/ies, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Patriarchy, Military Forces & Armed Groups, Non-State Armed Groups, Peace Processes

Year: 2020

Feminism in Cyprus: Women’s Agency, Gender, and Peace in the Shadow of Nationalism

Citation:

Kamenou, Nayia. 2020. “Feminism in Cyprus: Women’s Agency, Gender, and Peace in the Shadow of Nationalism.” International Feminist Journal of Politics 22 (3): 359–81.

Author: Nayia Kamenou

Abstract:

This article explores the ways in which feminist and women’s agency is articulated in the Cypriot context through the paradigms of nationalism, peace, and conflict. It does so to broaden our understanding of gendered and peace agency in troubled and divided societies, in which complex and conflicting discourses meet. Analyzing data from interviews with feminist and women’s groups’ representatives, it examines how nationalism and women’s approaches to gender, politics, peace, and conflict enable or restrict feminist and women’s agency. It finds that a strategic essentialist approach has initiated a reconfiguration of gender(ed) power relations, women’s agency, and peacebuilding processes. It argues that when this approach is combined with feminist theory and praxis and the employment of transnational peace paradigms, the possibilities for feminist and women’s agency increase, as long as feminist scholarship and grassroots activism inform each other through dialogue. Therefore, it highlights the nuanced and complex dialectic between essentialist and anti-essentialist feminist gender discourses. Moreover, it challenges theories that posit a rigidly hierarchical relation between local and transnational gendered and peace agency paradigms, by demonstrating their malleability and reciprocity. Thus, it contributes to the debate about the modalities and possibilities of feminist sociopolitical intervention in nationalism- and conflict-ridden contexts.
 

Keywords: Cyprus, feminism, gender, nationalism and peace, women's agency

Topics: Conflict, Feminisms, Gender, Gendered Discourses, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Nationalism, Peace Processes, Peacebuilding Regions: Europe, Southern Europe Countries: Cyprus

Year: 2020

Lebanon, UNSCR 1325, and the Women, Peace and Security Agenda

Citation:

Zaiter, Manar. 2018. "Lebanon, UNSCR 1325, and the Women, Peace and Security Agenda." Al-Raida Journal 42 (1): 39-50.

Author: Manar Zaiter

Abstract:

The Security Council’s adoption of Resolution 1325 (31 October 2000) constitutes an advancement in the international protection of women and girls in times of conflict. It is the first public, legal instrument issued by the Security Council, calling warring parties to respect women’s rights and support their participation in all stages and contexts of conflict prevention, conflict resolution, peace talks, peacebuilding, peacekeeping, humanitarian response, and post-conflict reconstruction. In view of the situation in the Arab region and of the political, security, economic, cultural, and social context that affects women, the Women, Peace and Security Agenda is of great importance to the entire Arab region.

Topics: Conflict, Gender, Women, Girls, Humanitarian Assistance, Peace and Security, Post-Conflict, Post-Conflict Reconstruction, Peacebuilding, Peacekeeping, Peace Processes, Rights, Women's Rights, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS, UNSCR 1325 Regions: MENA, Asia, Middle East Countries: Lebanon

Year: 2018

Women and Liberal Peacebuilding in Post-Conflict Northern Uganda: Community Social Work Agenda Revisited?

Citation:

Ochen, Eric Awich. 2017. "Women and Liberal Peacebuilding in Post-Conflict Northern Uganda: Community Social Work Agenda Revisited?" African Sociological Review 21 (2): 15-35.

Author: Eric Awich Ochen

Abstract:

This paper examines women’s participation in post-conflict peacebuilding activities within the neo-liberal peace theory and framework. Using qualitative approach, the study gathered information from 40 women and several key informants working and living in post-conflict northern Uganda. The paper utilizes this information in reflecting on how women live in and engage with their communities in post-conflict settings, and also assess the actual actions and initiatives that women develop in post-conflict situation, the space available to them and the emergent context. The paper also analyses the extent to which these factors shape community post-conflict adjustments. Key challenges affecting women’s participation in the peacebuilding processes, mainly at grassroots and community levels are examined. The major conclusion of the paper is that liberal peacebuilding approach does not fully espouse, embrace or explain issues of critical consciousness, social and strategic agency nor does it prepare the women to effectively engage their society. I argue that this limitation and omission do not adequately prepare women to confront social issues and oppressive practices as well as challenge certain traditions and power structures, issues that are hall marks of community based social work.

Topics: Gender, Women, Post-Conflict, Peacebuilding, Peace Processes Regions: Africa, East Africa Countries: Uganda

Year: 2017

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