ABSTRACT
Therefore, the study concluded that the roles women play in society especially in pacification of conflict ravaged areas, can no longer be ignored, discounted or undermined. In the context of international peace, women played an important role in promoting conflict mitigation and resolution through a variety of different grassroots strategies.1 Although women were conspicuously absent at some nations level (formal) peace processes, their contributions to the peace building were significant both as individuals and groups in the lower levels of the international society. In as far as the potential roles of women in conflict are not duly recognized and appreciated, their skills, knowledge and contributions shall continue to be underutilized. As the findings revealed women and children particularly bore the brunt of the conflict and were exhausted with warfare.2 The best option for promoting this need in the future should be to consult women in order that they participate directly at both national and grassroots levels. In this study, 80% of women asserted that the political field was and is still not level as political and economic arenas are still male dominated.3
The United Nation Resolution 1325 driven by the desire to see a fair just and inclusive society in which women’s voices could be heard and their contributions recognized is critical for women’s active participation in security and peace building. Women did not fail to strategically use their identities as mothers and care givers, which in effect influenced negotiations in favor of peace and reconciliation.4 They did all that despite the understanding that living and operating in patriarchal society such as Africa Union and the EU, women were generally restricted from speaking out publicly, hence their lack self-confidence and selfesteem. The lack of awareness of UN Resolution 1325 by women as the primary beneficiaries of the resolution (on women, peace and security) was manifest in their exclusion in the official peace processes in United Nations.5 Perhaps if known and implemented, Resolution 1325 could greatly empower and transform women’s lives with specific reference to peace building and post conflict reconstruction. The study concludes that although women were conspicuously absent in peace building processes at the national level, at the grassroots levels women in the international arena, ably identified and articulated numerous bottlenecks to their active participation in the peace processes.6
To this end, there is a need to get beyond the narrow focus on the traditional peace table to consider how successful multi-track participatory peace and transition processes can be achieved. It is time to ask how peace processes can best empower women and those who contribute to peace rather than limit themselves to addressing the interests of those who have taken up arms.7 The proliferation of mediation actors from international governmental organizations and states to regional organizations, former heads of state, and nongovernmental organizations could actually present an opportunity in this regard, as different actors could take on complementary roles in different tracks. A greater focus on preventing conflict before it breaks out and on implementing peace agreements after they have been reached will also be needed and on engaging women throughout these phases.8
Indeed, women have many different roles to play in reimagined peace processes. As the field of mediation opens up to new actors and women gain increasing authority in other spheres of life, female experts and leaders have more opportunities to contribute as mediators. They can facilitate the inclusion of women in various parts of a peace process while bringing different perspectives into the substance of the talks and using complementary communications and negotiation skills.9 The idea of having “co-mediators” one male and one female deserves further exploration. This worked well with Kofi Annan and Graça Machel in Kenya, for example, leading to much greater involvement of women and civil society in the process and serving as a gender-balanced example for the negotiating parties. Co-mediation also allows for a combination of “insider” and “outsider” mediators, who can leverage invaluable local knowledge and an increased sense of ownership and buy-in from the local population alongside external sources of legitimacy, accountability, or expertise.10
Beyond women’s participation as individuals, the evidence shows that women’s groups have made significant contributions to the success of peace and transition processes by pushing for agreements, institutionalizing them thereafter, and advancing the gender agenda in their countries which matters for peaceful societies writ large. Their most important role in helping to reimagine peace processes more broadly, however, may be in building movements that tackle the most intractable barrier to change in this area: political will.11 Beyond the conceptual shifts in understanding peace and the technical work needed to support women’s participation in practice, there remains a deeper, ideological resistance to women’s full participation that requires coalition building across societies. Women are at the center of conceiving creative ways to push for the participatory processes that bring all citizens closer to the goal of peace.
