Six reasons why women must be included in talks on international security

by Swanee Hunt

The issue of peacemaking has assumed special importance in today's world. Why?

The wars we now experience are more dangerous, with weapons whose power to destroy spirals beyond our imagination. But our untapped resources – the leaders within more than half the world's population who have been excluded in the strategies of international security – are also immense.

We must create a new paradigm in our foreign policy, a model of inclusive security. It must become unthinkable not to have women integrally involved in every stage of the peace process: whether conflict prevention, resolving the conflict, or post-conflict stabilization.

A U.N. official told me that warlords don't want women on their teams because they're afraid they'll compromise. Isn't that the point? For lasting stability, we need peace promoters, not just warriors, at the negotiating table.

And there are at least six reasons women are valuable to peacemaking:

FIRST, women are generally adept at building relationships that bridge ethnic, religious and cultural divides due to their social and biological roles as nurturers. This notion has been ferociously challenged by some feminist theorists, but the women I have spoken to in conflict areas repeatedly say they are motivated by the need to ensure security for their families.

SECOND, they have their fingers on the pulse of the community where the agreement has to be lived. How odd that we have developed a way of reaching peace agreements that excludes these experts from the table. In 1994, I hosted negotiations during the Bosnian war and was amazed that the 60 or so people involved were only men. They divided the political positions among themselves but created no mechanism for indicted war criminals to be rounded up. Years later, towns still have officials who led the atrocities and millions in the Balkans are still displaced.

The THIRD reason women are particularly competent in the peace process is that they usually weren't the ones behind the guns. They tell me they don't have to go through the psychological process of converting a person into prey – like their husbands must – so they have less psychological distance to go in the reconciliation effort.

FOURTH, women – as second-class citizens – are not considered powerful enough to be dangerous. Palestinian Sumaya Farhat- Naser, of the Jerusalem Center for Women, says this feminine identity has deflected some of the daily violence in the Middle East and aided women to reach out to other communities in ways denied men. Still, because women are outside the power structure, the impact of their work is also limited.

But – FIFTH – precisely because women haven't been allowed a place within power structures, they are adept at finding solutions "outside the box," especially at the grassroots. Though under-funded, overlooked and often dismissed, innovative local leaders can mobilize and set their own agenda outside the close scrutiny of political parties or official establishments.

A SIXTH reason for having women involved throughout peace processes is that they have a remarkable ability to cross conflict lines. In 1977, nonsectarian women organizers in Northern Ireland won the Nobel Peace Prize for their public demonstrations, and a few years ago the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition was created, a political party that crosses the lines.

In response, there's progress on the policy front. The European Union, the Group of Eight largest industrialized nations and U.N. Security Council have issued grand statements insisting on the inclusion of women throughout the peace process. Words are good. Implementation would be better.

For example, there were compelling reasons to integrate women in the U.N.-sponsored Afghan peace process, but only three women among over 60 men selected an interim government for Afghanistan; and only two women chosen to head 29 ministries. Hardly a rousing success in a country where, in the past, 40 percent of government officials were women.

Kada Hotic is a Bosnian refugee from Srebrenica, a town overrun by Serb forces who raped massive numbers of women and killed some 8,000 unarmed men and boys, including her son and husband. Even as a refugee, she built an organization to learn the truth behind the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II. But she also talks consolingly about those who destroyed her life: "That soldier who killed my son believed he was doing good for his people and for his religion." She recently told a Belgrade audience: "I am not here to say you're guilty. I wouldn't want what happened to me to happen to anyone of you. It's time to move on."

The next morning she received calls from other Serbian cities asking her to come speak. "Now I know I'm not alone," she said. "I can work with these people. Together, we can create a new future."

Swanee Hunt is on the board of the USA for UNHCR, directs the Women and Public Policy Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and chairs Women Waging Peace (womenwagingpeace.net).

Source: Refugees Magazine Issue 126: "Women – Seeking A Better Deal" (April 2002). Download the complete issue (pdf, 1.3Mb) here