In October 2000, the United Nations Security Council adopted a Landmark Resolution on Women, Peace and Security (UNSCR 1325).
- It expressed concern that civilians, particularly women and children, account for the vast majority of those adversely affected by armed conflict, including as refugees and internally displaced persons, and increasingly are targeted by combatants and armed elements.
- It reaffirmed the need to implement fully international humanitarian and human rights law that protects the rights of women and girls during and after conflicts.
- It recognised the urgent need to mainstream a gender perspective into peacekeeping operations.
- And it reaffirmed the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and in peace-building, stressing the importance of their equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security, and the need to increase their role in decision-making with regard to conflict prevention and resolution.
UNSCR 1325 was intended to mark a turning point for the representation and inclusion of women in politics and peace-building; but more than twenty years later, its implementation has been limited. Women remain marginalised from many decision-making spaces; they continue to face structural inequalities even when included in dialogue; and as a result, their experiences, concerns, hopes and ideas continue to be overlooked. In the meantime, they not only suffer ongoing sexual violence, economic deprivation, displacement and other such impacts of conflict; they also struggle to secure justice and recompense for the wrongs they have endured.
This is what women peace activists in the Democratic Republic of Congo are trying to change.
‘It is important to work with women because the people who are fighting are the children of women. They are their sons and their husbands. Women have a role to play as the mothers of humanity and they must be involved [in peace] at all levels. We have been living in conflict for 20 years and we saw what women are doing for their families to survive, for life to continue, because men are killed.
When we first started working [for peace] women were scared. They couldn’t speak up because of the culture. But today women know they are essential and must be active for peace to come back. Still, I don’t think they are really listened to. Even when people recognise that we cannot do anything without women, the weight of the patriarchal culture continues to limit us. But we must continue.’
Justine Masika – Synérgie des Femmes pour la Lutte Contre les VBG, Goma
References
The quotations above were gathered by researcher Camille Maubert.
- Aggestam, K. and Svensson, I. (2017) “Where are the women in peace mediation?,” Gendering Diplomacy and International Negotiation, pp. 149–168. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58682-3_8.
- Dharmapuri, S. (2011) “Just add women and stir?,” The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters, 41(1), pp. 56–66. Available at: https://doi.org/10.55540/0031-1723.2566.
- McCall, M. (2022) ‘”Add Women and Stir”? For the love of feminism, please put the spoon down!’, https://peacemuseum.wp.st-andrews.ac.uk/2023/02/19/add-women-and-stir-for-the-love-of-feminism-please-put-the-spoon-down/
- Minh-ha, Trinh T. “Difference: ‘A Special Third World Women Issue’.” Feminist Review8, no. 25 (1987): 11–38. https://doi.org/10.2307/1395032.
- Newby, V.F. and O’Malley, A. (2021) “Introduction: WPS 20 Years on: Where are the women now?,” Global Studies Quarterly, 1(3), pp. 1-13. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/isagsq/ksab017.