We'll start seeing more lasting peace when women get more seats at the negotiating table.
Peace agreements last 35% longer when women are involved in the negotiating process. But too often, they're not.
Women are effective peacemakers, but multiple barriers still keep them away from formal negotiating tables.
"Given the countries and cultural contexts women peacebuilders are operating in, more times than not they are taking on greater security risks than their male counterparts. While this is the case, they are the ones who are not provided the security and protection they need to build peace. What is more, they are often the caretakers of dependents — and hold a greater level of responsibility to ensure their children and extended family are safe. Women peacebuilders have to make decisions around building peace, or taking on great personal risk to themselves and/or family, or even flee their country to seek refuge."
"Even if all other obstacles are removed for women, at the end of the day, they still need support and resources to be physically present at the peace building table. Unfortunately, women do not have access to simple things such as funding to purchase plane tickets and lodging to be present at peace talks. Or visa regulations are preventing them from being present in countries where peace talks are occurring (e.g., Yemen peace talks being held in Sweden). These obstacles are keeping out vital voices and perspectives, and ensuring only a small subset of society, the elite, are present at peace talks."
Programs like Women PeaceMakers and Women Waging Peace provide support for women doing this important work.
On International Women's Day March 8, four extraordinary women will share their peacemaking insights.
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Wazhma Frogh ( @FroghWazhma ) of Afghanistan. She is the director of the Women & Peace Studies Organization, one of the few civil society organizations in Afghanistan that is working for women’s inclusion in security sector reform processes, with a particular focus on women in the police force. -
Jane Anyongo ( @nyasigoti ) of Kenya. She is the founding director of the Polycom Development Project, based in Africa’s largest informal settlement, Kibera, and the founder of Kibera Women for Peace and Fairness. -
Stella Sabiiti of Uganda. She is the founder of the Center for Conflict Resolution, an NGO addressing conflicts in the Horn of Africa and Great Lakes Region. In 2012, she joined the AU’s Women, Gender and Development Directorate (WGDD), strengthening African women’s voices to be heard in peace processes within the framework of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 and the AU’s Gender Architecture (AUGA). -
Irene Santiago (@irenesantiago) of The Phillippines. She is Chair Emerita and CEO of the Mindanao Commission on Women, and convener of the national Mothers for Peace movement. She is well known internationally as a strong advocate of gender equality to transform society.
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What should you do if a random girl suddenly approaches and acts like she knows you? Play along. - Upworthy › -
This International Women’s Day, Tory Burch and Upworthy Are Celebrating Empowered Women Making a Difference › -
Women are sharing the mental checklists they run through to navigate the world. It's a lot. - Upworthy ›