By Morgen Makombo Sikwila
While women’s participation in peace building is believed to be important, many challenges prevent women from actively participating in peace building. Although the nature and extent of the challenges vary from place to place, there are traditional, systematic and structural challenges that hinder women’s participation in peace building.
In some areas, women are seen as violent, provocative and conflict escalators rather than as messengers of peace. The portrayal of women as contributors to conflict affect their participation in peace building. In generic terms, women, as human beings, can provoke conflict. Just as men can provoke conflict, they too can become involved in conflict.
In Zimbabwe, women participated in the liberation struggle and still fight for national sovereignty. Women engaged in direct combat. They were involved in conflict in many other ways such as spying, providing food for fighters, encouraging men to take revenge on their perpetrators, concealing and smuggling weapons, providing cover for their families and protecting their children and youths.
This does not mean that women should not be involved in peace building. There are also many opportunities for women to be connectors among various groups in their community. It is prudent to avoid such gross generalization. This is one of the distorted thoughts that need to be changed by educating the community.
In some societies, men make decisions without the active participation of women. Women are less likely to participate in the public decision-making processes. As with any other issues, women are excluded from peace building. Traditionally, women are not given the opportunity to engage in the public affairs of their communities.
It is all about gender! It is important to understand what gender is and how it differs from sex before describing how gender inequality hinders women’s participation in peace building is. Gender is a social concept. This term describes the characteristics of a masculine or feminine in a community. Gender is a set of socially constructed roles and responsibilities. Gender is not natural as sex. We are not born with gender roles. We learn from the community.
Gender is conditioned by culture. Therefore, it varies from culture to culture and from time to time. Sex is a natural identity whereas gender is a socially constructed roles of men and women in society. Gender inequality in a society affects women’s participation in peace building in various ways.
It is widespread in many societies and has a negative psychological impact in women. It keeps women from participating in peace building processes. It instills fear in women and in the process of conflict resolution and peace building, it prevents them from making their voices heard.
Gender inequality in many societies has long been a barrier to women’s participation in peacekeeping operations around the world. Women’s participation in UN peacekeeping duties has been for decades low. Because people who work in institutions work with the attitudes and behaviours of the community, people at all levels of society reflect the attitude of society. In most societies, men are thought to be fighters, heroes and defenders. When it comes to military service- men, women are rarely considered in some countries because are considered as being weak. This attitude has been cited as one of the barriers to majority of women’s participation in international peacekeeping.
Although the United Nations, NGOs, researchers, academics and women’s advocacy groups have supported women’s participation in peace building, community-based movements, peace activists and faith groups are reportedly failing to address women’s participation in peace building and conflict resolution. This low level of women’s representation in peace building exacerbates gender inequality in the field. Moreover, it is thought to undermine women’s ability to contribute to peace building.
Refusing to listen to the voices of women and other marginalized groups in conflict resolution and peace building, disregarding their identities and interests is a violation of their dignity. Such an approach would prevent lasting peace in the community.
In some cases, women, especially religious women (brainwashed by doctrines), are more likely to accept negative attitudes toward women and exclude themselves from social life. Instead of fighting for their rights and contributing to society, women tend to be reluctant to participate in peace building because they tend to accept the social status they do not deserve in society. This feeling of learned helplessness or inability to do something is a dangerous inner enemy that keeps away women from participating in peace building.
There are many challenges to women’s participation in peace building, especially in decision making. One of these is related to women’s lack of crafty competence and crafty literacy. Most women do not have the same level of education as men to participate in peace building. There is a huge gap in terms of educating girls to make them competent in all aspects. Sometimes women want to participate in the peace processes, but they do have the education, training and requisite skills to do so.
Peace building is a profession that requires basic skills, such as communication, cross-cultural communication, conflict analysis, negotiation, gender analysis, mediation, listening, anxiety and stress management skills.
Women often have practical conflict resolution and peace building skills that do not require special training. In reality, inadequate competence in peace building is an excuse to exclude women from peace building processes. As for the technical skills needed for peace building, women do not have the same technical skills as men because they are not given equal opportunity as men to get training.
Women need economic capacity to participate in the peace process. Women need to have better income to operate independently. Without equal opportunities for employment and income, women will not be able to increase economic potentials.
Many challenges prevent women from actively participating in peace building. These challenges entails, considering women as conflict instigators, gender inequality, lack of opportunities for women to develop the technical skills needed to build peace more than men and economic inequality.
The challenges are man-made and there is need for a paradigm shift -properly addressed, solved and changed! UN Resolution 1325’s impact needs scrutiny.
Morgen Makombo Sikwila
MSc Peace and Governance
BSc Counselling
Diploma in Environmental Health Health
Certificate in Marketing Management
email: morgensikwilam@gmail.com
Contact Number: 0772823282
