Women and Peacebuilding by Dyan Mazurana et Susan McKay, 1999      Women and Peacebuilding is a essay published in Canada by Rights & Democracy. It addresses the need to recognize and incorporate women’s experiences in building peace, particularly at the local level, into peacebuilding policy.      Dyan Mazurana Ph.D. is an independent scholar and adjunct faculty of Women's Studies and International Studies at the University of Wyoming, USA. Her research, publications, and courses focus on violence against women, human rights, and international women's movements.      Susan A. McKay, Ph.D. is a psychologist and professor of Women's Studies and Nursing at the University of Wyoming, USA. McKay has published numerous papers about the relationships between gender and peace psychology, and women, war, and health.

Executive Summary

     If progress is to be made towards building more peaceful, cooperative and just societies where human security is valued as paramount, building peace must more deeply involve women and women’s approaches. As documented throughout this essay, women’s roles in, and contributions to, peacebuilding have been underutilized and lacking in recognition at community, national, and international levels. Despite women’s marginalization outside the mainstream peace and international security arenas, their work in peacebuilding is substantial. We contend that distinct yet little studied women’s peacebuilding approaches in response to violent conflict are key elements to the attainment of human security and peace. Consequently, knowing more about the gendering of peacebuilding policies and projects, as well as women’s peacebuilding capacities, holds the potential for expanding women’s capabilities by developing alternative approaches that can be used as a basis for policy making and training programmes. Furthermore, both gender-aware and women’s peacebuilding processes can offer models that expand the repertoire of available approaches for both men and women. In conclusion, for women’s full participation in peacebuilding to be enhanced, there needs to be specific focus upon building their capacities, and gender must be included as an explicit aspect of peacebuilding initiatives.

     Employing gender analysis, we document and analyze a diverse array of current peacebuilding policies and projects from women’s grassroots, nongovernmental organizations (NGO), the United Nations, and several other international organizations. The Introduction gives an overview of women’s multiple roles in peacebuilding and the divergent ways peacebuilding is defined and envisioned by women’s grassroots groups, international NGOs, scholars, and branches within the United Nations. The first section investigates women’s grassroots peacebuilding. It begins with an examination of the meaning and processes of peacebuilding as defined by the writings and actions of multiple women’s grassroots peacebuilding organizations. We then detail common foci of women’s grassroots peacebuilding with specific examples from around the world; categories include reconciliation efforts, demilitarization, the importance of women’s roles in building peace, and the healing and rebuilding of human relations. We conclude with case examples of women’s grassroots peacebuilding initiatives in Northern Ireland, the South Sudan, Russia, and the TransCaucasus and Northern Caucasus regions. The second section of this essay documents and analyzes local, national and international NGOs’ peacebuilding policies and programmes. In particular, the critical role of NGOs in peacebuilding processes and efforts to build coalitions and networks for peace are examined. Case examples of NGO peacebuilding activity in the United States, the Philippines, Canada, Sweden and Israel are detailed. The final section records and analyzes peacebuilding policies and programmes within the multiple branches of the United Nations (UN), as well as regional organizations. We find that while United Nations and regional peacebuilding initiatives are diverse, unless they are women-centred, women’s roles and initiatives tend to be marginalized. Our conclusion illustrates key lessons for effective peacebuilding and offers additional avenues for further research into women’s peacebuilding activities.

1. All peacebuilding initiatives must consider the gender impacts of, and incorporate women in, their policies and projects.
   
   
2. Psychosocial, relational and spiritual peacebuilding projects should be emphasized as a central aspect of any peacebuilding initiative.
   
   
3. Peacebuilding is culturally specific. Local approaches to peacebuilding should be recognized, honoured and built upon; this includes traditional peacebuilding approaches and the peacebuilding inventions of women-centred and local groups.
   
   
4. Outside organizations and personnel should work with and not for locals and build upon local expertise.
   
   
5. Within the parameters of working with locals, peacebuilding projects should be documented and evaluated.
   
   
6. Improved communication and cooperation is needed among various organizations working in peacebuilding and reconstruction, at all levels; the formation of networks greatly facilitates effective peacebuilding.