What are the effects of peace agreement implementation on women’s security and empowerment?
In contrast to non-war settings, recent survey data from a diverse set of post-conflict settings has found that women are more negative than men towards several types of peacebuilding initiatives, such as ex-combatant reintegration, amnesties, and truth commissions.
The project proposed here suggests that part of the explanation for this puzzling finding is that failure to consider gender aspects when moving from a peace agreement to its implementation may inadvertently create risks for the female populations in post-conflict settings. Such risks include increased insecurity when ex-combatants are reintegrated in society, stigma and trauma stemming from the types of violence women were subjected to during and after the war, including repercussions of truth telling processes.
These, and similar examples, may lead women to become more disillusioned and negative towards the implementation of peace deals, especially so if the agreement itself held promises for women.
In this project, we combine a global study tracking the gender aspects in a set of peace processes, with in-depth analysis of Colombia, including both survey and focus group data. Colombia has been recognized as a case of considerable female participation in the process to formulate a peace agreement; an agreement which also recognized women’s and men’s different security situations.
- This project is conducted together with Erika Forsberg and Karen Brounéus, Uppsala University.
- Funded by the Swedish Research Council).
