Women have
great potential to bring about peaceful transformations and play an important
role in conflict and post-conflict situations when power relations are newly
negotiated. However, ensuring space for the role of women as leaders in
building a better future for their states and societies is the real state-building
challenge. International state-building support has so far been largely gender
blind, with the result that such opportunities are often missed or have not
been taken into account. Moreover, evidence shows that even in contexts where
women played important political roles as peace activists during conflict or
were fighting in rebel forces, they were often marginalized within the
political settlement and were pushed out of public life and back into
traditional roles after the conflict ended. UN Security Council Resolution
1325 has undoubtedly increased international focus on women’s inclusion in
peacebuilding.
As a
development agency SDC can play a crucial role in strengthening women’s role
and participation in all stages and all aspects of peace and state-building as
a pathway out of fragility.
