Women and peace in crisis situations

At a time like this, when life as we know it seems to be on a constant downward journey with people having deep and extreme emotions; hopelessness, fear, pain, economic downturn, depression, frustrations and anger, while the world fights a fierce battle with an unseen enemy, the Covid-19 pandemic, it is not unusual for conflicts to arise as situations erode people’s tolerance and patience.

Indeed, in institutions, families, residential areas and communities, the likelihood of conflicts arising is high, especially where people are in each others’ face due to the lockdown in some states and residents have to work together in some areas to fight rising insecurity.

At this crucial time, women have a role to play as peacemakers, to douse tension, bridge the gap caused by flying emotions and ensure there is unity.

This may not be easy as in many situations, they are not given a voice; but critical situations are at hand now and to make life easy on the people, everyone must use their talents to make things run smoothly.

We cannot be locked together and still allow conflicts to thrive. That will only make the stay-at-home more difficult for each other. And when emotions continue to rise unchecked, we are laying foundation for violence that may be deadly.

The society must understand at this period that to actually create lasting peace, there is a need for women’s voices and leadership. It has been established globally that when diverse women participate in peace negotiations, issues bordering on the quality and life span of peace agreement and decisions rise, and when women are signatories of peace agreements, they are more likely to be implemented.

Consequently, women need to be conscious of their abilities and how they can use them to make the world a better place at this period, especially their little corner of the world where their impacts can directly be felt.

Research has proved that women have intuition and are the first to notice rising tensions and the onset of violence. They are also the first responders in the aftermath of conflict, taking on the major responsibility in care work for families and stepping in to repair shattered economies.

But women all over the world continue to be excluded from peace and political processes due to patriarchy, discriminatory laws, social stereotypes, cultural bias, religious sentiments and institutional obstacles. In rare cases that they are given a voice and allowed to participate in peace keeping efforts, their efforts are rarely visible or acknowledged.

And as the world groans under the effect of the Covid-19 pandemic, experts have said that after this period, the world will battle with so many economic issues which may also lead to crisis. It is, therefore, important for women to understand that after this period, a huge responsibility awaits them in giving care and sustaining peace. There is also great need for leadership across various tiers of government and institutions to be accountable for the implementation of established women, peace and security agenda.

There is a need to ensure women’s meaningful participation in peace processes, implementation of peace agreements and related decision-making and protect women’s human rights defenders and women’s organizations.

Civil societies need to advocate for women’s priorities to be central to peace and security decisions at all levels by addressing social, cultural religious and political barriers that work against women’s participation in working for sustenance of peace.

And because violence and conflicts affect women and girls more by increasing issues of pre-existing gender inequalities and discrimination, women need to work towards achieving peace and sustaining it in the society.

To be continued

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