Women and Gender Equality in Peace Processes: From Women at the Negotiating Table to Postwar Structural Reforms in Guatemala and Somalia

Global Governance

Volumn 9, Issue 4, 2003, Pages 459-476

  Nakaya, Sumie ^a,b  

^a CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK   (United States)

^b SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH COUNCIL   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0344253666     PISSN: 10752846     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/19426720-00904006     Document Type: Review

References (52)

1. Strategic Objective E.1., Beijing Platform for Action, available online at http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform (accessed 15 March 2002).
2. The text of the resolution is available online at http://www.un.org/events/res_ 1325e.pdf (accessed 21 January 2001).
3. European Parliament resolution on the participation of women in peaceful conflict resolution (2000/2025 INI), available online at http://www3.europarl.cu.int/omk/omnsapir.so (accessed 10 August 2002).
4. The author has been closely involved in the process leading to and resulting from Resolution 1325, preparing background documents for the Security Council debates and the adoption of the resolution, and as a member of the team assisting the UNIFEM-commissioned independent assessors. This article is largely informed by the research, interviews, and field visits the author undertook during this time. The article, however, is submitted in the author's personal capacity as a doctoral candidate and is not meant to reflect the views of UNIFEM or its experts' assessments.
5. I. William Zartman, "Putting Things Back Together," in I. William Zartman, ed., Collapsed States: The Disintegration and Restoration of Legitimate Authority (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1995).
6. Graca Machel, "War-Affected Children: The Machel Review 1996-2000," paper presented at the International Conference on War-Affected Children, Winnipeg, Canada, September 2000, available online at http://www.unifem.undp.org/machelrep.htm, p. 51.
7. Swanee Hunt and Cristina Posa, "Women Waging Peace," Foreign Policy (May/June 2001): 46.
8. Sanam Naraghi Andelini, Women at the Peace Table: Making a Difference (New York: UNIFEM, March 2000), Preface.
9. Report of the Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation, Getting it Right? A Gender Approach to UNMIK (Sweden: The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation, 11 May 2002).
10. Based on an interview the author had with International Crisis Group representatives covering Burundi, 16 January 2002.
11. Women, Peace and Security: Study Submitted by the Secretary-General Pursuant to Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000), available online at http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/public/eWPS.pdf (accessed 30 November 2002).
12. Council of Europe, Gender Mainstreaming: Conceptual Framework, Methodology and Presentation of Good Practices, Final Report of Activities of the Group of Specialists on Mainstreaming (EG-S-MS [98] 2) (Strasbourg: May 1998), p. 3.
13. Judith Large, "Disintegration Conflicts and the Restructuring of Masculinity," Gender and Development 5, no. 2 (June 1997): 25.
14. Craig Calhoun, "The Standpoint of Critique? Feminist Theory, Social Structure, and Learning from Experience," Critical Social Theory (Malden, Mass.: Blackwell Publishers, 1995), p. 171.
15. Getting it Right? A Gender Approach to UNMIK, Report of the Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation, Engendering the Peace Process. A Gender Approach to Dayton - and Beyond ((Sweden: The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation, June 2000).
16. Testimonies of Roma women and women who are married to ethnic Serbians in Kosovo, interviewed by the author, September 2000.
17. The recruitment of Tutsi women for high-level government positions in Rwanda, many of whom returned from exile in Uganda, may suggest that women are making progress. However, this may not amount to gender equality for Hutu women. Rwanda's Minister for Women and Social Services, Aloysia Inyumba, is one of the eminent members of the Rwanda Patriotic Front (RPF). In February 1998, Inyumba was put in charge of building up a national RPF network of women's groups using funds for women's empowerment allocated to her ministry. ICG Report, "Consensual Democracy" Post-Genocide Rwanda: Evaluating the March 2001 District Elections (ICG Africa Report No. 34, October 2001), p. 7.
18. Astri Suhrke, Arve Ofstad, Are Knudsen, eds., A Decade of Peacebuilding: Lessons Learned for Afghanistan (Oslo: Chr. Michelsen Institute, April 2002), p. 5.
19. The definition by the UN Economic and Social Council (E.1997.L.10.Para.4. Adopted by ECOSOC 17 July 1997).
20. Sean Loughana and Gema Vicente, Population Issues and the Situation of Women in Postconflict Guatemala (ILO Action Programme on Skills and Entrepreneurship Training for Countries Emerging from Armed Conflict, 17 April 2001), p. 12.
21. Susana Jones, "Democratization Through Peace: The Difficult Case of Guatemala," Journal of Inter-American Studies and World Affairs 42, no. 4 (Winter 2000): 3.
22. In 1988, the National Reconciliation Commission (CNR) was established to promote dialogues for peace; its membership included a representative from the Catholic bishops, the government, political parties, and a prominent citizen from civil society.
23. Shelley Anderson, "Women's Many Roles in Reconciliation," in People Building Peace: 35 Inspiring Stories from Around the World (Utrecht, The Netherlands: The European Centre for Conflict Prevention, 1999), p. 231.
24. Donna Ramsey Marshall, Report of USIP Seminar "Perspectives on Grassroots Peacebuilding: Women in War and Peace" (Washington, D.C.: United States Institute of Peace, August 2000), p. 23.
25. Risha Foulkes, Supporting Culture, Supporting Women: The Challenge of Universal Human Rights (University of Chicago: Ignacio Martin-Baro Human Rights Essay, 7 May 1999), p. 8.
26. Caroline Cabarrus Molina, Dorotea Gomez Grijalva, Ligia Gonzalez Martinez, Guatemalan Women Refugees and Returnees: Challenges and Lessons Learned from the Refugee Camps and During Reintegration (Washington, D.C.: International Center for Research on Women, Center for Development and Population Activities, 2000).
27. At the age of 15, Luz Méndez became president of the Guatemalan Secondary Students Association and began fighting for the rights of students and for improvements in the standards of education. After entering the National University of San Carlos in the mid-1970s, she became the international secretary of the National Federation of University Students. In the late 1970s, she joined the URNG, and became part of the URNG's International Political and Diplomatic Commission in 1991. The commission has represented the URNG in ongoing peace negotiations with the government.
28. These agreement include the June 1994 Agreement for the Resettlement of Populations Uprooted by the Armed Conflict and the Accord on Socioeconomic Aspects and the Agrarian Situation, which recognized the special situations of female-headed households and urged the government to eliminate legal and attitudinal discrimination in terms of women's access to land, housing, credit, and participation in development. In March 1995, the Accord on the Identity and Rights of Indigenous People, which criminalized sexual harassment, supported the full implementation of the CED AW, and called for the creation of a national office to promote indigenous women's legal rights and legal assistance, was signed.
29. Susan Burgerman, "Building the Space by Mandating Reform: United Nations-Mediated Human Rights Agreements in El Salvador and Guatemala," Latin American Perspectives 27 (May 2000): 6.
30. The reform package had included the most significant provisions of the accords, such as the restriction of the army's power, the establishment of accountability mechanisms in the executive system, and the promotion of indigenous rights.
31. The anti-Mayan language included "reforms would 'Balkanize' Guatemala," "everyone will be forced to learn obscure indigenous languages," and "the legal system will be replaced by traditional indigenous law." Susana Jones, "Guatemala Peace Endangered," Christian Science Monitor (12 July 1999).
32. Sean Loughana and Gema Vicente, Population Issues and the Situation of Women in Postconflict Guatemala, p. 24.
33. Valerie MacNabb, Women's Role in Guatemala's Political Opening (Guatemala City: Central American Analysis Group, 12 October 1998).
34. Luz Méndez, interviewed by the author, New York, May 2001.
35. Brigette Sorensen, Women and Postconflict Reconstruction: Issues and Sources, The War-Torn Societies Project, Occasional Paper No. 3 (Geneva: UN Research Institute for Social Development, June 1998).
36. The Secretary-General's Report to the Security Council on 17 August 1994 noted that conflicts within the dominant Hawiye clan (to which General Farah Aidid belonged) constituted the major obstacle to national reconciliation, S/1994/977.
37. Susanne Thurfjell, "Somalia: Supporting Local Capacities for Peace," People Building Peace: 35 Inspiring Stories from around the World (Utrecht, The Netherlands: The European Centre for Conflict Prevention, 1999), p. 201.
38. Sixty Somalis from various parts of the country as well as from the diaspora, all invited in their individual capacities, attended the symposium. Somalia: IRIN Guide to the Somali National Peace Conference (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: Integrated Regional Information Networks, June 2000), available online at www.reliefweb.int/IRIN/cea/countrystories/somalia/20000630a.phtml (accessed 4 March 2001).
39. Transitional National Charter, Article 31: Structure of the State: "The Structure of the State shall be decentralized and shall consist of (a) Central Authority, (b) Regional and District Authorities, (c) Authority of Independent Agencies"; Article 38: Formation of Security and Defense Forces: "Every region of the country shall form its own police force with adequate capacity to maintain law and order."
40. Matt Bryden, Somalia Between Peace and War (Nairobi: UNIFEM, 1998), p. 51.
41. Ameen Jan, "Somalia: Building Sovereignty or Restoring Peace?" in Elizabeth M. Cousens and Chetan Kumar, eds., Peacebuilding as Politics: Cultivating Peace in Fragile Societies (New York: International Peace Academy, 2001), pp. 68-69.
42. UNDP, Governance Foundations for Postconflict Situations: UNDP's Experience (New York: UNDP, January 2000), p. 75.
43. Ameen Jan, "Somalia: Building Sovereignty or Restoring Peace?" p. 78.
44. Consolidated Inter-Agency Appeal for Somalia 2002 (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 26 November 2001), available online at www.reliefweb.int. (posted 26 November 2001).
45. There are over one hundred international and local aid agencies currently working in Somalia. In 2000, more than U.S$115 million from donors was given to aid projects in Somalia. The Somali Aid Coordination Body (SACB) is the umbrella group for assistance to Somalia and is comprised of UN agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and donors.
46. Interview by UNIFEM staff, Somalia, September 2001.
47. Bridget Byrne, Rachel Marcus, and Tanya Powers-Stevens, Gender, Conflict and Development: Volume II: Case studies: Cambodia, Rwanda, Kosovo, Algeria, Somalia, Guatemala and Eritrea (Brighton, Institute of Development Studies, July 1996), p. 97.
48. E-mail communication with author, 7 August 2002.
49. Notes from a field visit to Somalia, September 2001.
50. Report of The UN Centre for Human Settlements, Paula Worby, "Organizing for Peace: Guatemalan Refugee Women Assert their Rights to be Co-Owners of Land Allocated to Returnee Communities," Women's Rights to Land, Housing and Property in Postconflict Situations and During Reconstruction: A Global Overview (Nairobi: The UN Centre for Human Settlements, 1999), p. 39.
51. Susan Woodward, "International Peace Agreements to End Civil Wars: Economic Priorities for Successful Implementation," in Astri Suhrke, Arve Ofstad, Are Knudsen, eds., A Decade of Peacebuilding, p. 48.
52. Susana Lastaria-Cornhiel, Privatization of Land Rights and Access to Factor Markets: A Path to Gender Equity? Agrarian Reform and Rural Development: Taking Stock Conference, Sponsored by the Social Research Center (Cairo: American University, October 2001); "Gendered Worlds: Gains and Challenges," Women's Worlds 2002 Congress 8th International Interdisciplinary Congress on Women, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda, 21-26 July 2002.