What is Feminist Peace?
By: Siya Goswami
Our peace processes hardly ever deliver true peace for everyone, regardless of their background. Conversations around the peace table largely take place under the belief that war is inevitable, and states act within that framework as unitary actors—but without any considerations for women and their participation in these conversations. As a result, the peace processes that emerge do not focus on women and their needs, instead focusing on views that uphold their victimhood instead of addressing the need for their authentic, insightful participation.
Simply acknowledging the need for women’s voices and gender-oriented solutions in peace processes, and adding them as other actors or powers see fit certainly gives an appearance of change, but this does not actually ensure the implementation of truly inclusive thinking and actions. Thus, a feminist peace requires the international community to essentially reinvent our traditional peace process frameworks.
The questions that arise, then, largely have to do with how this comes into fruition. For context, mediation processes brokered by the United Nations remain largely male-dominated and focus on security and strategy issues, which are largely masculinized. For example, conflict resolution in various regions of the world very rarely encompasses substantive solutions to address conflict-related sexual violence, and instead focuses on crafting ceasefire deals or fostering economic interconnectedness amongst warring factions. Even with the UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which enshrines the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Agenda and furthers the participation of women and inclusion of gender in UN peace and security efforts, gender is treated not as an expertise or a constructive piece of the conversation, but deemed irrelevant and disruptive. In current mediation processes, UN-sponsored teams and individuals only consider conflicts in their constituent parts, such as parties and issues, and the list of important objectives does not account for gender-inclusive policies and actions. Furthermore, women are expected only to enter the discussion around protection and safety issues, rather than act as leaders for change in local communities and global networks. It is imperative, therefore, that gender is seen as an indisputably crucial aspect of resolving conflict—and such a manifestation of the WPS Agenda can only be achieved by treating mediation as a malleable art, with the diverse perspectives and experiences of conflict at the heart of how that conflict is ultimately resolved.
Over the course of the next couple of months, I will be conducting research with a former classmate on what must occur to make this reinvention a reality, making the WPS Agenda not simply a pledge or empty commitment, but an actionable piece of diplomacy that gives women and girls the peace and security they deserve.