Action needed to close gender gap to achieve sustainable peace

Gender equality helps humanitarian assistance, strengthens the protection efforts of peacekeepers, facilitates peace talks, ensures sustainability of peace agreements, writes Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

Gender equality will help entrench peace agreements. Tunisian national dialogue mediators won the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize. Fethi Belaid / AFP

We have recently celebrated the peace deal between the government of Colombia and the main guerrilla group. The accord on judicial issues represents the clearest sign yet of a possible end to five decades of conflict. Less is heard about the ways in which Colombian women have participated in, and influenced, these negotiations.

Similarly, few people know that last year also saw the end of a decades-long conflict in the Philippines between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. In the peace talks, more than a third of negotiators were women – far above the norm. These women have a long history of leadership at the local and national levels in their countries. They also worked with the two female presidents who invested considerable political capital in bringing the rebel group to the negotiating table.

In Burundi, women took the lead to solve local disputes that posed a threat to the region’s fragile peace.

In 129 municipalities across the country, they addressed approximately 3,000 conflicts at the local level this year, including mediating between security forces and protesters, arguing for the release of demonstrators and political prisoners, promoting non-violence and dialogue among divided communities. UN Women supported these efforts.

These are not isolated stories. A comprehensive study prepared for the 15th anniversary of UN Security Council resolution 1325 – a landmark proposition that recognises the role of gender equality and women’s leadership in international peace and security – makes the strongest case to date that gender equality improves humanitarian assistance, strengthens the protection efforts of peacekeepers, facilitates peace talks, ensures sustainability of peace agreements and helps accelerate economic recovery after conflict. It compiled evidence that demonstrates how peace negotiations influenced by women are much more likely to end in a lasting agreement.

When conflict-affected communities focus on women’s empowerment, they experience rapid economic recovery and less poverty.

In a world where extremists place subjugation of women at the centre of their ideology and war tactics, the international community and the UN should place gender equality at the heart of its peace and security initiatives. Beyond policies, declarations and aspirations, gender equality must drive the world body’s decisions on hiring and spending.

It is clear that the Security Council must strive for tangible changes for women affected by war and engage them to prevent those conflicts. Countries must do more to involve women in peace negotiations. Civil society and women’s movements have made extraordinary contributions to effective peace processes. We know that when civil society representatives are involved in peace talks, they are significantly more likely to result in long-lasting accords.

It is time to put a stop to peace processes dominated by those who wage wars and not those who stand up for peace. It is time to invest adequately in gender equality. It’s sad that only 2 per cent of aid goes to fragile states targeting gender equality as a main goal in peace and security interventions. To change this situation, bold initiatives are required. However, desired results cannot be achieved without investment.

Now that time has come. On September 25, the countries of the United Nations adopted the 2030 agenda for sustainable development that expresses determination to “ensure that all human beings can fulfil their potential in dignity and equality” and to “foster peaceful, just and inclusive societies that are free from fear and violence”. Two days later, 72 heads of state attended the UN’s global leaders’ meeting to show their support for gender equality and commit to specific action. Tomorrow, the Security Council will celebrate the 15th anniversary of resolution 1325 and inject new energy, ideas and resources into women’s leadership for peace.

In a world afflicted by conflict, extremism and displacement, we cannot rely on just the ripples of hope sparked by the extraordinary acts of ordinary people. We need a collective action as well as political courage on the part of leaders of the international community. Anniversaries, after all, must count for more than the passing of years. They must be the moment to turn words into action.

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is UN under secretary general and UN women executive director