Women Leading Peace is a close examination of women’s political participation in peace processes in Northern Ireland, Guatemala, Kenya, and the Philippines. The study shows where and how women have been engaged in making peace and why their inclusion in the negotiation processes leads to longer-term peace.
The findings of the report show that women can, do, and continue to make important contributions to the attainment of peace. The analysis demonstrates that the inclusion of women in formal peace negotiations makes it possible to ensure that critical issues — ranging from reconciliation and transitional justice to human rights — will be included. Further, women´s involvement often paves the way for their increased political participation and public leadership in a range of arenas.
In addition to providing a systematic literature review, the report draws upon extensive fieldwork in Northern Ireland, Guatemala, Kenya, and the Philippines. Interviews with women and men from civil society organizations, government institutions, rebel or opposition groups, and subject matter experts shed light on how women accessed formal peace processes in these four countries and how they shaped and influenced the progress of negotiations and the content of resulting peace agreements.
Read more in the article by Ambassador Melanne Verveer, Expert Adviser to the study, and access the study here.