Women's participation in informal peace processes

Abstract

Women's greater presence in informal peace processes is often noted in works on peace processes, but there has been little systematic evidence about this involvement. This article is the first systematic study of women's participation in informal peace processes. We find that women are a significant presence in civil society efforts to forge peace outside formal negotiation rooms: nearly three-fourths of identifiable informal peace processes have clear evidence of involvement from women's groups. This research indicates that women advocate to be included in formal peace processes, work to legitimate formal negotiations and organize for peace, advocate for the inclusion of women's rights issues in the final peace agreement, provide information on human rights violations to participants in the formal peace process, engage in local conflict resolution, and advocate as partisans for one or another side in the conflict.