Peace Processes: Business as Usual?

Abstract

Despite international frameworks such as the WPS agenda that promotes women’s inclusion and full participation, the structure of peace processes and the power dynamics they reflect continues to drive women’s de facto exclusion from them. While there is literature problematising women’s exclusion from formal peace processes, little knowledge exists on the more hidden and informal processes that drive these gendered exclusions. This article builds on the IR literature by also drawing insights from business and management literature-a sector which has advanced more rapidly than other sectors in acknowledging and breaking down the barriers to women’s advancement. Based on interviews with people active in peace processes, this article indicates that male “homosociality” is expressed in how competence is defined and in access to informal meetings, which play a role in reproducing men’s overrepresentation in peace processes.