Women and peace education in Africa

Abstract

Peace education plays a key role in ending the cycle of violence in the world because it utilizes education systems as agencies of conflict prevention, conflict management, and peacebuilding. However, while scholarly discourses and debates have centered on the roles of African women in peace-making and the inadequacies in their involvements in post-conflict peace processes, the fact that women should be trained in the pedagogical aspects of peace has not attracted due attention. One critical premise in the overlooking or rationalizing of the non-inclusion of women in peace education is the tendency to ignore the roles and established competence of women who were already working on crucial areas of resolving conflicts and building peace. This chapter examines the role and importance of women in peace education in Africa to addressing a more fundamental and rounded gendered perspective to peace education on the continent, given the rising necessity for peace education. It further seeks to contextualize and problematize African women's role in peace education and not portray African women as one homogeneous group, deserving special treatment. It explores the true status of women in peace analysis and how this can be translated into peace education by articulating the contributions of African women to peace education while addressing the need for a more gendered approach to both formal and informal peace education in Africa in the context of changing trends.