Reflections on listening and democracy: women’s and feminist organizations in the Victims’ Forums in Colombia (2014)

Abstract

The signing of the Havana Peace Agreements that ended the armed conflict in Colombia in 2012 marked an important advancement in the attempt to create a more inclusive and lasting peace by acknowledging the role of individual experiences in the country’s peace process. We conducted an ethnography of documents to understand the contributions of women’s and feminist movements to the construction of democracy in Colombia. The results of our research highlight the significance of the presence and participation of women in spaces for deliberation and listening, which generated a more inclusive experience in the peace negotiation process. These agents helped to broaden the understanding of how conflict affects individuals in real life, intersected by different overlapping categories of identity that directly influence the formulation of demands incorporated into the peace documents.