Women, Peacebuilding, and Sustainable Development

Abstract

Ensuring peace and sustainable development in societies is the responsibility of all citizens. Government representatives, civil society, international organizations, and private sector actors have over the years played significant roles in this journey. This chapter examines the relationship between women, peacebuilding, and sustainable development. It reveals that women play significant roles in ensuring a peaceful society and in facilitating the attainment of sustainable development goals. They suffer the outcome of every crisis, and work to alleviate the pains as peacebuilding agents through combatant operations, providing early warning signals, serve as household heads and humanitarian actors. However, the efforts of women in peace and development are not adequately recognized in formal processes. The study concludes that the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will best be achieved if women, who constitute half of the global population, are adequately empowered, recognized, and given the opportunity to contribute immensely. Thus, increased funding in women-based development initiatives and capacity building opportunities that will educate, enlighten, and empower more women to take informed decisions in line with the attainment of sustainable peace and development, globally is recommended.