2.3. Deconstructing the women and peacebuilding nexus in the context of current debates
2.3.2. Women as caregivers and peacebuilders during conflict and in post- conflict
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2.3.2. Women as caregivers and peacebuilders during conflict and in post- conflict
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Mohamed (2004), Alaga (2011), and Ouellet (2013), etc., this explains why in the phase of conflict victimization and its catastrophes, women work their way into taking more active peace roles with especially women-cum-organizational initiatives and groups. In this regards, Shulika (2016:17) asserts that women’s ultimate desire for a return of peace and security normalcy underpins their emergence and growth as women organizations empowering actions for peace and societal security, and challenging the undermining of their rights.
Following from the above, a surge of studies and scholarship (Tripp 2015, Ouellet 2013, McCarthy 2011, Alaga 2011, Massaquoi 2007, Rehn and Sirleaf 2002) reviews of Liberia’s background underscore the development of women with expectation, determination, agency and sustained prominence to ensure the reign of peace in Liberia. Viewed as a critical force for the movement of peace, Hunt and Posa (2001: 38) maintain that women through their activism and abilities to bridge divides often command and are the voices of reasonableness during conflicts. The dominant debate hereis that most women proactively involve in the structural prevention of conflict and support the consolidation of peace through their mechanism of non-violence activism and interventionist roles (Anderlini 2000; Conaway and Sen 2005; Miller, Pournik and Swaine 2014; Zubashvili 2015). For example, the Liberian experience succinctly appraised in the first chapter and expatiated in chapter five evinces the proliferation and activism of women and women’s organizations, as well as their instrumentality in exerting influence as mediators, peace agents, and architects during Liberia’s conflict eras and in the post-conflict. Alluding to the instance of Sudan’s protracted conflict history, the Sudanese Women's Voice for Peace constantly convened with armies of warring factions and their leaders to impel them to negotiate peace and ceasefire deals (Hunt and Posa 2001:42). Generally, women rising and activism for peace during conflicts seems to be a common practice, considering the semblance of developments and experiences in conflict and post-conflict societies (like: Somalia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Mozambique, Mali, South Africa, Sierra Leone, Angola, Central African Republic etc.) across the African continent.
As with the fore-reviewed literature on women’s roles during conflicts, scholarship on their unique roles in the transitional trajectory to sustainable processes after the wars have ended is quite robust. In the matter of post-conflict therefore, the transition is also evident in the
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interference of traditional gender roles and relations, wherein women not only become more empowered, but pressure for the recognition of their human and civil rights to representation, decision-making, leadership, and governance processes (Lukatela 2012; Tripp 2012). In the context of the Liberian case study, there have been visible gains by women in the said processes following the end of the conflict in 2003. Some noted exemplars include the democratic election of a female head of state; the appointment of women to political positions of leadership; the passing of gender equality bills; reserving quotas for women in parliament (though their representation has been generally low); and the establishment of National Action Plan on the Implementation of UNSCR 1325 on women, peace, and security (Massaquoi 2007; Tripp 2015). In addition, the authority of the Ministry of Gender and Development (2009) is significantly broadened to address issues of gender inequality and implement programmes like the National Gender Policy (NGP), which among others aim to ensure the integration of women’s perspectives into the country’s adopted framework for national development. In consolidating post-war gains, women’s demand for recognition and participation in Liberia has also seen the reform of legislative and constitutional processes, such as laws giving women land and inheritance rights as well as rape law punishing the acts of sexual and gender-based violence; the establishment of programmes and projects to empower women and girls (USAID 2007; Government of Liberia 2014), among others. The Literature on women and peacebuilding in Liberia generally uncovers that there have been and continue to be a remarkable progression in the recognition, inclusion and representation of women in Liberia’s post-conflict processes. For example, studies by Bekoe and Parajon (2007), Valasek (2008), Bastick (2008), de Carvalho and Schia (2009), McCarthy (2011), and Bastick and Whitman (2013), recollect on the inclusion, participation and empowerment of women in Liberia’s post-conflict security sector reform agenda. Atuobi (2010) International Crisis Group (2011), Luppino and Webbe (2011), Landgren (2014), Government of Liberia (2014), and Nyei (2014), likewise discuss similar enablement of Liberian women in governance processes. While, Long (2008) Cibelli, Hoover and Krüger (2009), Pillay (2009), and Tripp (2015), equally outline the inclusion, representation and empowerment of women in the processes of justice and reconciliation and socio-economic wellbeing in post-conflict Liberia.
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Albeit the framework of this literature, the politicking for peace, the brunt of conflict experienced by women, and their role as peacebuilders, other studies (Pankhurst and Anderlini 1998; Alaga 2010; McKay 2004; Miller et.al 2014; Zubashvili 2015) note that women still and often remain sidelined and excluded from the negotiating tables and high level decision-making processes for peacebuilding. Therefore, while the overarching purpose of peacebuilding is to consolidate peace and ensure its sustainability, Schnabel and Born (2011), Alaga (2010) and Pankhurst (2003) argue that women remain largely under- represented particularly in the measure of security agendas, which among others include disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR). In appraising the role of women in post-conflict Liberia, McCarthy (2011) and Tripp (2015) draw attention to the non- consideration of women’s counsel and their marginalization, especially in the country’s first post-war dispensation. In the case of the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, Schnabel and Born (2011) observe that women remain prime victims of sexual and gender- based abuses perpetrated by some personnel of the security service as well as members and citizens of the social order. Generally, conflict and peace literature indicate that these complexities are not peculiar to conflict and post-conflict societies in Africa but across the globe. In practical terms, this barrier that characterizes security sector processes has a negative impact on responsiveness to the security roles as well as needs and interests of women and wanes the imperative of inclusivity and local ownership of the reform processes (Bastick 2008;
El-Bushra 2012). Alam, Larsen, Nichols and Windsor (2013), further highlight impediments in the implementation of justice and reconciliation agendas, in which the prerequisite for greater women involvement, planning and management of the processes is frequently overlooked. And, most common in such a situation is the fact that crimes against humanity, including sexual and gender-based violence remain ineffectively addressed by the justice systems. Likewise, Alam et.al (2013) maintain that women’s interests, socio-economic and political empowerment are often not accorded the priority due in the implementation of post- conflict processes.
Summing from the above discourse, this study asserts that the challenges and exclusionary practices against women unquestionably infringe on their rights to equal participation in decision-making processes. Noting that women remain relevant and vital to peacebuilding
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processes, the study espouses Potter’s (2004) argument that women’s meaningful involvement is essential to the practicable realization of peacebuilding, given the central goal of process and development sustainability. More so, engaging the processes of peacebuilding entails active civilian dimensions and ownership of the reconstruction processes by the civil society at large (Potter 2004), and women are customarily the majority population in both conflict and post-conflict societies. Apparently, these contentions coupled with the growing realization of the predicaments of women have enormously prodded the internationalization and institutionalization of policies advocating for their recognition and active participation in decision-making structures of leadership, peace and security. So, literature in light of established international laws and conventions on the subject builds on the prerogatives and rights of women to be equal stakeholders in conflict management processes and especially post-conflict development.