OPINION: The Role of Women's Empowerment in Post-Conflict Reconstruction

Despite the development in research and practice towards the acknowledgement of the roles of women after conflicts, post-conflict strategies are still gender-blind. Women need to play a role in post conflict reconstructions.

The nature of conflict has undergone profound change during the course of recent history. Modern warfare has introduced a new dimension, society has to face the sophisticated threat of terrorism, deal with an unacceptably high number of civilian casualties, and witness the suffering of victims of war. These contemporary conflicts are driven by many factors: re-distribution of political and economic power as well as reactions to globalisation, ethnicity or religion. Additionally, new phenomena are shaping the conduct of war. The participation of non-state actors and the “privatisation” of security are just a few examples. Although drivers of war have altered, the consequences remain unchanged: political instability, economic stagnation, social disruption, environmental damage. Post-conflict reconstruction has to take place in order to restore stability in the shattered countries.

The prevailing perception of war is domination by men: they fight it, end it, and bring order again. The ways in which conflicts affect women are omitted. Despite the development in research and practice towards the acknowledgement of the roles of women after conflicts, post-conflict strategies are still gender-blind. Women play a crucial role in reconstruction: they represent a cornerstone of families, communities, and offer different perspectives on the political, economic and social life, as well as on the future of a nation. Therefore it is vital to involve women in the process of “healing” a society. Throughout this article I will emphasize the importance of women's empowerment in post-conflict reconstruction and outline possible practical solutions that could be implemented.

1. Gender-oriented reconstruction strategies

Challenge: The contemporary conflicts are targeting women more than ever before. Despite this fact, the post-conflict reconstruction strategies suffer from uniformity and homogeneity.

Remedy: Further analysis of the gender dimension in relation to the post-conflict phase is important. Reconstruction strategies fail to address gender-based differences and overlook the importance of women's experiences, knowledge and abilities. Engagement of gender-oriented initiatives would allow re-gaining gender identity damaged by the conflict. Gender role awareness-raising has to take place both at international (development practitioners) and national (government) levels in order to emphasize the enormous potential of the contribution of women in post-conflict initiatives. This identification could improve the effectiveness of development activities concerning post-conflict reconstruction.

2. Women for women

Challenge: The violence, exploitation, women's rights violations, gender-based persecution, psychological torture and dismantling of the social status of womanhood, are used as a weapon of war.

Remedy: The Geneva Conventions set the rules for the war conduct; the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) protects women from human rights violations. Despite the determination of the international society, the practice shows that during war-time, the conventions are powerless to protect women from abuse and exploitation. The best remedy would be not to violate commitments codified by these documents. But because of the difficulty to safeguard the compliance (especially in the case of “toothless” human rights treaties), the lack of universal jurisdiction (non-parties to the treaties are not bound) and violation of jus cogens, this recommendation would be naive. Therefore it is imperative to (at least) employ a gender-specific approach to mitigate the impacts of gender-related violence. According to research, women are more likely to share their experiences with other women who have had similar ones. The establishment of women's associations could help to address health issues and identity reconstruction as an essential part of the gender development. An empowerment approach to healing trauma and restoring women's dignity would not only be beneficial for the victims, but it would also have a positive impact on the well-being of a post-conflict society.

3. Increasing women's participation in post-conflict reconstruction and politics

Challenge: Women are often excluded from the post-conflict reconstruction initiatives. The lack of women's qualifications for political work is presented as the rationale for political under-representation. The right to participate in policy making is bypassed.

Remedy: To impose women representation quotas is not effective enough. In order to succeed at polls and in the office, it is necessary to strengthen women's leadership capacities. Women participation is important for the promotion of gender equality, emphasizing women's rights as well as shifting from the prevailing patriarchy in international relations and politics. Women's contribution is recognized as an integral part of consolidation and further development. But not only execution of the reconstruction, but also its agenda has to take gender into consideration. Women's issues have to be addressed in the analysis, planning, implementation, and evaluation of the reconstruction process.

4. Social value of womanhood for peace

Challenge: Women's role as peace promoters and their contributions to peace-building and post-war reconstruction are unrecognized.

Remedy: Women contribute to ending conflicts. They are first to call for order.

Peace establishment is approached from a grass-roots level: the community and family are influenced by women's traditional socio-cultural position. The role of women as mothers, wives, sisters and daughters helps to re-build social networks, revive local economies, spread the nation's cultural heritage and promote the value of family. They support the re-integration of former combatants and refugees back into the society. The potential to influence their husbands or male relatives to seek more peaceful solutions to conflict should not be undermined. Therefore, women cannot be excluded from the official peace process.

5. Economic empowerment

Challenge: Women in developing countries are often economically dependent on their husbands because of their lack of education, opportunities or restrictions to work. After a conflict, widowed women become the only breadwinners.

Remedy: Women have to face various barriers in order to assume the position of the money-earners. They are often forced into illegal activities, such as smuggling or prostitution. To achieve women's economic empowerment, the discrimination and restriction on women's activities has to be eliminated. The small-scale business and access to credit could be attained by the enhancement of business and management skills, social support mechanisms, equal property rights and promotion of education. Income-generating possibilities for women are important not only to revive local economies immediately after the conflict, but also to contribute to further economic development and the consolidation of peace.

Beata Zpevakova is from Slovakia, and is currently a student of Human rights and International politics at the University of Glasgow. She previously worked with the UNDP and the Slovak platform of non-governmental organizations.

This article was submitted for the atlantic-community.org's competition: "Empowering Women in International Relations." It coincides with the 10th Anniversary of UN resolution 1325 calling for an increased influence of women in all aspects of peace and security. The contest is sponsored by the U.S. Mission to NATO and the NATO Public Diplomacy Division.

You can read more submissions from the competition here