General Women, Peace and Security

According to the Worldwide Guide to Women in Leadership, women are currently serving as president, prime minister or chancellor of Ireland, Finland, Germany, Liberia, India, Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Iceland, Croatia, Lithuania, Kyrgyzstan, Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, Slovakia and Brazil.

When else in human history have so many nations been led by so many women at the same time?

The announced theme of the fifty-sixth session of the Commission on the Status of Women taking place in New York from February 27 to March 3 -- the empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication, development, and current challenges -- isn't focused per se on conflict.

In historically evolved patriarchal tradition and tribal-based social structures, women's role has been downplayed in decision making, which naturally resulted in gender disparity and systematic discrimination against women. Exclusion of women from the peace process directly discriminates against half of the population and deprives them of engagement in constructive political change and promotion of peace and love

It may be our United Nation agency's -- UN Women's -- first birthday, but on the occasion of our annual conference, the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), we and hundreds of other women's groups still face limited access to the halls of the United Nations (U.N.).

In the context of contemporary armed conflict, the general discourse often assumes that women, one of the most vulnerable and impacted groups, are disempowered. Discussion on the role of women in conflict and post-conflict settings frequently reflects this by emphasizing the narrative of women as victims, overlooking the crucial role of women as actors.

In 2011 the United Nations consolidated all four UN bodies working on gender equality - OSAGI, UNIFEM, INSTRAW, and DAW - to create one UN agency working on women's rights.

The 36 year long civil war (1960-1996) that ravaged Guatemala, left more than 200,000 people dead and at least 100,000 women raped: most of the victims were Mayan. Only recently have women started speaking out about the violence they suffered in hands of the Army and paramilitaries, and finally, the sexual violence perpetrated against Mayan women is being investigated as part of the genocide proceedings taking place in Spanish tribunals.

The Cali workshop was conducted in the Semi-rural town of Palmira in the department of Valle del Cauca on Wednesday, February 8th.

A growing list of U.N. Security Council Resolutions acknowledges the importance of gender in processes for peace. Resolutions 1325, 1820, 1888, 1889 and 1960 note that women continue to be marginalised in peace negotiations and their potential is not fully utilised in humanitarian planning, peacekeeping operations, peace building, governance and reconstruction.

The African Women's Decade (2010-2020) is a bold political initiative that aims to put women at the centre of development on the continent. Launched in Nairobi, Kenya, in October 2010, with roots traceable to the UN First World Conference on Women, held in Mexico city in 1975, this initiative aims to create conditions under which the participation of all African women in the continent's socio-economic development can be guaranteed.