On International Women’s Day, United Nations (UN) secretary-general Antonio Guterres referred to the fact that “gender inequality is essentially a question of power, in a male-dominated world and a male-dominated culture. Power relations must be reversed.”
On International Women’s Day, United Nations (UN) secretary-general Antonio Guterres referred to the fact that “gender inequality is essentially a question of power, in a male-dominated world and a male-dominated culture. Power relations must be reversed.” (SHUTTERSTOCK)
In her comprehensive work on women in peacebuilding in South Asia, WPS@20: Experiences from South Asia, Mallika Joseph looks at the work of women peacebuilders and activists in South Asia who have been at the forefront of reversing this power structure. Twenty years since the 1325 resolution passed by the UN acknowledging the disproportionate and unique impact of armed conflict on women and children, nine more resolutions have been adopted to expand its scope and are now collectively recognised as the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda.
Faced with a war in Ukraine, the Taliban back in Afghanistan, and the current unrest in Sri Lanka, this might be a good time to look at women’s agency, and address issues relating to women’s human rights defenders, structural gender inequalities, gender-responsive reparations and women’s leadership in peacebuilding.
South Asian history is intertwined with the voices of women across borders calling for an end to conflict and violence, be it Nighat Khan protesting against military rule in Pakistan, or Visaka Dharmadasa cutting across ethnic divides and giving voice to thousands of women whose men disappeared during the war in Sri Lanka, or the Afghan women who stood up to the Taliban after its takeover. Visaka Dharmadasa says, “Women peacebuilders continue to work at the grassroots level not because it’s a project for them or because there is a WPS agenda at the UN but because that is the necessity on the ground for them to live peacefully and for their family’s safety.”
Though Agenda 2030 of the UN speaks of specific goals on gender and aims to strengthen the global commitment to gender justice, there are many gaps in women’s inclusion in discussions on conflict. Meenakshi Gopinath, founder-director of WISCOMP, says, “WPS provides us with a lexicon, a kind of language that can be shared universally. But for South Asian women, we need to expand that. We need to infuse it with our own sensibility, grounded in the experiences of structures of violence that we engage with in our daily mutinies and everyday resistances.”
Women in South Asia have been engaged in peacebuilding before the WPS agenda was formalised. But the disconnect between the norms and reality is stark. Joseph says, “An equally significant disconnect is apparent within countries, between the government, security agencies and society when forging a shared understanding of what peace and security mean for them. Local ownership of the WPS agenda continues to be challenged and contested.”
What we need is for governments to take ownership of the WPS agenda which is tough to implement in the largely patriarchal societies of South Asia. The recent conflicts should give us pause to take a serious look at how we can address representation and go beyond the token participation of women in discourses on peace and security.
We have a fine template in the Sustainable Development Goals and their gender-specific goals and targets. There is also a robust network in South Asia of women peacebuilders who strengthen each other’s work and a realisation that they do not need to be confined to the legalistic framework. There are no longer any distinctions between soft and hard issues. Women hold the key to a more equitable and peaceful environment.
Lalita Panicker leads the opinion section at Hindustan Times. Over a 33-year career, she has specialised in gender issues, reproductive health, child rights, politics and social engineering.
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