Comment: Engendering political transitions and peace processes - a challenge for democracy

By Mikael Gustafsson MEP and Boriana Jönsson (feminist NGO)

In these times when political transitions and attempts to solve conflicts are in the spotlight, the role of women and their participation, or lack of such, in these processes is much debated. However, the absence of women in decision-making during political transitions cannot be approached, regardless of the situation of women before military violence escalates, as women are not in places where decisions concerning their lives and futures are made.

On the other hand, addressing their participation in decision-making is not possible without shedding light on the continuum of violence against women during peace time and when military means and violence is used to solve conflicts. The feminist peace movement has debated this issue for more than 100 years - women have been subject to violence, not because they are more vulnerable than men, but because they are subordinated.

The subjugation of women and domestic and sexual violence in 'peace time', turns into rape, sexual/torture, prostitution/slavery, all these being the cheapest strategy of war to humiliate the 'enemy' and to 'conquer'/subjugate 'his' community. When armed conflict erupts, women are the subject of headlines, either to be 'protected or liberated'- as was argued in Iraq and Afghanistan not so long ago.

While society talks about social justice, the model that sustains and reproduces structural inequality of half of the population is surprisingly socially accepted and tolerated and one of the pillars of this model is the military.  Thus, it is a major challenge to uncover and address the universal structured pattern of unequal power distribution between women and men that keeps women in a subordinated position and consequently exclude them from peace- or decision-making processes.

There is often the question: What difference do women make? We see the issue of women’s participation in the decision-making spheres as an issue based on social and gender justice, not on 'efficiency'. In other words, the presence of women can’t be measurable in terms of impact: it is a measure of democracy. In this regard, there is a persistent gender gap in the planning of both peace and transitional processes that removes societies out of conflicts and dictatorships. Peace processes, as with political processes, are building upon a combination of a specific patriarchal legacy of society and universal traditional patriarchal values.

This combination results in different forms of production or reproduction of discrimination against women after conflicts are over and during the political transitions that follow. Therefore, women’s proactive participation for social change or keeping the community going during violent conflicts does not automatically translate into their proportional participation in formal peace processes and decision-making in the following transitional period.

Another major challenge is to uncover the structured exclusion of women in the traditional approach of security and peace. That was the theme of a joint public hearing organized in February in the European Parliament. Military as an institution per se is exclusive of women’s rights policies, and militarism is not only actual war, but also all the processes that lead to the strengthening and the domination of militaristic values in the culture, identity and norms of the community, in civil institutions and state politics. This leads to a strengthening of the privileged position of men and the military in decision-making and to limiting the space and access of women to political influence.

Moreover, the structures of the peace negotiations are political ones and the political sphere is a male sphere where women are easily invited to limit their action to  'women's questions', even if women are as specific as men. When or if at all women participate in peace negotiation, they are part of a political formation/side of the conflict and they defend the interest of this 'side'. As their numbers are very limited, it is very difficult to impose issues connected with womens’ rights and gender equality on the peace negotiation agenda. Geneva 2 negotiations on the Syria crisis is the latest example of this.

Also very important is the political will, or lack of such, to address effectively strong gender stereotypical images of women: a so-called feminine identity characterized by a 'lack of taste or inaptitude to deal with power' and inability for tough negotiations. This 'womanhood' is a historical fabrication, the direct consequence of which is the exclusion of women from public life. Achieving gender balance in the decision-making sphere requires global changes in public attitudes to build societies where women and men are of equal worth.

This means that gender equality should be adopted urgently as a priority on political, economic and social agendas. At state level, immediate steps are needed towards global demilitarization and ending occupations. Without it, no advancement of any rights can be achieved, as militarism and sacrifice of rights, in particular women’s rights, in the name of national security, will remain dominant. In this regard, UNSCR 1325, which calls for the real participation of women in peace negotiations should be used preventively, to curb the escalation of war and to support a global vision of abolishing the military as a way of solving conflicts.

Women's and feminist organizations place human security at the top of political agendas - this means addressing the proliferation of weapons that threaten the security of people but also including violence against women in security conceptualizing. Common actions between political decision-makers and women’s rights organizations in the field of power and democracy, secularism, violence against women, peace and security have to be structured by a common will to promote the role of women and their equal participation in peace and decision-making processes, not only as a matter of democracy but also as a condition for sustainable peace.

The coming European elections will provide the opportunity to promote actual gender equality as a constitutive element of democracy and as a major political issue for the development of society. In this regard, the presence of women in the parties’ lists and the place of gender equality on the political parties' manifestos will be an indicator of what democracy the political parties actually stand for.

Mikael Gustafsson is the chairwoman of Women's rights and Gender Equality Committee in the European Parliament. Boriana Jonsson is the  Euro-Med director of the European Feminist Initiative (IFE-EFI).

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