From combatants and war supporters to peacemakers? Women’s participation in political violence and political transitions

I “Gendered Transitions” skal forskerne undersøke hvorvidt kvinners deltakelse og støtte til væpnede grupper påvirker deres muligheter til å delta i påfølgende fredsprosesser. Etter mange år med internasjonal aktivisme for å fremme agendaen for kvinner, fred og sikkerhet, deltar kvinner fortsatt i liten grad i fredsforhandlinger og fredsprosesser. Kvinner kan ha sentrale roller som både krigstilhengere og sabotører for fred, så når de ikke inkluderes, utgjør det en risiko for at de kan bidra til å undergrave forsøk på å bygge langvarig fred i sårbare samfunn. Prosjektet anvender kvalitative feministiske og etnografiske metoder, inkludert dokumentanalyse, fokusgrupper, intervjuer, observasjon og workshops, for å undersøke normendringer og endringer i kvinners roller og deltakelse på tvers av tre analysenivåer i Mali og Colombia: 1) kvinners egne erfaringer (mikro) 2) ikke-statlige væpnede grupper (meso) og 3) samfunnsnivå (makro). Prosjektet gjennomføres av Norsk Utenrikspolitisk Institutt (NUPI), Försvarshögskolan (Sverige), Institut des Sciences Humaines (Mali), og Escuela Superior de Administración Pública (Colombia), og støtter opp under forskningen til, og bygger på tett samarbeid mellom, fire kvinnelige forskere i ulike land i nord og sør.

Almost 25 years after the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), women are still marginalized from peace talks, and they have to fight for inclusion in political transitions. In particular, women who participate in political violence by being involved in and/or supporting non-state armed groups can play key roles as war supporters or peace spoilers, and their exclusion risks undermining efforts to address challenges related to violence and state fragility, and to building sustainable peace. In this project, we therefore study how women’s participation in political violence translates into their participation in political transitions, and how this is influenced by/influences gender norms. Women’s contributions to peacebuilding have been widely studied, and so has the potential for violent conflict to serve as a “window of opportunity” for gender-based reforms and the promotion of gender equality norms. By exploring the links between women’s participation in political violence and their participation in political transitions, the project however speaks to a lacuna in existing research. Using feminist and ethnographic methods, including document analysis, focus groups, interviews, fieldwork observations, and workshops, we will study women’s political agency and gender norms across three levels of analysis in Mali and Colombia: 1) women’s lived experiences (micro) 2) the non-state armed groups (meso) and 3) the societal level (macro). Dissemination strategies are peer-reviewed articles, a co-authored monograph, social media content, animated videos, and blogs/op-eds. Ultimately, Gendered Transitions develops new theorization about the co-constitutive relationship between women’s political agency and gender norms in conflict-affected settings.