Gender and Peace Processes
Why women's meaningful participation in peace processes leads to more durable agreements — and the barriers that persist.
The Evidence for Inclusion
Between 1992 and 2019, women constituted on average only 13% of negotiators, 6% of mediators, and 6% of signatories in major peace processes worldwide. Yet research consistently shows that their participation improves outcomes. A landmark study by Laurel Stone found that when women participate in peace processes, the resulting agreement is 35% more likely to last at least 15 years. Research by the International Peace Institute found that agreements reached with women's participation are more likely to address root causes of conflict and include provisions for political, economic, and social reform.
This isn't because women are inherently more peaceful — that assumption is both empirically wrong and strategically counterproductive. It's because exclusion produces blind spots. Peace negotiations dominated by military and political elites tend to focus narrowly on power-sharing and security arrangements while ignoring issues like displacement, sexual violence, education, and economic recovery that determine whether peace holds at the community level.
