Bringing Gender Dimensions Back from Obscurity: Governance, Peace and Security in Africa

Jan 25, 2016 | by
  • Description

This policy paper discusses this disconnect between policy, scholarship and activism and the reality on the ground; and its underlying causes. It makes proposals for relocating gender considerations in mainstream governance, peace and security discourse and practice. Ultimately, the hope is that this might begin to bring a systematic shift in the way all parties address gender issues. As such, this paper brings several interrelated issues into focus:

  • The relationship between governance, peace and security.
  • The value of examining processes through which state and society forge a common understanding around the protection of their citizens - and the place of gender in this. A key question is: why does gender inequality remain relegated to the background while other issues occupy the foreground of national conversation?
  • The opportunities peace and security processes provide for reform of security governance in favour of excluded citizens, particularly women, who are often at the receiving end of gender inequality. The paper highlights the role of policy frameworks such as UN Security Council Resolution 1325.
  • The constituency of actors who can help elevate the gender equality agenda as articulated in Resolution 1325 in the policy and decision making arena.
  • Despite efforts, the failure to achieve transformation in society and change for women towardgender equality.