NEW Isis International publication!

Women in Action (WiA) on Women in Peace Building

This Women in Action (WiA) issue is dedicated to making women’s voices heard in peace and development processes. The articles featured here provide accounts of the appalling situation of women in conflict- situations and their pursuit of a peaceful resolution of current conflict in different countries and localities. While the authors share with our readers a collection of women’s personal stories and adolescents’ stories, the essays also focus on the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, the first international legislation ever passed to address the impact of armed conflict on women and give importance to their role in the prevention and resolution of conflict.

This WiA takes a critical and insightful perspective on current peace and development processes with a gendered lens. The articles include Jenny Becker’s call to involve young women in consultations and decision-making in various peace efforts; Vesna Jaric’s depiction of Serbian women’s participation in advancing peace initiatives; Marie-Anne Zammit’s account on the challenges of war displaced African women; stories about collective popular action among individual organisations in Uganda for social change through the telling of Isis WICCE’s experience of mobilising women from Luweero to Juba; and it shares Isis International’s two-country (Philippines and Indonesia) research on sustainable and lasting peace. This issue also includes talking point articles such as Dr. Gal Harmat’s analysis of unequal gender relations in dialogue encounters; and Cynthia Cockburn’s contentions on the contradictions brought about by the implementation of Resolution 1325.

Stories and experiences on women and peace building highlighting the use of media are Isis International’s experience in the use of feminist development communication as a strategy and capacity building effort to strengthen women’s participation in peace building by Marilee Karl; also by Marilee Karl, women’s stories of the impact on exposing the specific issue of gender based violence on the peace building agenda; Sharon Bhagwan Rolls’ presentation at the UNCSW 56 in New York on the impact of conflict on the issue of food sovereignty for rural women in the Pacific; and a review of engendered peace journalism by Cai YIping.

Finally, this WiA issue also includes Eva Sajoo’s review of the book, Land of the Unconquerable: The Lives of Contemporary Afghan Women. This WiA helps uncover the often hidden situations and images of women and children caught in war zones and conflict situations, and provides a critical analysis of current peace and development efforts.