On June 30, a coalition of governments, civil society organizations, and United Nations agencies will meet in Paris at the Generation Equality Forum to launch a global compact to boost women’s inclusion in conflict prevention and resolution. The compact is the culmination of decades of feminist activism, and although women have achieved important gains during this period, increasing their direct representation at the peace table remains elusive.
Only 3 in every 10 peace processes in the last three decades have included a female mediator or signatory. During that time, governments, mediators, and the U.N. have recognized the importance of women’s inclusion. Women have played instrumental roles outside of the negotiating room as advisors, advocates, and participants in informal Track II processes. But recent years have seen a rollback in women’s direct participation in peace talks.
In U.N.-mediated conflicts between 2018 and 2019, the number of party delegations that included women decreased. In several major ongoing peace processes, from Yemen to Sudan, women remain excluded from high-level negotiations. And in newly revived peace processes, such as the one between the Taliban and the Afghan government, those numbers could look even worse.
