Gender and Peacebuilding: Report on a Roundtable

Abstract

The relationship between peacebuilding and gender is a critical one. In many countries it is women who have been instrumental in reconstructing war-torn areas, fostering reconciliation and rebuilding sustainable societies after a period of violence or crisis. Sometimes this is because they are the only ones left living ([or example, Rwanda); often because they are critical of the basic development of micro-economics and families in given societies. While it has been long recognized that the key to “development” more generally often lies in supporting women’s activities, such wisdom has not yet broached the peacebuilding discussions either here in Canada or internationally. It was proposed therefore that an initial forum be held in order to explore the relationship between gender and peacebuilding and provide some specific recommendations to the Canadian Deparment of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and the Canadian International Development Agency as it develops its overall policies on peacebuilding.On Monday, April 24, 1997, a one day roundtable on gender and pea cebuilding was held at the University of British Columbia supported by the Canadian Centre for Foreign Policy Development. At the table was an international mixture of government officials, academics and nongovernmental representatives from both the north and south. The basic question put to the assembled group was; How can women support peacebuilding initiatives and how can peacebuilding initiatives support women? A paper and a set of questions was circulated prior to the meeting and provided the focus for the discussion which ensued. Finally Guatemala was chosen as a specific case study to discuss, within the larger rubric of peacebuilding initiatives partly because of the extraordinary role of women in the peace negotiations in that country, partly because of Canada’s interest in Guatemala and partly because Guatemala is at a critical juncture in its peacebuilding process. Three of the individuals who attended the roundtable therefore had a specific interest in, and experience of the Guatemalan peace process and the role of women within it.