WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY:
PHILIPPINES

"If women have already been playing the role of mediators and peacemakers in their communities, why is their expertise not recognized and tapped in the official peace process? We seem to have the distorted notion that men are for public concerns and women for private life-hard issues for men, soft issues for women. Thus, if this Mindanao peace process is official, it should be left to men while the women do their usual mediation within the family and at the community level-the latter perceived as an extension of the woman's kitchen. This is where we miss the point. If we continue excluding women, we can never complete this peace process [...] This is not a prophecy that women will bring everlasting peace to Mindanao. What is important is that we start in the right direction by bringing our sisters into this negotiation process. Then perhaps we can rebuild peace in Mindanao for ourselves, our children, and the generation to come."

Mary Ann M. Arnado, Initiatives for International Dialogue, Mindanao People's Caucus

"Through the intervention of these women volunteers, peace has been restored in the villages of the Cordillera. More than 2,000 peace pacts have already been signed between local communities and more peace pacts are being negotiated. Signing a peace pact implies agreeing upon a clear boundary demarcation; the first step before any long-term resource use and development plan can be drawn up. Communities that have demarcated their boundaries after resolving all disputes have simultaneously also formulated resource use and development plans that have attracted considerable resources from diverse funding agencies. Women volunteers trained by project staff have taken a lead role in mapping resources and in preparing resource-use and development plans. Empowering women has served as a useful means for this process and also as a valuable end in itself. Within the space of a few years since the program was launched, women of this area have contested elections, in the process succeeding to several important positions; they have launched campaigns against social evils, such as drunkenness and drug addiction; and they have promoted economic enterprises, such as cooperative stores, that have added to their families' resources. Their newfound sense of capability and purpose is enabling women of this area to branch out into other arenas of social and economic reform."

UN Development Programme