Give women a chance at peace
By NANCY SODERBERG

March 15, 2007 – (The Des Moines Register) Looking at the state of the world today, one cannot help but wonder why we are in a war against terror, a war in Iraq and a war in Afghanistan and faced with the possibility of a nuclear Iran and North Korea. Maybe it's time to give someone else a chance at the helm.

I'm not talking about new leadership in Washington, but rather giving the "other gender" a chance — and a role — at making the world a better place. A new report by the Stanley Foundation and the Georgetown University-based group Women in International Security underscores the need to put women in positions of authority over peace and security issues.

While much attention has been directed toward protecting women — especially from the devastating effects of armed conflict and the forced displacement, human trafficking, torture and rape that often follow — it is well past time to focus on the important role women play in preventing conflict, encouraging reconciliation and helping to rebuild conflict-ridden societies.

When involved, women advance the process of peace significantly, bringing to the table deep understandings of the causes and costs of conflict and a fresh perspective on how best to reach peace and achieve reconciliation. Experience has shown that female military and civilian police personnel are better at building a rapport with the community, more effective at crowd control and well-suited to investigate cases.

But by failing to make maximum use of women to promote peace and security throughout the world, we are by definition making only a 50 percent effort.

The United Nations is a case in point. I represented the United States in the U.N. Security Council six years ago when the council passed a resolution calling for a stronger role for women in conflict resolution. Of the 15 ambassadors at the table, only two of us were women. Man after man gave a speech emphasizing the importance of women being at the peace table — yet their very presence was a testament to their own governments' failure to follow that simple advice. And today, only 20 out of 192 Heads of Mission to the United Nations are women.

The United Nations has made considerable efforts to recruit women at all levels of the organization. Former Secretary-General Kofi Annan committed the organization to a 50/50 division between the genders. The Department of Peacekeeping Operations has repeatedly emphasized the need to place women in civilian and military roles in field missions and has actively sought to recruit women at senior levels, including me.

Yet not one of the 18 heads of a U.N. peacekeeping mission is a woman. And only 1 percent of 71,000 military personnel and 4 percent of the 8,500 police officials are women.
The reasons for the paucity of women are complex. States fail to nominate women candidates, due in part to cultural barriers. Few women have experience in the police and military functions at the core of peacekeeping. Women are often reluctant to take on a multi-year commitment far from their families — the very reason why I have turned down several opportunities to join a U.N. peacekeeping mission.

We all must do better. Peacekeeping today requires the presence, expertise and knowledge of women as heads of mission, military personnel and civilian police. All sides should be committed to recruiting female ambassadors to the United Nations and nominating women for key positions in U.N. peacekeeping missions. Women themselves must be more willing to take on the difficult jobs of peacekeeping in faraway places, and their husbands and family members must do a better job of supporting them in that choice.

Women are an underutilized positive force for peace. Let's move beyond words and put them to work.

From: http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070315/OPINION01/703150382/1035/OPINION