However, as has so often been emphasised, a focus on the way that conflict ca...

However, as has so often been emphasised, a focus on the way that conflict can victimise women should not lead us to obscure the role that women can play as agents of conflict resolution and recovery – or in the words of the Nobel Committee, “to realise the great potential for democracy and peace that women can represent”.

More than simply a question of the right of women to participate in peace-making or peacebuilding - which of course it is – the report of the Secretary-General acknowledges what women bring to the table, and what their absence implies. Efforts at peace that accord women prominent and active roles have a better chance of successfully addressing key postconflict issues. The corollary is equally clear: "exclusion of women and a lack of gender expertise in negotiations leads to irreversible setbacks for women's rights... women's engagement in post-conflict governance and women's access to economic opportunity"