Participation

The Participation theme focuses on women’s representation and participation in peace processes, electoral process – as both the candidate and voter – UN decision-making positions, and in the broader social-political sphere.

The Security Council acknowledges the need for strategies to increase women’s participation in all UN missions and appointments to high-level positions in SCR 1325(OP3) and 1889(OP4) and further emphasises the need for women’s participation in peacebuilding processes (1889). 

Specifically, it calls for the mobilisation of resources for advancing gender equality and empowering women (OP14), reporting on the progress of women’s participation in UN missions (OP18), equal access to education for women and girls in post-conflict societies (OP11), and the increase of women’s participation in political and economic decision-making (OP15). Until this language translates into action, the potential for women’s full and equal contribution to international peace and security will remain unrealized.

For more resources on this Critical Issue, visit PeaceWomen Resource Center >>

SOUTH ASIA: In India, Good Things Happen When Women Are in Charge


When India made it law in 1993 that a third of all seats on local government councils had to be held by women, the vision was that those female-headed councils would spend more government funds on public goods such as schools and wells. As a byproduct, women's status might improve.

RWANDA: Rwandan Women Build a Future

What most of us know about Rwanda – other than the fact that it is a small country in central Africa – is that in 1994 there was an horrific genocide where hundreds of thousands of people were murdered in 100 days.

EUROPE: Fatma Sahin to be Turkey's First Female Politician to Attend World Economic Forum

Family and Social Policy Minister Fatma Şahin will join leaders across the globe as Turkey's first female minister and politician to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF), the Cihan news agency reported on Monday.

SOUTH AMERICA: Women Take Power in Brazilian Government

The epicenter of Brazilian power can be found on the fourth floor of the Palacio do Planalto in Brasília, the nation's capital. Liveried waiters elegantly carry trays of coffee through the hallways of the presidential palace, high-ranking officials wait in anterooms and air-conditioning units hum in the offices.

WEST AFRICA: Sierra Leonean Women Root for Peaceful Campaigns

Sierra Leone's President Bai Koroma (centre) arrives for the inaugural address of Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf on January 16, 2012 in Monrovia. In Freetown, a coalition of women are up against political mischief ahead of the country's elections later in the year.

MIDDLE EAST: Revolution, Women And Social Media in The Middle East

"The power of women is in their stories. They are not theories, they are real lives that, thanks to social networks, we are able to share and exchange," said Egyptian-American activist Mona el-Tahawey, kicking off a summit that brought more than a hundred of the Middle East's leading female activists together in Cairo.

Pages