Jan 2018 – Dec 2021
What are the effects of peace agreement implementation on women’s security and empowerment?
In contrast to non-war settings, recent survey data from a diverse set of post-conflict settings has found that women are more negative than men towards several types of peacebuilding initiatives, such as ex-combatant reintegration, amnesties, and truth commissions.
The project proposed here suggests that part of the explanation for this puzzling finding is that failure to consider gender aspects when moving from a peace agreement to its implementation may inadvertently create risks for the female populations in post-conflict settings. Such risks include increased insecurity when ex-combatants are reintegrated in society, stigma and trauma stemming from the types of violence women were subjected to during and after the war, including repercussions of truth telling processes.
These, and similar examples, may lead women to become more disillusioned and negative towards the implementation of peace deals, especially so if the agreement itself held promises for women.
In this project, we combine a global study tracking the gender aspects in a set of peace processes, with in-depth analysis of Colombia, including both survey and focus group data. Colombia has been recognized as a case of considerable female participation in the process to formulate a peace agreement; an agreement which also recognized women’s and men’s different security situations.
Senior Researcher Louise Olsson contributed with a research perspective in a debate on Women, Peace and Security in Berlin organized by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
In background to the twentieth anniversary of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), FBA and PRIO in collaboration with UN Women, organized a Research-Policy Dialogue on 'New Insights on Women, Peace and Security for the Next Decade' on Friday 24 January at Scandinavia House, New York. The Dialogue brought together leading scholars from the FBA research network with key policymakers and practitioners from a range of Member States, UN Departments, the World Bank, and NGOs, to discuss novel research results with relevance for forwarding the realization of the WPS resolutions and for promoting evidence-based policy and practice. Karin Landgren, Executive Director at Security Council Report and a member of the Nordic Women Mediators network, gave a keynote on ongoing Security Council dynamics.
Senior Researcher Louise Olsson participated in a public hearing on Women, Peace and Security organized by the Committee on Foreign Affairs at the Swedish Parliament on December 10.
Louise Olsson attended a reception for Women Peacebuilders at Buckingham Palace on International Women’s Day 2019. The reception was hosted by the Countess of Wessex and focused in particular on Women, Peace and Security and the Preventing of Sexual Violence Initiative. Prior to that, Olsson gave a lecture at the Sandhurst Military Academy on gender, human security and military operations.
Journal Article in International Negotiation: a Journal of Theory and Practice
Book Chapter in Handbook on Peacekeeping and International Relations
Book Chapter in Contemporary Peacemaking: Conflict, Violence and Peace Processes
Journal Article in Social Science Research
Popular Article in Political Violence @ a Glance
Popular Article in Political Violence at a Glance
Report - Other
Book Chapter in Oxford University Press Handbook on Women, Peace and Security
GPS Policy Brief