During political conflicts and armed confrontations that may occur within a given country, it is always females and children who face the harsh consequences.
Since these groups of society are naturally weak and women especially are the responsible ones to look after the family members, they encounter various forms of revenge instigated by the opposing parties.
Gender-based violence, including sexual abuses and even killings are dominantly exercised on them. As the history of the Rwandan people showed the world, a large number of females and children were left to lead a life filled with various types of long and short term psychological traumas.
Lots of girls, wives, and even young girls were raped, abused and killed by the soldiers as retaliation for their men's family members. The violation and abuse of the females were purposely done to harm the psychological makeup of their men who ran away for conflict. Thus, the meaning of peace and avoidance of conflict for females is much deeper than their counterparts.
Needless to say females are mothers, sisters and daughters. Their inclination for peace, togetherness and compassionate emanates from their nature; especially after giving birth to a child.
After becoming a mother, various studies showed that, the women tendency to creating negotiations, preventing conflicts and assuring peace in the family and in the society gains more accelerated than their former state. In relation to this justification, the theory of Motherism argued that the power that the woman starts having after birth is also important for allowing her lead and manage the overall setting of the family.
This power is at the same time relevant to control the issues created in society at large. Thus, the efficacy of women in the process of promoting peace, the propensity to curb and resolve conflicts did originate from their role that they founded it naturally and practiced primarily in the family and the society.
In the raised issue, the United Nations had arranged a conference that met up some influential women from different areas. This program aimed to support African women to participate in the dialogue and peacekeeping process. Among the members of the conference, Elizabeth Alpha-lavalie (Member of the council of the Wise ECOWAS) was interviewed regarding the relevance of women's inclusion and participation in peacekeeping process.
Here is her reflection. "In your role as a mother for example a mother of 5, they are not the same, they are not as they may come from the same parent, they all have different tricks, different attributes. There are some who are disgusting, some who are lovely, some who like to fight and you, the mother, is always a mediator that is why we say women are born negotiators."
The logic raised by the woman is the basic trend and cultural practice that the continent has been implementing for years. It is the mother who is more than the father that could take care of the children, and it is she who solves the problems that happen in between the children. Thus, the success of the children and even the father is highly impacted by the smartness of the mother. In Ethiopia and many other Africa countries literature I have read that if there is a child who fails in any performance or behaves rudely unlike the other family members, it is the mother who could take that blame even by the father.
Priscila Misharabwi- Mushonga (MDC Mutambara Delegate, Zimbabwe Post election mediation process) had a say on this context. In her talk, she made a clear distinction between men's and women's intention when the two are involved in the peace-building and conflict presentation process. Here is her belief, "when I go into a negotiation, I want an outcome for I am negotiating for peace. Men are negotiating for power. So for men, the thing is the delivery to be getting power. So, it is about power sharing. For me, if I create the necessary environment, it is the most important thing I wanted.
Creating a peaceful place that can enable a woman to walk in the street without being violated is what I needed most. Can she go and get her business done without being messed up? Can she be able to do the work that will ensure that her child goes to school? Can she go and access necessary thing....if I can deliver that I would have deliver on my mandate."
Since the women know how peace is important for their lives, it is the most valuable thing that exceeds anything in the universe. Thus, they only worried about the achievement of it. They are not running for a political seat. The persuading and satisfying point is addressing a peaceful environment for other women. They know what that peace meant for the women.
Women's inclusion in the peace-making and national dialogue thus did mean a lot when it is simply seen from the natural traits of the women. As many scholars put it in different ways, females are soft, calm and peaceful in nature. Thus, their involvement is the portrayal of their natural gift, which is going to be performed solidly. Andrew Marshal (Deputy Director of the center for Humanitarian Dialogue) confirmed that "it is pretty difficult to have a sustainable agreement if half the populations are not participating. So, the perspective of women is needed in to make peace process more sustainable."
Women have been checked in the process of negotiations and mediations. The presenter in the conference had reported the following. "Empowering women at the local level perpetuates, and I have done it, the distinction between the soft peace building and the hard work on peace making considered to be at the soul preference of track one invariably led by men."
In Ethiopia, the inclusion of women in the process of peace and national dialogue is the most underlined issue. Women's stipulation and contribution in the dialogue is boldly mentioned in the guidelines of the national dialogue commission. Yonas Adaye (PhD) asserted that the commission is committed to ensuring the inclusion and participation of women in every region. He said that this procedure is working through advocacy, training, awareness and capacity building process that is going to be potentially done consecutively till the active involvement and inclusion of women is secured.
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In the conference made in different regions of the country, the numbers of women participants were not encouraging. Thus, the commission took a bigger lesson on those occasions and decided to make a change on the number through the mentioned mechanisms.
Though the importance of women's inclusion in terms of number and quality is an agreeable point, African women are still restricted to staying in villages and at different forms of social associations. However, as Andrew puts it above, the input of women on the issue is vital for producing an inclusive and sound policy and implementation. Thus, women needed to be encouraged to take the forefront in the process of conflict preservations and peace building moves. As mothers and as females, their sympathetic approach has a potential impact for shifting the minds of the rivalries. Women's inclusion in the peace making procedure is not relevant for the proportion of the number only. It is also a ground for its sustainability.
BY MEKDES TAYE (PhD)
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD THURSDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2024
