Mapping Women Peacemakers: Exploring the “More Women-More Peace” Nexus

The slogan “More Women – More Peace” has drawn attention to the lack of gender equality in peacemaking, and suggests that including women will lead to more settlements and more stable post-conflict societies. However, this conclusion is based solely on research about the general effects of women’s inclusion in politics and some high-profile examples of activism in countries like Liberia, the Philippines, and Colombia. Are these instances representative for a global trend?

This project address the lack of global systematic information and studies about women’s and men’s participation in civil war peace processes, as well as on the specific roles they play– as representatives for warring parties, as external mediators, or as third parties representing the domestic civil society or local community.

To do this, we compile the first global dataset of women peacemakers in civil war 1990-2020, covering both conflicts where peace have been achieved and where it has remained elusive. The data and analysis will be freely available for both scholars and policymakers, and will contribute to improving our possibilities to empirically investigate the various interpretations arising from the proposition that that more women bring more peace.

---

Principal Investigator: Elin Bjarnegård (Department of Government)

Period: 1 January 2021–31 December 2021

Funding: SEK 212 000 from the Folke Bernadotte Academy