WOMEN AND PEACE
Usha
Bande *
"If nonviolence
is the law of our being, the future is with women."—M.K.
Gandhi
Sometime back, Belfast
in Northern Ireland witnessed a unique spectacle when a large
number of women gathered at the Ormean Park in Anderson Town.
There were, however, no fiery speeches or heated discussions.
They just sang hymns, prayed and recited their charter reaffirming
their faith in peace and reiterating their right "to live
and love and build a just and peaceful society." This was
the "end-the-violence–rally" with the motto "Let’s
build peace, brick by brick."
The women departed
as peacefully as they had gathered but not without leaving a question
for all to anwer that why are women given inadequate space in
peacemaking? For long, war and peace have been considered the
male precincts where women have had no voice. But unfortunately,
it is the woman who had borne the brunt of armed conflicts and
hostilities. Being vulnerable, women have suffered death, destruction,
desolation, rape and other forms of violence.
Way back, during
the suffragist movement and the subsequent activism by various
women’s organizations, their innate nature as peacemakers came
to be recognized. Feminists also brought to the fore the necessity
to include women at policy making stage to tone down male aggressiveness.
Recognizing women’s contribution to a culture of peace, the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)
statement of 1995 categorically said, "There can be no lasting
peace without development and no sustainable development without
full equality between women and men," and thus emphasized
the necessity of integrating women in public policy making.
Love, fellow-feeling,
understanding and empathy are the positive aspects inherent in
peace. Incidentally these are the very qualities intrinsic to
women’s nature and when given due recognition, these become the
empowering influences transforming women’s vulnerability and victim
status into women’spower. As Martha Segna, the peace activist,
puts it, "we will never have peace through a military solution
– never." What is required is to build a "culture of
peace" in which women should be given the central role to
play.
The UNESCO initiated
"Women and Culture of Peace Programme" in 1996 after
the Fourth World Conference on Women, and in the year 2000. It
declared the decade 2001-2002 as the "International Decade
for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the
World." The year 2000 was declared as the year of the Culture
of Peace with specific emphasis on fostering it through education,
promotion of sustainable economic and social development, respect
for human rights, equality between men and women, advancing tolerance,
understanding and solidarity and promoting international peace
and security. The Manifesto 2000 was developed by Nobel Peace
Prize winners and more than 72 million people signed it, which
is a world record that gives evidence of people’s longing for
peace. Manifesto 2000 has specific commitment- respect all life,
reject violence, share with others, listen to understand, preserve
the planet and rediscover solidarity.
The basic premise
of the culture of peace mission is "creating peace in the
minds of men," with the motto "peace is in your hand,
cultivate peace." This initiative of UNESCO is, indeed, an
attempt to build a vision that could be shared broadly by both
men and women as it entails unlearning the codes of a culture
of war and violence – physical violence as well as the violence
of economic and social deprivation, and replace it with intercultural
understanding and solidarity. These norms and values constitute
the basis of a global ethic and show that these do not belong
to any one culture but are common to all humanity. Given women’s
basic nature which is peaceful, they could save many situations
from being blown up to violence.
Women’s absence in
peacemaking has been mainly because of the gender stereotype.
The idea of women as peacemakers appears outrageous in political
circles. Since women do not hold key top-positions, they hardly
get a chance to sit across a negotiation table. An interesting
episode during the 1996 peace talks on the Irish problem reveals
how women asserted themselves when relegated to the background
and earned a place at the negotiation table. In 1996, peace activists
Monica Mc Williams and May Blood were told that only leaders of
the top 10 political parties would be included in the peace talks.
These leaders were all men. Both Williams and Blood created a
new political party – the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition –
within six weeks, gathered notes and got themselves on the ballot.
They were voted into the top 10, and got their place in the peace
talks. Fear is another reason why men prefer to keep women out.
Many of these stereotypes
have not been broken by women who have shown their persistence
at the negotiation table. There are women and women’s organizations
that have succeeded in raising their voice against violence. One
such example is of the success of the Pakistan-India People’s
Forum for Peace and Democracy. Set up in 1994, this women’s organization
has been able to bridge some of the differences between India
and Pakistan by organizing huge rallies to unite citizens from
both countries. The Forum has also held annual convocations where
citizens from the two countries can affirm their shared histories,
forge networks and act together on specific initiatives. In 1995,
for example, the activists took up the case of the imprisoned
fisherfolks and their children and succeeded in getting them released.
Women peace journalists have been actively involved and they are
trying to direct the world focus on the Kashmir problem and against
apartheid in South Africa.
After the September
11 incident, academics in the US are demanding the inclusion of
more women in peace talks. Peace, they say, is no longer cessation
of war or violence. It is an "inclusive" concept of
security that shifts its focus from the notion of national security
to the idea of the protection, well-being and safety of all people.
Women academics are taking into consideration the collective well-being
of women to support peace.
Researchers in the
field of psychology feel that women, because of and in spite of
their status as second class citizens, have developed innovative
strategies to cope with problems. They are, therefore, rather
more adept than men, in finding acceptable solutions to seemingly
insurmountable situations. Women often choose an identity, notably
that of mothers, that cuts across international borders and help
them reach across the conflict line. Given their roles as family
nurtures, women have a huge investment in the stability of their
communities. Tackling smaller, everyday problems that keep people
apart, women switch over to taking initiative in drafting principles
for comprehensive settlement. The platform of Jerusalem Link,
a federation of Palestinian and Israeli Women’s groups, served
as a blue print for negotiations over the final status of Jerusalem
during the Oslo process. Women have played significant role in
preventing war and sustaining peace on many occasions. They have
also worked closely with the security forces to ensure quick,
efficient and honest passage of humanitarian relief work across
conflict zones as well as with relief organizations. Examples
of women in Sudan, Bosnia, Ireland, West Asia abound who have
exerted soothing influence on the rebel or hostile groups. As
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said in October 2000, "For
generations, women have served as peace educators both in their
families and in their societies."
Indian women and
women’s organizations have worked over the years in support of
peace, "often showing an active disgust of war", says
Bertha Von Suttner, the first woman to win the Nobel Prize. The
inspiration behind the Human Rights Declaration was Eleanor Roosevelt,
Jane Adams and Emily Green Balch who worked for social security
and justice. Mother Terassa tried to mitigate human suffering.
These and many other women, known and unknown, have contributed
to a large extent to the peace culture which has become a main
challenge for us in the process of building interculture identity
and respect, so vital for world peace.
*
Freelance Writer, Shimla
