A Women's Place Is at the Peace Table

In a world of accelerating violence and political crises, women are the best investment in peace. Yet traditional diplomacy continues to ignore or marginalize women. Women are viewed as victims who need rescue and humanitarian aid, not as civil society leaders, peace negotiators, or political decision-makers who can bring strength and experience to the peace table.

Because women have historically been excluded from most forms of power, women often have a different view of power. They are less entrenched in structures and are thus more willing to reorganize hierarchies of political or institutional affiliation, to cross ethnic or national boundaries and borders, and to foster alliances that decrease conflict and increase stability. For example, women in the Balkans, Rwanda, and the Horn of Africa have often been the first to work across volatile ethnic and political borders in those tinderbox zones of crisis.

The global campaign to recognize women's contributions to international relations began long before the World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995. Nevertheless, the conference was an important step because it produced the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action, a set of international mechanisms to increase gender equality and women's human rights. While most of the world's nations ratified the Beijing platform, their actual commitment to creating effective national machinery for gender equality has been inadequate. Although national gender equality commissions produce progress reports for the United Nations, actual transformation of gender issues into national and international political and economic policies is still sorely lacking. The June 2000 review of progress, called the "Beijing Plus Five Process," will no doubt underline how much further women have to go.

Examples of policymaking gains exist, as is evident in Croatia and Serbia where women's sections of political parties and trade unions are beginning to reflect independence and generate serious political influence. But when women who lead these subgroups contend for leading positions in the party or union, men have a hard time making room for them at the top of the electoral lists. In economic development, the situation is similar. The latest recipe for combating the feminization of poverty is microcredit and small business development. But when women want access to larger credits or to become managers of significant firms, suddenly they are viewed as stepping out of their league.

How can the international community support local women's efforts to hasten peace and positive social change in societies in conflict and crisis? The STAR Network for Women's Leadership in the Yugoslav successor states, the organization that I co-founded and lead, constitutes a new approach to answer this question. STAR, which stands for Strategies, Training, Advocacy and Resources, was created in 1994 in response to the needs and requests of women leaders of local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Women in the former Yugoslavia were picking up the pieces left by the war, for instance by counseling war rape survivors and sheltering refugees. Beyond addressing immediate needs, these brave local leaders have gone farther in attempting to address systemic problems. Specifically, leaders of local NGOs wanted to play a role in shifting their societies away from nationalist conflict to tolerance and peace.

Enter STAR, which began as a cluster of U.S. women with experience in Yugoslavia and its successor states, trained in conflict transformation, organizational development, and public policy advocacy. STAR received funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to set up programs in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Macedonia. Thanks to funds from private foundations and individuals, STAR was able to also include women from Serbia and Kosovo, which at the time were under international sanctions.

The promotion of women into leadership positions has taken a variety of paths. One such effort included the procurement of grant monies to bring together women from conflicting ethnic groups in Croatia to grow and market organic vegetables. Ethnic Serbs, Croats, and Hungarians formed a...