Towards Female Representation in Peace Negotiations: Comparing the cases of Liberia, Nepal, and Colombia

Abstract: Women’s representation and participation in the forming of peace agreements are argued to have a positive impact on peace. This paper contributes to a deeper understanding of the necessary preconditions for securing women’s representation at the negotiation table. Through a comparative study in which feminist theory is applied to three cases (Liberia, Nepal, and Colombia) that experienced different levels of female inclusion in their respective peace negotiations, I conclude that women’s organisations have been essential in promoting women’s inclusion. The cases where women were able to mobilise broadly across different sectors were the ones that ended up including more women at the negotiation table. International influence, for instance through the Security Council resolution 1325, was effective when civil society embraced the ideas and actively used them as leverage in their campaigns. Women’s literacy rates were detrimental to female representation at the national level. However, also illiterate and uneducated women were in some cases contributing to the mobilisation of women for peace, challenging gendered stereotypes and ideas in peacebuilding contexts.