Women in the Arab world have a rich history in their active participation in political change from the Algeria revolution against the French occupation to the most recent revolution in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya among other countries. The question is not their participation. Their question is the incorporation of women's voices fully in the new definitions of the countries where change has happened.
Historically speaking, religious and conservative groups always wanted the control over the private sphere that impacts women most, as reflected by family law and women's access to resources and mobility. And often secular groups traded this for economic incentives and trade.
Women still need higher political representation and to be included at decision making tables in all issues in order for solutions that relates from peace to food, to health, to basic stability in the world. We cannot continue to marginalize half of the population in the world in finding sustainable solutions that are good for all.
Women are part of peace keeping troops in countries like Liberia.
Women are not just victims; they are survivors and leaders on the community-level backlines of peace and stability.
War is nothing but a microcosm of peace... it shows you life in a more intense way and that's how I continue to live it... for good or bad reasons.
My message to the world is that until we recognize that peace is not just the absence of war but the revival of life on the "backlines," where women are keeping kids in school, caring for the sick and injured, and daily negotiating space for the continuation of critical life processes of this nature, we're going to continue to miss the point.
Living in war is a co- existence with death.
If half the society isn't engaged on any number of sectors, success and potential will be limited. In that sense, I do definitely believe there is a growing movement and moment for women's issues.
Since a very young age, my mother made sure to tell me about the plight of women... As she raised my awareness about women's issues, she also made sure to ingrain in me the importance of being strong and independent and not to let anybody define me by their images of what women should be.
Long-term trauma for women who have survived armed conflict is a haunting reminder that health issues and depression can follow decades after the end of war, but women who hope for healing can and do move forward.
It is the diversity of views that stems from different experiences and different backgrounds that lead to healthy decision-making and not the unified experiences and unified views.
Since war often enters homes through the "kitchen door," we need to understand women's attempts to keep life going in the face of shortage of food, closing of schools and reduced freedoms.
Without women's full inclusion at the decision making table, we cannot have any healthy decision making that is good for men and women alike.
I believe that there is an urgent need to restructure the discussion of war to include the impact it has on women.
Working with women survivors of war has taught me that we need to listen to women's perspectives on war in order to understand how to effectively rebuild a country, a community and a family.
Leadership is not about having the charisma or speaking inspirational words, but about leading with example.
Only 8 percent of peace talks have included women at any level.
I believe that leadership acts should be manifested by engaging in external work that can be observed and shared with everyone else.
Only 1 in 13 participants in peace negotiations since 1992 has been a woman.
Women have never been a chief negotiator in any UN-sponsored talks.
I believe that a lot of progress has been achieved to address gender inequality: We have moved from a time where women in the US could not apply for credit card without their husband's signature to a time where women are the owners of their businesses.
It appears easier to talk about protecting women than it is to fully include women at all decision-making levels in peace talks and post-conflict planning.
From joblessness to lack of education and professional skills to sexual and gender-based violence, women face a multi-faceted oppression.
From an economic perspective, women are treated unfairly: they perform 66 percent of the world's work and produce 50 percent of the food but they only earn 10 percent of the income and own 1 percent of the property.
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