Could women do a better job of promoting peace?

instant gut reaction...? hell, yeah...! i'm in the middle of the 6th book of the delightful series by alexander mccall smith, the #1 ladies detective agency, "In the Company of Cheerful Ladies," that features mma ramotswe, a "traditionally built" botswanan woman who, i am sure, could successfully negotiate the most treacherous diplomatic minefields anywhere in the world without breaking a sweat and still leave plenty of smiles all around at the end...

Women are at the forefront of community-level conflict resolution but are rarely included in higher-level peace processes, leading to a sexist politics of peace, declared four experts on women's involvement in peace negotiations Monday.

Measures like Security Council resolution 1325, passed in 2000 and which mandates increased involvement of women in national and international negotiations, has raised awareness of the problem of unequal gender representation in conflict resolution.

However, little real progress has been made, said Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda, a programme director at the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM).

”There is awareness, but awareness is not enough. The awareness hasn't translated into action,” she said at a press conference that drew 24 reporters -- all of them women.

”As we approach the five-year anniversary of 1325 in October, what's needed is stronger support for women's participation in all efforts to promote and maintain peace and security,” added Joanne Sandler the deputy director of UNIFEM.

The work women do at local and regional levels is central to peace-building processes, but ”women's roles are often undervalued or ignored, despite the fact that it is their right to participate on equal terms with men in all governance and decision-making processes,” Gumbonzvanda said.

ok, sure, it's women's "right to participate" but, even more practically, let's get people in there who can make it WORK...!

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