Gender Power Dynamics in Peace Processes: Women’s Representation in Masculinized Negotiation Spaces

Abstract: This symposium focuses on women’s representation in peace negotiations and grapples with gendered power dynamics in highly masculinized conflict management settings. Papers question what factors and contexts facilitate women’s successful advocacy in negotiation spaces understood to be ambivalent or even hostile towards gendered understandings of peace. We present four papers that approach this topic in distinct ways. First, papers explore different aspects of peace processes, with some focusing on specific snapshots within broader peace processes (see Good et al.’s analysis of ceasefires), while others explore peace processes in their entirety (see McAuliff’s exploration of Northern Ireland’s peace processes or Kempermann’s study of women’s representation in peace processes over time). Second, studies apply different theoretical frameworks, with some focused on international top-down conflict management (see Anderson and Corredor), and others taking a more local-level approach (see McAuliff). Lastly, papers leverage different methodologies, including large-n quantitative analysis (see Good et al.; Kempermann), qualitative document analysis (Anderson and Corredor), and case study research (McAuliff). As such, this symposium offers a forum to discuss gender power dynamics in high-stakes peace negotiations. Relatedly, this symposium explores how findings pertaining to women in peace negotiations differ or relate when using varying theoretical and methodological approaches. Lastly, while all panellists study international violent conflict from a political science perspective, we hope to facilitate an interdisciplinary discussion amongst attendees to broaden understandings of gender, negotiation, and conflict management.

Keywords: International Conflict; Peace Processes; Women, Peace and Security; Gender Representation