This report examines how the international community can better integrate gender into its statebuilding support. In particular, it focuses on how international actors can promote the participation of women in the core politics of statebuilding, i.e. the negotiation of the political settlement, democratisation processes, the development of civil society’s voice and engagement with informal power.
It argues that international actors must develop a more political understanding of gender in fragile contexts, including how gender inequalities relate to broader power interests and patterns of fragility. It recommends that international actors promote women’s participation in the most critical moments of statebuilding, combine support for institutional reform with measures to address the structural barriers to access faced by women, and support a broad and independent women’s civil society that can engage with statebuilding processes. The report also calls on international actors to take greater risks in engaging with the informal institutions that play such a central role in perpetuating gender inequalities in fragile contexts.
Lessons for international actors
- Statebuilding can provide an opportunity to address deep-rooted gender inequalities in fragile states. However, such change is often fiercely opposed by political and traditional elites, whose interests it can threaten. Evidence suggests that international actors are not taking full advantage of opportunities to promote women’s participation in political decision-making about the direction of statebuilding and the nature of the state. The international statebuilding community needs to understand gender as a political issue. This involves asking how gender inequalities relate to the political settlement, how arguments about “tradition” represent particular power interests, and how gender inequalities relate to aspects of fragility such as violence, poverty and corruption. Developing this understanding requires the adoption of a political economy approach to gender analysis, as well as greater integration of gender into existing political, conflict, security and economic analyses.
- It is vital that international actors champion women’s interests with the most powerful actors and at the most critical moments in the statebuilding process, rather than making gender an “add on” after political deals are done. This includes promoting women’s participation in negotiations around the political settlement. The international community must also broaden and deepen its support for women’s political participation. This requires addressing the multiple barriers women face when they attempt to access and exercise influence within political institutions, as well as engaging more robustly with political parties.
- Economic, social and cultural barriers are a major obstacle to women’s political participation and influence in fragile contexts. These include barriers related to poverty, human capability and social attitudes, as well as to the political culture in fragile states. International actors should therefore combine support for institutional reform with a focus on strengthening women’s socioeconomic position and political capacities. A holistic approach to women’s rights can highlight the ways in which women’s lack of economic and social rights limits their access to civil and political rights in fragile contexts.
- Support for women’s voice is critical if women are to influence the statebuilding agenda. Such support should foster broad coalitions across civil society, politics and public institutions. It should also support these coalitions to develop their own policy agenda, to become effective political actors and to engage with political change processes. This requires that international actors provide sustained support and capacity development to a wide range of civil society partners, including grassroots women’s organisations. Given the weakness of women’s civil society in fragile settings, international actors must tread carefully to avoid dictating its agenda.
- Perhaps the greatest challenge for the international statebuilding agenda is how to address the informality of power in fragile contexts. The promotion of inclusive statebuilding – and particularly women’s inclusion – requires international actors to engage in this sensitive area. As a starting point, the international statebuilding community should enhance its understanding of how informal and customary power shapes both statebuilding processes and gender inequalities in different fragile contexts. Ultimately, international actors must take more risks in working with informal structures, as well as provide greater support for the attempts of women’s political and civil society to engage with them.
