Description
Low representation and participation of women in formal peace processes is a global challenge. The UNSCR 1325 resolution has been a concerted global effort towards tackling and addressing this challenge by mainstreaming gender into formal peace-building approaches, operations and processes (UN Security Council 2000). Whilst the UNSCR 1325 resolution has made some significant strides towards sustainable peace in widening women’s participation in formal peace processes and addressing gaps in gender equality within the global South (Hudson 2005), there is broad consensus amongst scholars that the resolution has been limited in its effectiveness within these contexts and has fallen short in achieving its aims (Hudson 2021, Alder 2021, Walker 2003, Jacobs 2002). Part of this is because not much attention is given to women’s engagement and participation at informal levels as the focus tends to be on efforts at more formal levels where women tend to be under-represented. In this regard, religious women tend to be an under-represented group whose roles during conflict and periods of transition are often under-studied and under-explored yet they are critical. In addressing this gap, the research questions I seek to explore are: How do religious women perceive and experience conflict? How does their gender and religion shape their experiences of, and agency in, conflict and during periods of transition? And, how do their efforts at the informal level influence or shape formal peace processes? To address these questions, I will draw on Helmke & Levitsky’s (2004) typology of informal institutions in comparative politics which I will apply to a comparative case study of four Sub-Saharan African countries which have a strong presence of religion and which have experienced conflict and/or undergone critical periods of transitions over the previous decade. These countries are: Zimbabwe, Rwanda, Uganda and Nigeria. I will further draw on intersectionality and postcolonial feminist theoretical frameworks. The study will be based on ethnographic material which will be garnered through participant observation with women’s religious groups, in-depth interviews of women and religious leaders, as well as focus groups. The main contribution of the study will be in developing a conceptual and analytical framework in the form of a conflict analysis by theorising conflict from the bottom-up in centering its analysis on the experiences of religious women.
Keywords: Gender, conflict, peace-building, religion, de-coloniality, intersectionality, Sub-Sahara Africa, global South.
