Description
International peace resolutions emphasize women’s roles in preventing, managing, and resolving conflicts. However, empirical evidence suggests that women are excluded from the formal peace processes, including the signing of accords. The Bodoland Territorial Region in the Northeastern state of Assam in India is no exception. The absence of Bodo women from signing the Bodo peace accords in 1993, 2003, and 2020 was conspicuous. However, Bodo women’s contributions to peacebuilding in Bodoland cannot be ignored. The question, therefore, arises, “How have Bodo women contributed to peacebuilding in Bodoland?” The paper argues that women have contributed to peacebuilding, particularly during the Bodoland movement that spanned the 1990s and 2000s, through everyday negotiations in the family and society. Women also negotiated for peace with the state and armed groups. The paper is informed by existing literature and primary data collected through qualitative interviews with stakeholders such as members of a women’s civil society organization, academics, social workers, journalists, and a few survivors of an infamous gang-rape incident (perpetrated by security forces during the Bodoland movement) in a village.
