Kenya’s 2010 constitutional reforms devolved the political system and included a quota designed to secure a minimum threshold of women in government.

From Violence to Mobilization in Rwanda and Bosnia-Herzegovina

The country has taken great strides just 25 years since its horrific genocide. But at the same time the government under President Paul Kagame has been widely criticised for its authoritarian tactics and use of violence against those who oppose it.

Through interviews with more than 70 women, researchers “identify five barriers that prevent women from feeling at peace in their daily lives.

There is an emerging consensus that women must play a more substantial role in transformations from violence to stability. The UN Women, Peace, and Security framework recognizes the unique challenges women face during war and affirms the important role they play in the prevention and resolution of conflicts. Despite this framework and other related efforts, peace remains elusive for many who have lived through armed conflict. What prevents formal, internationally led peacebuilding efforts from fostering sustainable peace in ordinary citizens’ lives? Put differently, despite the variety of peacebuilding mechanisms offered, what prevents peace from taking hold, for women in particular? In this paper, we focus on two postwar cases: Bosnia and Nepal. Drawing on interviews with more than seventy women in both countries, we identify five barriers that prevent women from feeling at peace in their daily lives: economic insecurity, competing truths, hierarchies of victimhood, continuums of violence, and spatial and temporal dislocation. We conclude by outlining ways that women in both countries work to overcome those barriers by pioneering innovations in peacebuilding, which may reveal possibilities for future interventions.

We frequently frame abortion rights in terms of health care and human rights. These frames are essential, but they don’t fully capture the violence that abortion restrictions enable.

The alarming rollback of abortion rights in Georgia, Alabama, Missouri and elsewhere over the past few weeks has rightfully provoked outrage and alarm among those concerned with women’s rights around the globe. What people are not speaking about is how this is a form of state violence.

Five key issues to keep in mind during the Ending Sexual and Gender-based Violence in Humanitarian Crises conference