Theorizing peace educators see all varieties of peace information as one domain from which numerous different types of learning can be drawn that are pertinent to teaching and working for peace. Nevertheless, even so, can we take a wild guess as to what it encompasses?
The research into gender and harmony has undergone several stages, each with a viewpoint based on the day's issues. The problem of patriarchy, a sociocultural construct that not only gave men the upper hand over women but also served as a model for other authoritarian, hierarchical, and unequal social structures, was the source of some of the roots of all phases, however. The advancement of discipline and the efforts for gender justice by men and women have "patriarchal privilege" as a common theme. The following chronology depicts how the field has changed throughout this century in response to and resulting from social campaigns for the equality of the sexes.
Rather than being solely event-based, this chronology is progressive. It serves as the foundation for an organic theory of the concept's growth in which the "cross-cutting issue" of gender interacts with all branches of peace knowledge. Gender-related peace work, research, and education have developed through mutual influence, demonstrating the comprehensive character of peace knowing that guides our strategy for peacebuilding.
The Lysistrata phenomenon, which we refer to as women's opposition to war and which comes from the ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes, sparked discussion of some gender notions that have since been widely rejected, such as essentialism, the idea that there are essences or key features in each sex that have a severe influence on how they view and behave in the world. One such trait is women's alleged propensity to deter or prevent violence, which is frequently related to the idea that since women are perceived to be weaker physically than men, they are more timid and afraid of violence. Nonviolence is not just a "womanly" behaviour.
The Lysistrata phenomenon, which we refer to as women's opposition to war and which comes from the ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes, sparked discussion of some gender notions that have since been widely rejected, such as essentialism, the idea that there are essences or key features in each sex that have a severe influence on how they view and behave in the world. One such trait is women's alleged propensity to deter or prevent violence, which is frequently related to the idea that since women are perceived to be weaker physically than men, they are more timid and afraid of violence. Nonviolence is not just a "womanly" behaviour.
Women have used nonviolent techniques in their opposition, which, while not meant to hurt those whose authority, policies, or ideologies are being refused, present severe risks to the resisters. In a patriarchal society, denying women access to sexual intimacy puts them in danger of receiving the ire of the patriarchs who decide their fate. The central tenet of the method is the essentialist presumption that males can or will not survive without the satisfaction of sexual desire.
While it is claimed that pre-colonial Native American women used this tactic, as well as women in ancient Greece and perhaps others, neither one particular war nor the institution of war has been reduced or weakened by it. Such activities, however, have contributed to the essentialist idea that women are more "civilized" or morally mature than men, claiming that this quality—rather than a careful assessment of the political effectiveness of war—has accounted for women's opposition.
The two world wars of the 20th century poignantly displayed the public and martial valorization of mothers. To counter the possible effect of the more electoral anti-war arguments women were progressing and to thwart the movement for women's suffrage, which was viewed as a direction for women to have more political clout over war, peace, and other public matters, patriarchal, nationalist contemporary culture emphasized the importance of motherhood and its essential donation to the preservation of military capabilities.
However, the dearth of the right to vote did not stop American, European, and Japanese women from actively participating in politics. They participated not only in passive resistance but also in incidences of political meddling, such as the aforementioned global campaigns led by women to stop the First World War, which resulted in the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF). WILPF was founded as part of this Euro-American peace drive and has national chapters worldwide today, with a significant portion of its leadership coming from developing nations.
WILPF and several other women's organizations played a crucial role following the International Decade for Women, which lasted from 1975 to 1985. The UN and affiliated NGOs made ongoing initiatives to improve women's legal equality, political engagement, and involvement at all phases of economic progress, from planning through assessment, under the overarching themes of equality, development, and peace. The detrimental effects of gender disparity and gender-biased cultural practices first came to light in the development field.
The advancement of women's roles and participation in the UN system and the establishment of norms to increase their involvement in the politics and economies of the state parties have drawn more public attention. Those who considered that the UN's analysis of the connection between gender and progress and the evaluations of the effects of women's marginalization in the development phase graphically highlighted the notion of structural violence also gave them more weight in the area of peace knowledge.
Men have embraced the reasoning, shared the goals, and occasionally supported the efforts of women since the beginning of their fight for equality. It is evident that without the collaboration of a sizable number of males in the respective institutions, neither women's national political rights nor a single of the international gender equality norms would have been included in the corpus of humanitarian law.
While some men mocked, derided, and rebelled, others actively and openly offered support. While some men strove to comprehend and address the violence males commit against women, others were intimidated by developments that gave women more options regarding how to live their lives. These difficulties brought up a variety of unique reactions, some of which were referred to as men's movements.
Men were inspired to restore the ancient "male ideals" of bravery, assertiveness, and leadership in the US by phenomena like "Iron John" Other American movements, including the "Promise Keepers" and the "Million Man March," called for resuming parental and familial duties. These changes were mainly a reaction to what was perceived as the societal and cultural disruptions caused by feminism and other women's movements in general. They concentrated on improving men's self-esteem and, to some extent, recovering men's rightful place in traditional society.
Global leaders reiterated the importance of women in conflict prevention, resolution, and peace-building during the 2005 World Summit's discussion on women's roles in peace-building. They demanded that Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women and Peace and Security be fully and effectively put into action and, for the first time, acknowledged the connections between development, peace and security, and human rights. The Peace-building Commission was founded due to this renewed commitment to integrated peace-building (PBC) approaches.
A new doctrinal imperative was established for guaranteeing systematic attention and resources to improve gender equality throughout transitional recovery, reintegration, and rebuilding initiatives by designating it the PBC's single thematic mission. In order to restore multiple systems, peace-building has the opportunity to address historical structural gender disparities while creating a more equitable society. Addressing gender injustices might help stop violence in the future since they can sometimes influence the types of violence in confrontations. It was crucial to use post-conflict possibilities and thwart attempts to revert to the pre-conflict status quo, which could have been biased towards women.
Women now face grave risks while accessing services, justice, economic stability, or citizenship following a disaster. Unrepentantly, more delivery needs to satisfy core demands and protect fundamental rights. An extensive failure to include a gender perspective in the United Nations (UN) system's approach to early recovery, transition and reintegration was shown in a recent review of the United Nations Development Programme's work in crisis prevention and recovery.
The area where women's demands are highest, and gaps in responsiveness are most apparent, is the reform of the justice and security sectors. The protection of women sometimes receives less attention than other high-profile crimes such as street crimes, killings, political corruption, gangs, disarmament, demobilisation, and reintegration (DDR) activities. However, violence against women increases following conflicts. While rape and sexual torture have recently received attention as weapons of war, the same crimes—when perpetrated after a ceasefire—and frequently by the same perpetrators—tend to be recast in peace-building efforts as private, domestic issues.
Instead of being a necessity for the security sector, women's security is frequently seen as a "human rights" or "women's concern." However, it is undeniable that in many post-conflict environments, the formal security institutions tasked with protecting women—the military, civilian police, and even peacekeepers—are occasionally among the violent offenders and fall short of fulfilling their role as institutions of accountability which women can turn for security and redress.
There are stark differences in the assistance the international community gives to women's organisations and non-governmental organisations within and across post-conflict contexts (NGOs). In transitional recovery, women's increasing caregiving responsibilities and the gender-specific effects of macroeconomic, labour, and social protection policies should be addressed. The substantial differences in the quality of primary and urgent medical care for women between nations are frequently attributed to the funding partners' political views, financing sources, and ideologies.
A thorough investigation of these topics, which explores the difficulties, solutions, institutions, conceptions, values, and subjective experiences that make up the intricacies of the peace dilemma, can be conceptually centred on gender. We believe that the study of gender and harmony would become fundamental to all fields of peace research and that everyone who seeks peace in these fields will participate in a worldwide investigation of potential counterarguments to the patriarchal framework.
This worldview forces people to conform to its ideals by conflating authority with order and the use of force with morality. An alternate view of human equality is based on genuine democracy, nonviolent methods of resolving disputes, and the reassurance of everyone's inherent worth