Executive Summary
Women constitute half of the world’s population and yet remain marginalized from decision-making in peace and security efforts worldwide. At the same time, they possess unique talents, perspectives, and experiences necessary to ensure inclusive peacebuilding, while bearing a disproportionate burden brought on by war and violence. In order to understand the critical impact their participation makes – whether in conflict prevention and resolution, mitigation of humanitarian crises, post-conflict reconstruction, justice and rule of law, or an array of other fields – evidence and experience-based analyses are critical.
This book is based on a series of breakthrough policy dialogues initiated by the Permanent Mission of the United Arab Emirates to the United Nations and the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security that were held between October 2014 and May 2015. In leveraging our respective expertise, the Institute and the Mission brought together key stakeholders from a variety of different disciplines and sectors to focus on some of the most critical peace and security issues of our time. Our goal was to shape public discourse, raise awareness, and mobilize United Nations Member States on solutions to preventing and resolving conflict, as well as to advance stability and prosperity by better understanding the role of women in peace and security.