At the request of the Directorate of Coordination Emancipation Policy at the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment, the Conflict Research Unit (CRU) of the Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’ – in cooperation with International Alert London, Utrecht University, Wageningen Disaster Studies and various individual consultants – commissioned a research study into the roles of women in conflict prevention, conflict resolution, and post-conflict reconstruction. With this purpose, the CRU undertook a review of selected literature on the roles and positions of women before, during, and after armed conflict.