Women's role in the peace process : an African perspective

Abstract

The growing and increasing participation and visibility of women from all over the world in various international fora in this decade - Rio (1992), Vienna (1993), Cairo (1994), Copenhagen (1995) and Beijing (1995) - has been the most important factor in helping the world to see exactly which values and principles can contribute most to peace and the well being of all humanity. This has also confirmed that women's participation in all aspects of social life at the national and international levels is essential for the continued progress towards the achievement of justice, equality, development and peace. In Africa, in particular, women's contribution to development and their indispensable stabilizing roles in society have assumed even greater dimensions in the light of the unprecedented upheavals which characterize the continent today. The continued absence of peace in the world has forced women to look for ways of influencing the popular concept of security and on ways of creating a stable environment in which people of different backgrounds can live in harmony.