A paper published by the International Peace Institute titled Peace building during a Pandemic: Keeping the Focus on Women’s Inclusion noted five factors that should be focused upon to improve women leadership in peace building, particularly during COVID-19:

 

• State leadership on WPS in multilateral fora

• Women’s participation in formal peace processes

• Protection and security of women peace builders

• Financing for women peace builders

• Ensuring data-driven responses

 

UNDP’s second Africa Human Development Report, Accelerating Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in Africa found that when a country’s gender inequality increases by 1%, its human development decreases by 0.75%. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, the gender gap costs the economy an average of $95 billion and up to $105 billion per year. One can conclude that gender gaps and gender-based inequality in opportunity and political participation harms not just women, but the general economic wellbeing of a region. 

 

To promote women's economic empowerment and political participation, it is imperative that micro finance, local savings groups, and community banks support women in Subsaharan Africa who may not possess collateral for loans from advanced financial institutions. Furthermore, according to the qualitative analyses that the Global Network of Women Peace builders (GNWP) conducted to provide a voice to women peace builders, women’s inclusion in peace building and peacekeeping activities are limited and correlated with low perceptions of community safety.

 

Access to a robust education, job opportunities, dependable financial resources, and technology can help or hinder a woman’s ability to feel safe, particularly in countries that socially and culturally restrict women with gender norms and discriminatory laws.

 

To prevent violence, communities called for more inclusive decision-making processes that include women, youth, and marginalized groups, to build a sense of ownership and responsibility in their society, which should be inclusive rather than majoritarian in nature. 

 

In conclusion, female-powered groups and their activism and desire for equality should be met with support and encouragement by governments and non-governmental organizations alike. Without female human rights activists, policymakers, and visionaries, “peace agreements are more fragile, peacekeeping missions are less credible and safe, and economies are less prosperous” (The Global Observatory, 2016). It is time we include women and let them participate and determine in decisions surrounding peace building and peacekeeping in the world that they too are very much a part of.