“Women are leading change in small ways that matter for their societies and communities – advancing quality education and access to health care, fighting for rights, struggling for full participation in political life, promoting peace, reconciliation and development” (UNESCO, 2017)

 

The region of Sub-Saharan Africa faces several broad threats in the 21st century. These include rapid population growth, urbanization, rising ethnic tensions, environmental decay, and climate change. Despite this, it has a record of strong economic growth and increasing advancement in democratic governance. Alongside these strengths and threats, we must also note that there is rising inequality in income and opportunity for men and women (iKNOWPOLITICS).

 

This research paper examines the overall status of women's rights, equality and equity with respect to peace building in the area of Subsaharan Africa. In doing so, it is imperative to understand the role that women play in the larger public sphere to comprehend their role in post-conflict reconstruction (US Department of State, 2016). This includes examining their role in legislation, the judiciary and the broader civil society along with their challenges in all three which include but are not limited to societal norms and traditional expectations of women, economic and structural barriers, lack of male-preparedness in sharing decision-making power and control, and particularly alarming levels of community safety.

 

Through small grants, the Women, Peace, and Security agenda objectives, and regional and national frameworks, notable improvement has been made in increasing female participation in security, policy, and decision making processes but Sub-Saharan Africa has yet to reach the statistical benchmarks set by its counterparts in the Western world.

 

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%.

 

Gender inequality produces “instability, insecurity, and violent extremism,” (United Nations Political and Peace building Affairs). Furthermore, to create and sustain peaceful consideration, a region requires the participation of all those in its society, including women. Incorporating a “gender perspective” or “feminist lens” in policy making can reveal the ways in which institutions and societal narratives create gender inequality which further serves as an obstacle to the greater peace and peaceful reconstruction of a region as well as for its communities.