Project: Research on Women and Peacebuilding
Background
Despite a few notable exceptions, Somali women continue to experience exclusion from the political arena and are rarely included in formal peace building initiatives. Their absence however hides the significant peace contributions they have, and continue to make, in their communities. Asal contributed a chapter to the United Nations Assistance Mission’s research volume titled “War and Peace in Somalia: National Grievances, Local Conflict and Al-Shabaab”. In this important piece of work, the paper sought to the redress the largely undocumented and rarely known nature of Somali women’s contribution to peacebuilding.
Delivery and outcome
Using data collected from in-depth interviews with Somali women, the paper addressed the knowledge gap on women’s contribution to peace, as well as re-examining dominant assumptions by exploring how women leverage their dual social identities to negotiate peace and to gain access to political spaces.