Fighting for a Voice: Women Ex-Combatants and the Politics of Reintegration

This session aims to shed light on the unique challenges that women members of armed groups face when they aspire to become political leaders in the aftermath of armed conflict. While women are already excluded from formal political leadership roles in many contexts due to patriarchal power structures, women associated with armed groups most often face additional challenges connected to their stigmatisation as ex-combatants, having lived outside of the conventional structures of society for a prolonged time, and a lack of financial resources. Conventional DDR programmes have done little to address women’s needs to pursue their political agency after war but have often replicated or even exacerbated their pre-war situations. 

Participants of this session will gain a nuanced understanding of the intersecting barriers that women associated with armed groups face in accessing political leadership after conflict and will be equipped with practical guidance for designing inclusive, gender-responsive support mechanisms to sustain their political agency in post-conflict settings.

The session takes place in the context of a joint project between the United Nations Department of Peace Operations DDR Section (UNDPO DDR) and the Berghof Foundation. Through first-hand experience and on-site support, the project develops guidance & training resources for DDR practitioners and other stakeholders involved in peace processes and post-war peacebuilding, with a focus on practical support for political transformation.