Opinion: 600 million women live in conflict — and hold key to peace

We’ve spent the majority of our lives working to ensure women’s participation in decision-making on peace and security. That means getting women a seat at the table during peace talks and negotiations, but also ensuring their voices are heard in the aftermath of conflict when the difficult task of rebuilding begins. Like many others working on advancing gender equality, we're heading to New York this week for the United Nations’ annual Commission on the Status of Women, where we will be elevating the role of women in building — and sustaining — inclusive peace. In the places we call home – the occupied Palestinian territory, the Philippines, and across the Pacific island region – we’ve witnessed how intersecting crises such as war, conflict, and climate change are increasingly putting the rights and well-being of women and girls at risk. Yet, military spending only continues to skyrocket while casualties increase. “It is women who pay the ultimate price of war.” --— No peace can be achieved without the realization and respect of human rights, and no human rights can be achieved and respected in the absence of peace. Here’s how collective action can build more inclusive and sustainable peace for the more than 600 million women living in conflict. Women and girls living in conflict In only five years, we’ve seen a 50% increase in the number of women and girls living in areas of conflict, which reached 614 million in 2022. Yet we should not normalize the fact that women and girls are living in conflict and under occupation. Time and time again we’ve seen how military interventions fail to achieve sustainable peace for all, and women continue to feel the impact of the nearly 200 active armed conflicts and crises across the world. Over the past months, we’ve all seen how the decadeslong conflict between Israel and the Palestinian territories has once again erupted into the widespread killing of civilians. And it is women who pay the ultimate price of war. As of January, 70% of the Palestinians killed are women and children. At the current rate, an average of 63 women will continue to be killed every day as long as the fighting goes on, according to United Nations data. Of the about 1,400 people in Israel who were killed or taken hostage in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, many were women and girls. In the context of this conflict, an inclusive peace process is urgently needed to ensure humanitarian assistance can reach those who need it. This requires an immediate and effective cease-fire, as well as the protection of front-line humanitarian groups working to deliver urgent medical attention and food — especially to children, women, and the injured. After 11 years of war in Syria, a 2022 needs overview showed that 74% of the 6 million in need of food aid are women and girls. In Yemen, where a decade of civil war and a humanitarian crisis mean that families lack other coping mechanisms or safety nets, more than two-thirds of girls are married before the age of 18. In Afghanistan, 20 years of progress for women and girls has been erased since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, attacks on women and children soared in 2023 and in Sudan, the ongoing war has resulted in millions of women losing their livelihoods and savings, limiting their access to food and essential health care. Yet, women continue to be excluded from meaningfully influencing the political decisions that affect them. For example, women represented only about 10% of negotiators in Afghan peace talks in September 2020 and just over 20% of negotiators in Libya’s U.N.-facilitated political discussions to build lasting peace. The list goes on. Yet, as conflicts fade from the headlines, women and girls continue to suffer, while humanitarian aid often fails to consider their specific needs. Women ensure sustainable and inclusive peace But women also hold the keys to lasting peace. Whenever women participate in peace processes and negotiations, resulting agreements are stronger. Any efforts at negotiating peace — be it between Russia and Ukraine or Israel and the Palestinian territories — must include the voices of women for the resulting peace to be sustainable and inclusive. “As conflicts fade from the headlines, women and girls continue to suffer, while humanitarian aid often fails to consider their specific needs.” --— Even in the most forgotten conflicts, women continue to work behind the scenes to address the urgent needs of their communities, promote social cohesion, and rebuild societies. We’ve seen up close how they participate in informal peace negotiations, help revive economies, and prepare and respond to climate disasters. It is in our collective interest to make sure these networks of women peacebuilders and first responders are well-resourced and equipped for the challenges ahead. Despite increasing needs, yearly funding to women’s rights organizations in fragile contexts remains at only $198 million on average — less than a tenth of a percent of total official development assistance. In places like the Palestinian territories, many donors are defunding, silencing, and criminalizing women-led organizations instead of supporting them. Collective action to elevate women in peace building Women and girls need more solidarity from the international community — including donors and the private sector — if we are to put an end to the business of war, break the deadlock of intractable crises, and prevent them from happening again. As civil society, we are working in partnership with governments, U.N. agencies, the private sector, and other civil society organizations under the umbrella of the Compact on Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action to make sure no woman or girl living in conflict is forgotten. Through our global movement, we elevate the voices of the women and young people who rarely get a seat at the decision-making table. As signatories, we have seized the opportunity provided by the Compact to make peace efforts and humanitarian aid truly inclusive — and to advocate for urgent action to fulfill existing commitments such as the U.N. Security Council resolutions on women, peace, and security. The compact seeks to drive progress on these commitments by encouraging over 200 signatories to take and track specific actions, be it investing in local feminist organizations or providing women human rights defenders with protection. By leaning on a global movement like the Compact, we can collectively drive accountability and action on gender equality in conflicts and humanitarian crises, and make sure leadership includes those doing the hard work. More often than not, that is women. Update, March 13, 2024: This article has been updated to clarify that yearly funding to women’s rights organizations in fragile contexts is less than a tenth of a percent of total ODA.