Negotiating Disarmament – The Gender Dimension

The document argues that disarmament negotiations are highly masculinized, leading to the routine exclusion of women despite their roles as combatants or leaders of anti-weapon campaigns. It identifies three primary barriers to inclusion: conceptual beliefs that women are irrelevant to war issues, technical portrayals of women as lacking military expertise, and political barriers related to the lack of women in leadership. Using case studies from five countries, the brief demonstrates a continuum of inclusion from total exclusion (Nepal, South Sudan, Sri Lanka) to meaningful inclusion (Philippines, Colombia). It recommends that third parties push for compulsory quotas and capacity-building to ensure diverse, horizontal, and vertical inclusion of women in all stages of peace processes.

• Women are frequently excluded from disarmament negotiations due to the 'masculinized nature of peace talks' and the specific focus on weapons, despite evidence that peace agreements signed by women correlate with higher implementation rates and longer-lasting peace.
• Conceptual barriers to inclusion are rooted in the assumption that women are irrelevant to disarmament, with some leaders arguing that because war is normally fought by men, the issues should be negotiated between men.
• Technical barriers involve the portrayal of women as lacking the necessary skills or knowledge of military terminology and weapon disposal, though the Philippines and Colombia provide examples where women's technical expertise was successfully utilized.
• Political barriers relate to the scarcity of women in leadership positions; in Sri Lanka, for example, women were largely excluded from formal negotiations despite a long history of political engagement and the presence of female fighters in the LTTE.
• The level of inclusion varies across the studied cases: women were excluded in Nepal, South Sudan, and Sri Lanka, while they achieved different levels of inclusion in the Philippines and Colombia.
• Meaningful inclusion can be achieved through both vertical inclusion (allowing lower-ranking officials to influence talks, as seen with the FARC in Colombia) and horizontal inclusion (involving diverse constituencies like women's groups).
• Third parties can mitigate barriers to inclusion by mapping women's organizations, providing training, and advocating for compulsory quotas for women in peace negotiations.

APA

Marsh, N., Triana, D. F. G., Palik, J., & Rødningen, I. (2022). Negotiating Disarmament – The Gender Dimension. Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/ca276a24-4450-43c5-a32e-3046ea83b91f/Gomez Triana et al - Negotiating Disarmament - The Gender Dimension GPS Policy Brief 5-2022.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Marsh, Nicholas, David Felipe Gómez Triana, Júlia Palik, and Ida Rødningen. Negotiating Disarmament – The Gender Dimension. Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2022. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/ca276a24-4450-43c5-a32e-3046ea83b91f/Gomez Triana et al - Negotiating Disarmament - The Gender Dimension GPS Policy Brief 5-2022.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Marsh |first1=Nicholas |last2=Triana |first2=David Felipe Gómez |last3=Palik |first3=Júlia |last4=Rødningen |first4=Ida |title=Negotiating Disarmament – The Gender Dimension |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |date=May 2022 |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/ca276a24-4450-43c5-a32e-3046ea83b91f/Gomez Triana et al - Negotiating Disarmament - The Gender Dimension GPS Policy Brief 5-2022.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{marsh2022negotiating, author = {Marsh, Nicholas and Triana, David Felipe Gómez and Palik, Júlia and Rødningen, Ida}, title = {{Negotiating Disarmament – The Gender Dimension}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2022}, month = may, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/ca276a24-4450-43c5-a32e-3046ea83b91f/Gomez Triana et al - Negotiating Disarmament - The Gender Dimension GPS Policy Brief 5-2022.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }