As a result, women are often the prime advocates of peace. We must ensure that women are enabled to play a full part in peace negotiations, in peace processes, in peace missions. While the credibility of peace processes that exclude participants on the basis of caste, ethnicity, religion and political affiliation are often called into question, the systematic exclusion of more than 50 per cent of the population on the basis of gender is rarely challenged. Women know intimately the horrific warfare and bloodshed that they face in conflict zones, but they also know the conditions that need to be met to ensure that the peace in their countries is sustainable, equitable and just. Women and children are the first victims of conflicts.
Women are half of every community.
When it comes to the involvement of women I must say that it took several years of robust debate, resistance and determination by women themselves, before they were included in the peace process. Oppressor and oppressed had to sit and look each other in the eye and move beyond anger, fears, bitterness, frustration. We had to do this in order to negotiate on behalf of the people of South Africa. The direct participation of women at the peace table is the only way to ensure that women's demands are incorporated in the agreements. In the newly emerging democracies, decision-making has remained in the hands of a predominantly male establishment.