As well as reviewing women s experiences during recent conflicts, the study sets out practical recommendations on how to bring women into the heart of peace processes. A vision of positive peace is set out, a scenario which requires not only that all types of violence are virtually non-existent, but also that the major potential causes of future conflict are removed. A society experiencing positive peace is democratic and inherently egalitarian. All too often the goal of equality between ethnic, regional and religious groups is highlighted in pursuit of the limited goals of negative peace. Positive peace additionally requires that other fundamental building block of an egalitarian society gender equality.
War can provide women with the chance to shake off cultural restrictions.
Where women have taken up arms they may obtain political representation, post-conflict. Too often, however, female ex-combatants have been inadequately supported by demobilization initiatives and forced back to kitchens and fields. In places where forms of truth commission have been established it has been hard for women to testify while still under the threat of domestic and sexual violence. Women s participation or collusion in organized violence should not be glossed over. Land reform, often an essential plank of peacemaking, frequently ignores women s rights to title or access.