Women and Peace-building

In the traditional African setting, women were assigned various roles, chief among these was the role of child-care – giving birth and then caring for the young ones from cradle to responsible adulthood. Women therefore played the role of educators of the children and both boys and girls received responsible upbringing and socialization from the mothers. In this set-up, practical moral teachings were transmitted and both sons and daughters were taught proper behavior and ethos of society. Important values such as respect, honesty, uprightness, patience, self-control and compromise were all transmitted through the mother and thus women were the promoters of harmony in the community – building a culture of peace. Women were therefore peace-builders through positive child-care and through social capital transmission of values.

Women are peace-builders through positive child-care and through social capital transmission of values.
Apart from the important roles in child-care, women also provided for their families’ needs and participated in conflict mediation and conflict resolution within the family and often times some of the elderly women at community level.
Traditionally women’s roles in peace-building may not have been loud, but they were recognized and ever so often in conflict situations, women were asked to talk to their sons especially when all other approaches seemed to have failed. Often the women’s quiet diplomacy bore fruits and the community recognized this contribution. But in the modern times, women have to learn to speak up as they are often the forgotten voices yet they usually bear the brunt of any conflicts simply because they are women, or because they are daughters, mothers and wives. Due to the traditional culture of quiet diplomacy, many African women are still afraid to raise their voices for fear of victimization or isolation. Yet women voices need to be heard both at local and continental levels especially within the modern day challenges of water issues, health concerns, food insecurity, economic challenges, moral disintegration and other issues of concern which affects the wellness of the African continent.

Women voices need to be heard on local and continental issues
The modern African woman is faced with various challenges which are both economic and social. There are now problems associated with the disintegration of the traditional networks as women take on new roles and yet continue to be excluded from socio-economically viable positions in the society. Women have to constantly rise to the occasion and question this exclusion yet traditionally they played a crucial role which was recognized. It is a fact that if African countries are surviving economic crisis, it is largely due to the ingenuity of women who are fulfilling their roles as well as those of the men who are away or caught up conflict.
Women have innate qualities which in the modern days are not fully tapped in peace-building processes including conflict prevention and resolution and modern African countries can no longer afford to exclude women in peace processes. There is need to re- examine what roles women in the past played and build on them for both a better today and a better tomorrow.
Families in Africa are still the cornerstone of the communities and society in general. What can the modern women do to promote family values which are fast getting eroded? In launching A Mother’s Cry for a Healthy Africa Campaign in the SADC region, there was a cry about moral degradation in the region and indeed this concern is shared by the rest of Africa, how can faith communities through IFAPA handle this challenge? The woman is the foundational pillar upon which all the family and community structures rely. She exercises power through motherly attributes. She is respected, feared, honored and admired and is an educator shaping character as she sacrifices for her children. She is the peace-builder in the home and the reconciler when things go wrong.
Peace in Africa needs to be tackled at all levels – home, school and community levels and in the social political set-up. IFAPA seeks to elevate the status of women by building on what they already posses through equipping them with leadership and other skills which enhance their intuitive skills in conflict prevention and emphasize their role as mentors to the younger women, the girls.
IFAPA lays emphasize on the kind of education (spiritual, religious and moral) that retains core African values, promotes religious diversity and teaches peace and respect for human rights, with priority given to girls and grass- root women. IFAPA also lays emphasis on documentation that highlights women’s contribution to peace-building and interfaith collaboration for peace in an empowering manner and not manipulatively.

Education (spiritual, religious and moral) that retains core African values, promotes religious diversity and teaches peace and respect for human rights
Gender mainstreaming is also core in IFAPA work and understanding the role of women in various religions and their teachings, raising awareness on women issues and concerns and emphasizing the need for men, women and youth to work as partners for peace are all enshrined in IFAPA mode of working.
IFAPA therefore is involved in carrying out continent-wide activities at all levels and especially at the grass-root level where the impact of any process is best seen and continues to work with like-minded partners in Africa and beyond Africa and depends entirely on voluntary funding and support from Governments, Civil society organizations and individuals worldwide.
The IFAPA women program builds on shared spiritual values which bind women of different faiths and enables them to work together and make a difference at the individual, communal as well as continental level and also seeks partnership with like- minded individuals and organizations in uplifting the status of women of Africa.