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By Godwin Jibrin Bakwo.
Ambassador of Peace, Anthony Ogah has state that women’s involvement in peace-building will create a more sustainable peace.
He stated this extemporaneously when Ibaji Women Peace Advocates hosted him at Onyedega, Ibaji Local Government headquarters, in appreciation of his giant strides in peace building and humanitarian services.
In his keynotes address, Ogah explained that in discussions of conflict and its associated processes of resolution, women are often defined by their relationships to their male counterparts or as tokens representing the brutality of war. Women are either the sisters, mothers or daughters of both perpetrators and peacemakers, or they are mere poster children of victims caught up in battles over power, land and ideology.
“When we think of armed conflict, we envision traditionally masculine traits such as aggression, power and strength. So why is it that we do not envision opposing traits such as trust, cooperation and fairness when seeking peace? As seen worldwide, when it comes to peace-building , women are often relegated to more traditional notions of gender roles while their largely untapped capacity to wage peace is left ignored. Before discussing exactly how to challenge these notions and to incorporate female actors into peace-building processes, we must first ask if women do in fact contribute to greater peace and stability. Hence, women’s participation and equality are both contributing factors to successful conflict resolution efforts and strong predictors of a state’s peace and stability.
“The participation of women is critical to the success of any peace-building process, if half the population is excluded or faces discrimination, peace will be impossible to achieve.
“Women peace-builders bring different perspectives and priorities to men, and their role in re-establishing the social fabric in the aftermath of conflict is vital. The role of women in peace-building is recognised in many international agreements and resolutions”, he said.
He urged the women to inculcate in the minds of their children good morals, the need to be law abiding and need for total abstinence from any act that is capable undermining their future.
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