on 31st March 2022, FOSDA held the first episode of the ‘Talk Women Peace and Security’ (TWPS) Series of 2022 in commemoration of the IWD 2022. We hosted three fantastic ladies with careers in the security sector on the theme: ‘Breaking the bias: Pushing the boundaries for women in the security sector’.
The discussions focused significantly on challenges of women as peacekeepers and peacebuilders, investing in their technical expertise as peacebuilders and peacekeepers, civilian participation in the security sector, importance of diversifying the governing board of the Ghana National Peace council, properly mainstreaming the WPS agenda in Africa, lack of female representation and participation in the peace keeping processes of local Conflicts, especially in Ghana. These discussions stemmed from experiences shared by our panelists: Professor Esmeranda Manful, the Ag. Vice-Dean for the International Programmes Office (KNUST) and member of the Ashanti regional peace council; Major Josephine Amoah of the Ghana Armed Forces; and Mrs. Mary Awas Goretty, a Gender mainstreaming specialist in Hope Restoration South Sudan.
The end of the session brought to fruition some key recommendations highlighted below.
Gender mainstreaming is important and should be integrated into all levels of peace processes and the security sector. This means supporting the integration of the rights and experiences of women and girls into all institutions.
We have to invest in localizing the WPS agenda to make it more familiar for policy makers in Africa. This means, supporting the establishment of strong women networks that prioritize and promote protection of women and girls, promoting high level media communication and advocacy on women’s meaningful participation and profiling and documenting women who have exceled in the WPS space.
Additionally, we need to look at security in its broadest sense and include non-state actors more when dealing with security. This action will enable the state to diversify the National peace council and include more women in its governing board.
Women are not only victims of conflict and insecurity; they are also agents of peace and need to be part of security discussions. Women are contributing in diverse ways to the quality and sustainability of peace.
Now is the time to speak out about Women’s contributions in Security and to encourage them to do more. We want Women, Peace and Security to gain traction and UNSRC 1325 achieved in Ghana, FOSDA is encouraging everyone to Talk WPS and act on it.