By Rojina Kandel
According to the American Dictionary in the subjects of biology and chemistry, “A catalyst is a substance that causes or speeds a chemical reaction without itself being changed,” whereas the other meaning of a catalyst is “A condition, event, or person that is the cause of an important change.” In simple terms, conflict arises when there are clashes between two or more numbers of opinions or even principles on any subject. From the very beginning of society, conflict has been there, and until now, society has been facing conflict, be it personal (emotional), intellectual, racial, class, caste, political, or international.
Women are known as the natural conflict managers who are also important to the peacebuilding process inside the family, in society, and among nations. For instance, inside the family, if a conflict occurs between the members of the family, the woman takes the initiative to resolve it by negotiating between the members, hence leading herself as a catalyst for managing the family conflict. Similarly, when there is conflict in society; people who are involved in the conflict get easily convinced by the participation of women in conflict management. There are various women lead organization and practices which works for the management of conflict in society. For example in the villages of Nepal; there are many ‘Aama Samuha’ (Mothers Groups) which help the families inside the society when there is arousal of conflict. Digging it to the root level; the feminine characteristics of women also play a major role during conflict management. The great evidence that women can play a major role and can act as a catalyst for conflict management can be found in the Hindu Epic ‘Mahabharata’ too. In ‘Mahabharata’ Kunti is shown to play a pivotal role as the mother of ‘Karna’ and ‘Pandavas’ and the negotiation between them.
An International Peace Institute Study measures the presence of women as negotiators, mediators and signatories to 182 signed peace agreements between 1989 and 2011 and found that when women participate, peace agreements are 20 percent more likely to last at least two years, and 35 percent more likely to last for 15 years. It was the twentieth anniversary of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security, and though some progress has been made, women’s rights and leadership in peacebuilding continue to be lacking. However, Miriam Coronel-Ferrer made history as the first-ever female negotiator to sign a final peace accord with a rebel group (Moro Islamic Liberation Front).
Even though there has been always a significant role of women in conflict management in every place, whether it’s inside the family, in the workplace, inside society, in the nations or in the entire world; till now women are marginalized and seen as an underprivileged member of society and are also questioned for their calibre on the conflict management. So, women and girls need to be empowered to lead in the processes of conflict management to achieve lasting and positive peace in families, society and nations. Finally, as it’s been proved from history and there are countless pieces of evidence in the present era too, that, yes, women can definitely act as a catalyst for conflict management.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect People’s Review’s editorial stance.
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