“The paper explores the possibilities of using the institutional frameworks of the United Nations (UN)and the African Union (AU) to include women in peace negotiations, peace-building and post-conflict reconstruction efforts. It contends that women on the African continent have the benefit of using these international rights-based frameworks in their political efforts to achieve equality and political
representation. The paper focuses on the violence that women experience in conflict situations and on state policies and practices as corrective measures for gender inequities, cognisant that this is not the
only locus of struggle, because women’s realities are shaped by multiple social hierarchies and gendered power relations are deeply rooted in our societies.”
