Institutionalizing Women in Peace and Security within Pakistan: Challenges and Prospects

All societies recovering from conflicts or natural disasters face adverse long-term effects. The process of rehabilitation and rebuilding society from scratch holds multiple obstacles. However, the experience and the process of recovery are not particularly the same for all genders. Since the partition, Pakistan has faced its share of struggles in developing a stable environment. Despite efforts, human insecurity has proliferated in the country. South Asia struggles with its embedded patriarchal norms that have ultimately magnified the gender divide. Over the years, this has led to multiple challenges in conflict scenarios where the participation of women in public spheres is marginalized.

Women, being the most affected in conflict scenarios, face multiple difficulties in accessing rights. The hurdles faced by women in crisis and conflict situations were officially recognized by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) in 2000. By adopting UNSC Resolution 1325, the international community recognized the impact of crisis and conflict situations on women and the need for active women’s participation in societal reformation and peacebuilding. The Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda, built on the pillars of “Prevention, Participation, Protection, Relief, and Recovery,” was the first internationally recognized effort to respond to conflict scenarios from an inclusive gender perspective.

Concerning this resolution, the UNSC attempted to institutionalize the WPS agenda. Consequently, multiple member states produced National Action Plans to incorporate the 1325 UNSC resolution. However, the project came to a halt in 2010. The current paper aims to study Pakistan’s attempts to institutionalize the WPS over the years and the challenges faced in the process. Within the given understanding of the challenges faced by Pakistan, the paper will also attempt to define the concept of gender security in Pakistani society and provide prospects within the given ambit of Pakistan’s National Action Plan.

Of the 7.9 billion world population, almost 50% of the inhabitants are women. Typically, when a country is going through a national or international conflict or war, the country’s population faces a negative shift due to the loss of its male citizens. When discussing the impacts of war on males and females, the experiences are quite similar for all genders. People of all ages face similar traumatic experiences during wartime and other armed conflicts. However, there are still some crucial differences that cannot simply be ignored1. Given the fact that each situation is different and that each conflict has its own unique characteristics, it would, therefore, be difficult to make a general statement about women and the impact of conflict on their lives. Nonetheless, during war and other armed conflicts, women are targeted more than men. This particularly comes into account when considering that sexual violence is gender-based and used as a weapon of war in modern armed conflicts2; resulting in the diversification of the impact of war and other armed conflicts on the lives of women.

Gender-based violence during conflicts is not new to history. However, according to Skjeksbaek,3 it is a recent phenomenon to use gender-based violence as a means to destroy a group’s identity. Subsequently, not only is there a dire need to fully understand women as victims of war and the impact armed conflict has on women at all levels, but to also further ensure women’s participation in decision-making processes4. Kivlahan and Ewigman5 in their work, ‘Rape as a weapon of war in modern conflict’ identify that in the previous decades of global conflict and war, multiple countries such as Sri Lanka, Sudan, Rwanda, Bosnia, former Yugoslavia, Congo, and Bangladesh have witnessed the use of sexual and physical violence as a military strategy. The notable increase in gender violence during conflict and war has attracted the attention of the international media6, leading multiple human rights activists to raise the issue on international platforms.

As a result of women’s rights activism, on October 31, 2000, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 was adopted. After existing for more than six decades, the UNSCR was the first-ever formal document that the United Nations and its Security Council legalized to recognize women as a specific population7. This was indeed a revolutionary moment, as the resolution now requires all parties engaged in war or another armed conflict to not only protect women but also encourage and stimulate women’s participation in post-conflict reconstruction. Resolution 1325 required all involved parties to involve women in peace negotiations and rehabilitation. The resolution ultimately recognized the fact that, due to the existence of gender-based violence, women are particularly affected by war and conflict. Therefore, to achieve sustained peace and security, women should be part of peacekeeping and peacebuilding during conflict and post-conflict scenarios. In particular, UNSCR 1325 aims toward the implementation of eighteen actions in conflict and post-conflict settings, which in brief concern women’s participation, protection, prevention, relief, and recovery.

Despite the introduction of Resolution 1325 in 2000, many horrific armed conflicts involving systematic gender violence continued to take place. As a result, in 2008, the United Nations Security Council expanded and placed additional resolutions, emphasizing the protection of women during and post-war and other armed conflicts. The UN Security Council also urged states and governments to create and implement national action plans to advance the women, peace, and security (WPS) agenda. In the last two decades, UNSCR 1325 has added another ten resolutions to the women, peace, and security list. These include the following: UNSCR 1820, which was introduced in 2008, categorizes sexual violence as a war crime and is further aimed at governments training armed forces to respond to sexual assault. Similarly, in 2013, the UNSC introduced resolution 2122, which focused on women in peace processes. It identified multiple methods that would increase the role of women in peacebuilding scenarios. In 2015, the UN Security Council introduced resolution 2242 that focused on the intersection of gender violence and violent extremism; the resolution was aimed at encouraging states to develop a ‘gendered perspective’8 when countering violent extremist strategies during conflict and war settings.

Following UNSCR 1325 and its subsequent resolutions, many countries began to adopt and implement the WPS agenda in their National Action Plans. To raise awareness, multiple conferences and workshops also took place to promote gender equality and security, such as the conference held by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in 2011. Five years after the introduction of UNSCR 1325 in 2005, Denmark was the first country to formally add 1325 to its National Action Plan. This was soon followed by other Scandinavian and European countries, and then across other continents. According to the International League for Peace and Women9, as of September 2021, 98 countries have adopted a national action plan on WPS. However, Pakistan is not on the list. In 2010, 10 years after the introduction of UNSCR 1325, a civil-society effort was made in Pakistan for the implementation of WPS. However, the project was stalled and to date has not been reinitiated.

In determining the long history of conflict in Pakistan, one can observe the extent of human insecurity that prevails in Pakistani society. Statistics have revealed that Pakistan has lost almost 83, 000 lives in the process of the ‘war on terror’. Despite economic aid, Pakistan suffered a loss of over $150 billion. Furthermore, these statistics have had immense consequences and implications for the vulnerable segment of society. Given the strong patriarchal system of Pakistani society, a majority of Pakistani women are more or less confined to their households and can contribute very little to the public domain. This ultimately increases their chances of exploitation and violence during a time of conflict or crisis. As noted above, sexual violence has been used as a weapon of war in modern conflict. This has limited females in gaining access to basic health care and economic opportunities during and post-conflict scenarios. Violent extremism in the aftermath of a conflict situation severely limits and affects female mobility. This was particularly observed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (KPK). For example, in Swat, the Taliban banned females from mobilizing outside their homes without being accompanied by a male family member. The lack of accessibility in crisis-afflicted areas, such as KPK, limited women’s access to relief items. In 2009, during the operation in Malakand, women in charge of displaced households did not receive their relief items, such as food and cash10. A similar scenario was faced by the women in Waziristan, as they too faced challenges because they did not have national identity cards.

Moreover, the existing patriarchal structure eliminates women and girls from dispute resolution mechanisms and community participation. In particular, the exclusion of women from this, increases problems when matters of security and negotiations are being considered. At such times, gender security is shelved. This is exactly what UN Security Council Resolution 1325 aims to address. Communities should be able to recognize the multiple stakeholders present at the time of conflict and post-conflict reconstruction. As it mentions, ‘all actors involved when negotiating and implementing a peace agreement.’ Pakistan over many years has lived and witnessed its massive share of conflict and instability, not only as a result of being part of an international conflict, i.e., the War on Terror, but also through local unrest and crises that prevail in the country. For many years, Karachi has faced a crisis scenario because of the violent conflict between Sindhis and Muhajirs (migrants), who are often seen fighting over control, power, and resources. Similarly, for decades, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) has been held hostage by militant forces. In such settings, marginalizing gender security and compromising negotiations is effectively a failure in recognizing and ensuring women’s peace and security.

Similarly, cultural, and religious claims are frequently used to reinforce Pakistani nationalist sentiment. Amidst post-conflict reconstruction and finalizing peace agreements, there is a sense of compromise instigated by the nationalist sentiment that sparks questions about gendered identities, roles, and status. In times of crisis, this compromise on gender security makes women and girls the ‘repository of tradition’11. Moreover, in the last few decades, and most recently seen in Afghanistan, Western governments have instrumentalized gender equality and the Women’s Peace and Security agenda, to support military intervention and the use of force. Such acts and interventions create challenging questions regarding the validity of gender security in the already existing patriarchal societies. It reinforces the existing religious and cultural claims and harms the little progress made by the human advocates of this society12. Over the years, Muslim women, in particular, have been placed at the heart of the growing human rights versus Islam dynamic, where the Islamic dynamic is being portrayed as a potential obstruction to achieving a collective peacebuilding process13.

The picture in Pakistan regarding gender security is a complex one, with the women of Pakistan’s remote tribal areas juxtaposed against the cosmopolitan elites in urban centers. Gender equality has been the underlying reason for the difficulties faced in concretely implementing the WPS framework. The social strata of society, such as women’s economic and subsequent political participation at the countrywide level, play a driving role in women’s presence and function in peacemaking processes. Thus, the collaboration of government bodies and national and international policymaking organizations will need to systematically work to combat gender inequality on a larger scale. It is essential to recognize women’s role in peacemaking bodies by empowering and safeguarding their voices and opinions, well-being and security, and instilling resilience whilst managing their sense of vulnerability. These aspects of social functioning do not necessitate an action plan, but rather a shift in mindset and behavior at the grassroots level, which would govern much-needed social change.

Formally making the Women’s Peace and Security agenda a part of the National Action Plan will help the state internationally recognize its commitment to gender security. However, in the last few years, Pakistan has observed a rise in the number of women in the workforce. This includes women in the armed forces and civil services. Pakistani women have also become a part of the UN peacekeeping forces. The efforts of women activists and their commitment to the cause have been the main motivating factors behind dialogue tables, which has placed pressure on developing inclusive peacebuilding models. Nonetheless, a lot still needs to be done. The faction of women committed to being included in resolving conflicts and working towards peacebuilding resolutions are contained within cosmopolitan areas. Women present in post-conflict environments are still not given their due role in peacekeeping. Therefore, decisions made in post-conflict reconstruction do not reflect a gender perspective because of the absence of women in the peace process.14

Keeping in mind the societal structure of Pakistan, which is predominantly influenced by patriarchal norms, it is not an uncommon practice to bind women and girls to structural inequalities marginalized by society. As a result, there is a lack of participation in or access to public or political affairs. Conflict and crisis settings because of suppression of basic rights and services for women are the root cause of the existing inequalities, further enhancing the sociocultural differences that lead to the magnified gender divide.

About the Author

Verda Ahmed

The author is a Junior Research Fellow at Roads Initiative.