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Men are the architects of war, women suffer its consequences
"Even as men are too often the architects of war, women suffer its consequences. Women and children account for the most number of civilian casualties in war. Women and children make up to 80% of the refugees or internally displaced persons. Women fall prey to sexual violence, torture, rape, forced prostitution, sexual slavery, and forced conscription in war. Women lose fathers, husbands, sons, property, and employment in war. From the Balkans to Burundi, Sierra Leone to Sri Lanka, women are the worst victims of war.
The bitter experiences of women in times of war often make them strong adherents of peace building and constitution making for conflict resolution. However, women’s roles in and contributions to conflict resolution are underutilized or wholly ignored in mainstream peace building and constitution making processes. Nevertheless, women all over the world are devising creative and effective strategies to ending wars and building peace. In doing so, they are forming strong coalitions that reach across religious, ethnic and political divides. Their activism in the field of peace building and constitution-making is complementing their wider struggle for gender equality.
Contemporary women peace builders and constitution makers can offer valuable insights and may contribute to a gendered knowledge about their approaches to peace building and constitution making. Yet, little has been made to glean more information about their initiatives or to develop a comparative analysis of their strategies.
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