Gender and Peace Education

Lesson Objectives
At the end of this section, the participants will:

 Be able to define gender

 Be able to discuss the importance of gender in peace education
 Understand different ways to integrate gender into classroom practice
 Develop specific lesson plans that focus on gender
Guiding Questions
Before you read this section, consider the following questions

 What does gender mean to you? How do gender roles play out in your life?
 In your culture, are there assigned gender roles for men and women? If so, what are they?

The only way to solve the problem of women’s subordination is to change people’s mindset and to plant
the new idea of gender equality into every mind.
- Qingrong Ma
Introduction
Gender can be defined as

the social differences and relations between men and women which are learned, vary widely
among societies and cultures, and change over time […] They condition which activities, tasks and
responsibilities are perceived as male and female. Gender roles are affected by age, class, race,
ethnicity and religion, and by the geographical, economic and political environment (International
Labor Office, 2000).

The concept of gender must be differentiated from that of sex: sex is a purely biological description, while
gender connotes socially constructed categories.

Gender is an important consideration in the context of peace education for a number of reasons. The
most fundamental of these reasons is that women’s empowerment and equality in all spheres is
absolutely necessary in order to achieve a sustainable peace. As affirmed by the UN’s Beijing
Declaration, “local, national, regional and global peace is attainable and is inextricably linked with the
advancement of women, who are a fundamental force for leadership, conflict resolution and the
promotion of lasting peace at all levels” (United Nations, 1995).
The implications of gender on peace education are many and diverse. First, society must recognize the
potential of women as peace-builders, and actively promote their inclusion in peace-making processes.
Second, violence against women, which is one of the most common forms of violence worldwide, must be
eliminated, with awareness education about the issue as the first step towards this goal. Finally, societal
consciousness of gender inequalities and discrimination against women in all spheres must be raised so
that these issues can be recognized and addressed. The differences in the socialization of boys versus
girls and gender equality in education are especially relevant topics under this category. A key aspect of
UNESCO’s campaign to foster a worldwide culture of peace is to “ensure equality between women and
men,” thus affirming that gender is an important consideration with regards to peace education
(UNESCO, 2000). There are many ways in which teachers can incorporate gender-informed peace
education into their classrooms, which we will explore in more detail below.
Women as Peacebuilders
History has demonstrated that women, in both an individual and group capacity, are extremely effective
as peace-builders. This is not to say that men are not also peacemakers, nor that women are never
violent, but rather that the achievements of women in this capacity are often overlooked and merit further
attention. However, the inequalities between men and women that still prevail in our societies limit the
impact of women in creating a culture of peace to much less than their true potential. According to Brock-
Utne (2009):

Even though women frequently build the backbone of peace organizations, they are seldom given
credit for their work. They are mostly made invisible in history books which frequently are “his -
story” books, describing the development of violent conflicts or wars started by men. Conflicts
which are solved non-violently or the work for peace, especially the work of women for peace, do
not find their way into history books. This naturally has consequences for peace education. It is
difficult to educate about peace when the textbooks youngsters are required to read are mostly on
war (p. 215).

The capacity of women as peacemakers must be recognized and promoted in governments, in nonprofit
organizations, and in international relations, as well as in the classroom. The UN has stated its support for
the active engagement of women in the peace process in numerous official resolutions and declarations,
and now it remains for the world to follow through (United Nations, 1985, 2000). Teachers can further this
goal in their classrooms by discussing the peace processes throughout history and not just the role of
wars. Teachers should also make sure that the role of women throughout history is not omitted. One
possible exercise for students might be to research women's perspectives from a certain historical period,
if these are not portrayed in their history textbook.
Violence Against Women
The term “violence against women” refers to “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely
to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm of suffering to women” (United Nations, 1994). The
continuing worldwide prevalence of such violence remains a significant obstacle to building a lasting
peace, as women living in fear of gender-based violence cannot achieve true equality.

Not only is violence against women an unacceptable act in itself, but according to the UN (1994), it is also

a manifestation of historically unequal power relations between men and women, which have led to
domination over and discrimination against women by men and to the prevention of the full
advancement of women, and violence against women is one of the crucial social mechanisms by
which women are forced into a subordinate position compared with men.

Violence against women both causes inequality and is caused by inequality. According to Brock-Utne
(2009), “the unequal power between men and women is considered to be the main reason for violence
against women” (p. 206). Gender-based violence is the most brutal and overt form of the inequality that
is present in all spheres of society. Thus, a crucial part of peace education must be the dissemination of
information about the widespread occurrence of such violence and its negative impacts on women and on
progress toward creating a culture of peace.

An important consideration when thinking about violence against women is the effect of the media on
social perceptions of women and acceptable behavior towards women. The media as a whole tend to
perpetuate negative stereotypes of women, and an important step in gender-informed peace education is
to recognize this trend and develop awareness about it. Kempadoo, Maxwell, and Smith (2001) describe
this media bias as follows:

There is a link between media images of women and incidences of violence against women.
Products from liquor to cars are sold using women’s bodies: women are shown primarily
responsible for the home and family. What does this say about women? What message is the
media sending when it constantly juxtaposes sex and violence? Women are beaten and raped in
movies, popular songs emphasize women’s bodies as objects to be used and abused. […]
Negative media images are harmful in a society where violence against women is increasing. The
danger is that violence against women is becoming accepted as the norm (p. 9).

Someone who is conscious of the bias present in the media’s representation of women is less likely to be
subconsciously socialized or conditioned by the images they see, and more likely to protest the injustices
in the media that negatively impact women. Popular culture must evolve to promote gender justice and
equality rather than violence and abusive behavior towards women.

In the classroom, there are many ways in which a teacher can work to further this goal. For instance, the
teacher should choose pieces of literature, film, and media carefully and in consideration of how these
sources might portray women in a negative way. If use of a biased source proves necessary, this
provides a wonderful opportunity for a lesson on gender stereotypes and violence and to raise students’
awareness of their own, often unconscious, behaviors that enable the status quo to continue.

Another way in which the teacher can help eliminate violence against women is to ensure that his/her
own classroom is free of violence. Aside from the obvious ban on physical violence, disparaging remarks
and comments that enforce unwanted gender stereotypes should also not be tolerated. This rule should
apply to interactions between all students, but especially between boys and girls.
Gender Inequalities and Socialization
In world society today significant inequalities between men and women persist, ranging from gender-
based violence and outright bias, to tradition-supported discrimination, to unconscious differences in
behavior towards men versus women. Peace education can have a positive impact on eradicating these
inequalities by raising awareness of the existence of discrimination in everyday life, and by inspiring
action to eliminate these inequalities.

The differences between society’s treatment of men and its treatment of women are often so customary
that they have become ingrained in the collective mindset as perfectly normal and correct. However, if we
stop and reexamine these behaviors, it becomes evident that many of the differences in society’s
attitudes towards men versus women are neither positive nor conducive to building a culture of peace.
Consider something as basic as the toys girls and boys commonly play with: for girls it might be pretty
dolls, while for boys it might be miniature soldiers. This divide begs the question: “To what extent are girls
and boys in our society being socialized equally or differently when it comes to learning how to care,
empathize with others and engage in or endure violent behavior?” (Brock-Utne, 2009, p. 205).

Issues of war and peace have become highly genderized, so much so that associating warfare with men
has become a rarely-questioned norm. According to Brock-Utne (2009),

All over the world there are more men than women in the military. This fact probably has a pre-
socializing effect on boys. In countries with compulsory military service, this service is normally
compulsory for boys only. […] This socialization may explain why women are more likely than men
to support conscientious objectors, to be against war toys and against war (p. 209).
In striving to educate for peace, we must take these societal norms into account and actively try to
counteract them. If young boys focus on the heroics of war in their youthful games, they build an easy
familiarity with violence that fails to recognize the true gravity and horror that battle entails. Violent media
images, electronic games, and toys only reinforce such inaccurate conceptions that emphasize war
instead of peace. Even something as basic as a history book tends to place the focus on battles rather
than resolutions. As noted earlier, it is difficult to educate for peace when textbooks are mostly about war.
Thus teachers as peace-builders must make an active effort to draw students’ attention to achievements
of peace rather than of war.

Women, Peace, and Security (Reardon & Cabezudo, 2002)

During the summer and fall of 2000, a small group of NGO members active in women’s concerns at the
United Nations developed and pursued a strategy to persuade the Security Council to hold an open
debate (a session on a general topic that constitutes a threat to peace and security rather than a
particular or specific conflict or crisis) on the role of women in peace and security policy formation, conflict
resolution and prevention, and global security. The session was convened in October 2000. This unit is
based on key extracts from the resolution adopted by the Security Council at the conclusion of this
special session. These extracts appear on the following pages as a handout. (Copies of the full text of
S.C. Resolution 1325 are available from the Hague Appeal for Peace and online
at http://www.peacewomen.org/un/sc/1325.html.)