4. Spotlight: Women in peace processes and peacebuilding: Colombia´s gender subcommission in historical and global contexts

Abstract

Women have been vastly underrepresented in the peace processes following wars globally. To begin correcting this imbalance, GOC and guerrilla FARC-EP peace negotiators in Havana, Cuba, implemented the Gender Subcomission two years into the peace talks with the mandate of ensuring a tailored approach to gender in the peace accords. This Spotlight critically examines the historical trajectory of women’s participation in politics in Colombia; it includes both victims’ and ex-combatants´ perspectives (acknowledging that many women may occupy both categories). It then offers a set of recommendations for implementation phases of the peace accords.