Nobel Peace Prize 2011: Groundbreaking recognition that women get the job done

Ms. Gbowee brings to our network her experience organizing Liberia’s Muslim and Christian women. Together, they pressured warring parties into the 2002 negotiations that ultimately ended those years of horrific war.

The award-winning film “Pray the Devil Back to Hell” documents that bold and instructive story. In the fragile peacetime, she worked with the network on police and military reform. At a workshop in Monrovia, she echoed the sentiment of women in dozens of conflict zones: “Liberians are used to running away from armed security personnel. We need to transform that impulse so that people run towards them.”

The key to success? Policymakers recognizing that women transform peace processes. From preventing war to stopping it to rebuilding, women are essential.

A growing body of research shows that they identify early warning signals that often are invisible to men. At negotiations, they bring a broader range of issues to the table, giving talks greater legitimacy in communities that must later accept the outcome.

Women’s approach to negotiation and mediation also makes a difference. They promote dialogue and can help men save face, lowering the temperature of a confrontation that otherwise would overheat – and stall.

But women don’t stop when the agreement is signed. Over years of implementation, they are apt to maintain their focus on a just and lasting peace, insisting that reconstruction address the needs of marginalized groups. With their perspectives accounted for, disaffected members of society have a greater incentive to see the negotiated agreement hold.

Taking this inclusive approach further, women have built partnerships between leaders in and outside of government, so as to bridge legislation and the people it serves. The Nobel Committee highlighted the value of this collaboration by pairing two Liberians: one the highest-level elected official, and the other a dynamic grassroots activist.

The story of Johnson Sirleaf and Gbowee is extraordinary but not unique. Acknowledging that heartening fact, the Committee has exhorted the world to turn toward the field known as “women, peace, and security.” From our experience, we know this can work.

Swanee Hunt served as US ambassador to Austria from 1993 to 1997. She is founder and chair of the Washington-based Institute for Inclusive Security. Her third book, “Worlds Apart: Bosnian Lessons for Global Security,” was published this fall by Duke University Press.

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