Abstract
Despite the normative commitments of the Women, Peace and Security framework, women’s participation in United Nations peacemaking and mediation remains limited. This thesis critically examines how women participate in United Nations peacemaking and mediation by employing a multidimensional framework of participation – formal, descriptive, substantive and symbolic – drawn from Anne Phillips’ A Concept of Representation (1995) and Schwindt-Bayer and Mishler’s (2005) Integrated Model of Political Representation. Through a feminist institutional lens, this research explores how institutional rules, structures and informal practice shape women’s roles and influence in peace processes.
This analysis focuses on how formal institutions – such as those that govern women’s formal and descriptive participation – shape women’s experiences in United Nations peacemaking and mediation, while information institutions of cultural norms, unwritten rules and gendered expectations, condition their substantive and symbolic participation. This dual lens highlights the persistent barriers women face, including gendered biases and restricted access to decision-making spaces. It also illuminates how, when women are able to access high-level positions in United Nations peacemaking and mediation, their gender is actually either an advantageous or neutral factor, with other aspects of their identity having a more significant impact. Furthermore, it highlights opportunities for transformative representation that can challenge patriarchal norms and foster sustainable peace processes.
This study is built on qualitative interviews with women who have experience with United Nations peace processes. Through interviews with women peacemakers and mediators, as well as an examination of the history of the institutionalisation of women in peace, this thesis critical evaluates the double-edged sword women navigate: how gender norms and stereotypes socialised women to embody the ideal traits for mediators simultaneously restricting their access to such positions of power. Ultimately, this thesis provides recommendations to enhance the full, equal and meaningful participation of women in United Nations peacemaking and mediation, contributing to both the Women, Peace and Security framework and feminist institutional scholarship.