Feminism as a Peacebuilding Approach: Working with Feminists in Africa Towards Real Peace

Despite past successes, the struggle against oppression continues. In many regions, it is more relevant than ever: increasing civic engagement, demands for innovation and transparency are often responded with authoritarian backlashes (read more here), concerns over climate-change-induced mobility intersect with resource-related conflicts (read more here); and the challenges of employment generation are compounded by rising debt, an expanding informal economy, and disproportional demographic growth (read more here). Amidst all this, the promises of feminist foreign policies offer a transformative lens for building peace (read more here).

Feminism has long been exposing the negative effects of gendered assumptions that shape dominant perceptions of peace, war, and militarism. It highlights the intricate relationship between gender inequality and the systemic oppression of women - factors that often intersect with conflict and violence. These dynamics are not only central to how conflict is enabled and justified, but also to how it plays out in practice.

But feminists in Africa are not willing to accept these setbacks. They challenge the “business as usual” peacebuilding strategies that fail to address the lived realities of people, particularly of women, girls, and other identities. Such approaches often jeopardize essential priorities like education, healthcare, food security, and job creation.

The Feminist Reflection and African Group, a regional network of African feminists working with the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung Gender Justice Competence Centre, calls for an urgent reframing of the concepts of peace, war, and security.

• At the Feminist Idea Laboratory held in Cameroon, participants argued that defining peace simply as the absence of war negates other forms of violence that undermine true peace. It is, therefore, essential, not to focus on ‘peace’ as a concept alone but to consider the broader systems that generate, sustain, and support violence and allow conflicts to grow and exist, depriving the fulfilment of necessities, increasing environmental degradation, economic inequalities and the existence of repressive regimes.

A feminist vision of peace recognizes all forms of violence as part of a continuum. It centers women in peace and conflict studies not just as victims but as active agents. It brings feminist insights into key discussions around gender, peace, and security, and takes seriously the lived experiences of women and other marginalized groups.

• Challenges of contemporary African feminists
• Feminism, militarization, and peacebuilding
• Experiences of women peacebuilders in the Cameroonian context (read more here)

The Feminist Idea Lab is a continuation of the vital work of feminist networks that our local offices cooperate with across sub-Saharan Africa. It offers feminist activists from academia, civil society, political arena, trade union the opportunity to exchange ideas on burning issues, regional experiences and political strategies, and serves as a space to experiment with new ideas and projects.

As intersecting inequalities increasingly and rapidly transform into violence against women, effective redistributive policies are more necessary than ever. To protect the most vulnerable and marginalized, coherent organizing and mobilization are essential. Persistent activism, along with amplifying the voices of local movements at national and international levels, is crucial for realizing the new feminist era we envision.

Despite all opposition, we are sure:
The Progressive Future is Feminist!