Women Spiritual Peacebuilders
Women have a unique and important role to play in building conditions of sustainable peace. UN Resolution 1325, adopted by the Security Council in 2000, was a landmark statement recognizing the importance of women in peacemaking. Resolution 1325 
acknowledged the historical significance of women’s peacemaking efforts, recognized the heavy burden women and children bear as a result of armed conflict, affirmed that women bring a unique set of skills and interests to the peace process, and recommended that women be included in all levels of peacemaking and post conflict reconstruction. In the past ten years, women have played a major part in peacemaking efforts in Europe, Asia, South America, Africa, and the Middle East. In Israel, women’s groups were among the first to endorse a two-state solution, to engage in dialogue with Palestinians, to provide humanitarian assistance and condolences to victims on both sides, and to speak out against military solutions
Women bring special skills to peacemaking. They are more likely than men to be involved in grassroots movements, to build coalitions, and to be on the front lines of organizing humanitarian aid. Women are more sensitive to relational cues than men, have higher levels of empathy, and have better nonverbal decoding skills. They are more likely to disclose personal experience (key to developing relationships); more likely to confront conflict directly, especially if the issues are emotional; and more likely to develop and maintain networks. These skills make women particularly helpful in the pre-negotiation and follow-up phases of peacemaking.
Societies that condone or promote violence against women have been consistently shown to be violent in other ways as well. Women’s role in peacemaking therefore goes beyond preventing or ending war; it also involves addressing the structural causes of violence against women. Women also play a critical role in healing trauma, creating sustainable economic growth, and passing values down to the next generation. Any peacemaking effort that doesn’t include women in significant numbers and important roles is bound to fail. CRT supports a number of projects designed to promote women in peacebuilding, especially women of faith.
Events and Activities
Women’s Interfaith Leadership Development
CRT is committed to developing and supporting a model for the participation of women of faith in peacemaking. This process began in Amman, Jordan, in September, 2007, with a meeting of fifteen women from across the Middle East – five Jews, five Muslims, and five Christians. Women were selected on the basis of religious affiliation, experience with peace building, leadership capacity, and commitment to working in an interfaith context. After two and a half days of intensive workshops, dialogue and planning, the women had developed the seeds of a network of women committed to building peace in the Middle East, and a model for developing women’s interfaith leadership had begun to emerge. Several concrete actions resulted from the meeting, including an award-winning article published in the Jerusalem Post by one of the participants (see Barbara Sofer, In the News). Additional follow up steps are currently being planned, including a replication of the Amman workshop in the United States.
Read more about the Amman meeting.
Trauma Healing and Peace
The long-term public health consequences of war are profound. Armed conflict and other forms of mass violence increase maternal and child mortality rates, affect nutrition and infectious diseases, and create severe psychological stress. Health systems may be destroyed and take years to rebuild, and it may take even longer to heal the psychological wounds inflicted.
Understanding the trauma model is essential to peace building. Trauma affects groups and societies as well as individuals, and is often passed from generation to generation. A traumatized individual responds habitually from fear. If trauma is triggered, concentration narrows, a “flight or fight” response occurs, and new information cannot be processed. A traumatized group or society acts in a similar fashion, projecting unconscious fears onto the other. Urgently needing to feel safe, the traumatized group may end up doing violence in patterns that closely resemble their own trauma. Until true healing and forgiveness occurs, victim becomes perpetrator and perpetrator becomes victim in an endless cycle.
Women are essential to breaking the trauma cycle. Their emotional skills make it possible for them to process traumatic memories and to empathize with others, even with “the enemy.” Their relationship skills make them natural healers, and their role as caretakers and mothers make them gatekeepers for the next generation. CRT is developing a model for using interfaith trauma healing and education as a peace building tool in conflict areas. The first pilot project is currently under development.
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