Women in war and crisis zones: one key to Africa’s wars of underdevelopment

The paper draws on research in war and post-war situations in Africa, Asia, the Balkans, Colombia and Palestine to illustrate how modern wars have a disproportionate impact on women in patterns common to all continents. It underlines findings by many international organisations about the key role women could play in peace-building or reconciliation, but argues that this will not be possible without new imaginative interventions in areas such as justice and psycho-social health, and without a shift in gender power relations in many areas.