This article first appeared in our COP29 special issue of My Green Pod Magazine. Click here to subscribe to our digital edition and get each issue delivered straight to your inbox
Main image: Red Shoes (Zapatos Rojos), by Mexican artist Elina Chauvet, is a powerful installation that reminds us of women who were murdered or who disappeared because of their gender
Courageous women in Ukraine and Russia are determined to find out what female compatriots who have lived through this wartime period want, what they believe in and what they hope for.
They spoke with women from different regions of Russia and Ukraine. What they discovered is compelling.
Women from different countries, cities and professions, answering 20 questions about themselves and the world, all say the same thing: they have ‘war fatigue’ and a strong ‘demand for peace’. No one wanted ‘war until the victorious end’.
What they fear most is a longer war; they fear more illness, poverty, hunger, the death of children, the prospect of dying without seeing relatives in another country.
War to them is ‘fear, repression, the loss of everything, of our rights and freedom.’ Because of this, women no longer make plans for the future. They live one day at a time.
Asked who is responsible, the most common answer is the ambitions of male politicians in power.
All respondents believe that the global world is developing in the wrong direction and is moving towards collapse or degradation.
The reason for this, to them, is the weak presence of peace-building women in positions of power. The consequence is an arms race which is exhausting the economies of East and West.
Unanimously, they say that peace ‘is the stability we previously did not appreciate. Peace is the ability to plan life. Without peace, most things lose their meaning.’
The respondents’ demands are for the cooperation of the two countries, the expansion of women’s presence in power, health, wellbeing and freedom of speech – all of which require peace.
These women know that the male need for revenge is often triggered by shame and feelings of humiliation, including a failure to protect the women they love.
Revenge seems like the only way to alleviate these feelings and restore their sense of pride.
Women realise that to break this cycle of violence we need a new approach.
Since they are not usually instigators of cycles of violence, they bring less charged emotional baggage with them. They can use their skills of patient deep listening with careful attention and feedback, so that opponents are heard and powerful feelings are less likely to feed the vicious cycle.
Women also tend to use intuition to enable parties to understand what’s needed in the moment.
They come up with ideas and possibilities that could ‘enlarge the pie, which men in power might not dream of.’
The ‘secret back channels’ – crucial in resolving many conflicts – can most effectively be carried out by women. In such quiet conversations, the ability to speak truth to power without provoking hostility and violence can bring clarity and hope.
A balance of women in negotiating teams has also been shown to help reach a peace deal that lasts longer.
Statistical analysis of 182 signed peace agreements between 1989 and 2011 revealed that peace agreements where women are involved are 35% more likely to last for 15 years.
This approach is not wishful thinking. In Northern Ireland, where sectarian killings had escalated to crisis levels, two women co-founded the Community for Peace People, mobilising over 10,000 Catholic and Protestant women to march together for peace from 1974 to 1980, risking their lives in the process. They received the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize.
In Liberia, after a 14-year civil war, Christian and Muslim women united in an interfaith movement, the Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace.
They acted as intermediaries between Charles Taylor and rebel leaders and even prevented them from leaving negotiations until agreement had been reached. In 2011 they were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
When massive violence erupted after disputed Kenyan elections in 2007, Dekha Ibrahim Abdi asked 60,000 members of women’s organisations to report on their cell phones what they saw outside their windows.
The information enabled Abdi to plot ‘hotspots’ of violence, develop strategies for each area and, in less than three weeks, bring the violence under control.
In doing this work, Ukrainian and Russian women stand on the shoulders of women elsewhere who have demonstrated the effectiveness of female skills that are key to stopping violence.
This article is based on a survey by Living Voices, with the assistance of journalists from Russia and Ukraine. Additional material was provided by Dr Scilla Elworthy, Business Plan for Peace.
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