Building Peace Needs Women

Peace Building Needs Women

Women are not participating in sufficient numbers in peace-building work. This is not a surprise.

UN Women made this point well in a recent report. They shared an infographic to demonstrate how few women have been involved in peace bulding work. A major heading: “Women’s representation in major peace processes between 1990 and 2017.”

What percentage do you think have been women?

Only 8% of peace negotiators have been women. As witnesses and signatories, only 5%, and as mediators, 2%!

Gender-sensitive issues have been included in 3 of 11 peace agreements signed in 2017, they report. An “enabling environment to include women” would be a culture where women have equality before the law, security and protection from violence, and social services, such as childcare, that allow women to participate.

The most telling data point is that peace agreements last significantly longer when women are involved!

The infographic has a flow chart showing the necessary steps for inclusion of women. Start on the right. My favorite is when the answer to women’s inclusion is no, the flow chart says, Start over!

Artificial Intelligence

Today I attended the Alumnae Seminar in Stamford, CT. Today’s topic was Artificial Intelligence.

This Seminar was the 39th in a series that was started by alumnae from the Seven Sisters, the women’s colleges that were the female equivalent of the men’s Ivy League. Today only a few of the women’s colleges are just for women. My alma mater, Mount Holyoke, is one.

Each year a group of volunteers chooses the topic, researches possible speakers, and then does all the planning and preparation for the event. The result today was excellent.

Valerie Barr, one of the speakers, is chair of Mount Holyoke’s Computer Science Department. Her bio says, “Barr is involved in curriculum development, chiefly through the creation of interdisciplinary programs, with a goal of changing the demographics and increasing enrollments in computer science.”

Maybe she should work on getting more women into peace-building too!

The challenges of AI include how far we should go in giving power to artificial intelligence. She said a basic question is, “Just because we can [make AI more powerful,] should we?

Another faculty member at Mount Holyoke, Eva Paus, has just published a book called Confronting Dystopia, addressing this question.

“The book analyzes the implications of the technological revolution on jobs, living and working conditions and income. It distinguishes those conditions between the Global North, made up of wealthy, well-developed countries, and the Global South, which consists of poorer, less-developed countries,” I read in the news about the book.

Fascinating and challenging questions! And of course I wonder: Will the Global South, including Nigeria, be left further behind as technology advances?

Politics in Nigeria Today

The website and news blog 247 has an article praising the choice of the vice presidential candidate, Peter Obi, for the APC. It came from the World Igbo Congress.

http://247ureports.com/2018/10/wic-commends-the-selection-of-chief-peter-obi-as-vice-presidential-candidate-for-pdp/

Igbo people have many organizations which say they speak for the Igbo people. This one is based in Dallas. They do not claim to represent all Igbo people – that would be a stretch. Their mission is to be the vehicle for Igbo people in the Diaspora.

They seem to be active – they held a conference in Nashville in August. Their women’s group appears strong. Could these women influence peace negotiations in Nigeria with Boko Haram?