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No peace without women

¡°We cannot speak about empowering women without dismantling the systems that normalize disempowerment,¡± said Mpule Kgetsi, the African Union Youth Ambassador for Peace, highlighting the structural barriers that continue to exclude women from vital peace processes and decisions shaping their future.

Today, despite their critical influence, women continue to be largely excluded from formal peace processes. In 2024, women made up only worldwide. The figures remain drastically below the United Nations¡¯ minimum one-third target.

¡°Without the inclusion of young women, peace will continue to be just an illusion in this world,¡± said Samira Rashwan, the Founder of the Strategic Priorities Hub. ¡°Our demand should be gender parity, nothing less.¡±

¡°Let us move from inclusion to influence. Let us not only invite young women into peace processes, let¡¯s trust them to lead them,¡± added Nia Abad?i?, a youth leader from Bosnia and Herzegovina. ¡°When women are included, peace follows. It's more tangible and it endures to the end.¡±

Despite women¡¯s exclusion in most formal peace efforts, women play key roles in local peacebuilding. For example, in recent years, in Ethiopia, Liberia and Kenya influenced peace processes and agreements at local, regional and national levels.

¡°Enhancing young women's capacities to be leaders in their communities is a pathway for them to be advocates for inclusive and sustainable economic recovery and peace,¡± said Sophia Dianne Gracia from the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders. 

¡°Supporting young women peacebuilders creates waves that reach far beyond the individual, growing into movements, into communities and into policies.¡±

Unfortunately, this progress comes at a price. In early 2025, the global effort to advance gender equality faced , with countries reporting a backlash on women¡¯s rights in nearly a quarter of all countries seeking to implement the - the global blueprint for advancing women's rights. 

Moreover, there have been severe financial challenges for women's groups on the ground. found that funding for local women's organizations in conflict and crisis settings has decreased three years in a row. 

Representatives from Germany and Finland, key investors in the women¡¯s and youth peace agendas, also participated in the Peace Circle. ¡°Investing in young women peacebuilders is the wisest and only choice we have to make our societies and communities sustainable,¡± said Konrad Helmut Arz von Straussenburg from the German Federal Foreign Office. 

¡°Investing in young women peacebuilders is the smart thing to do,¡± added Awa Dabo, the Deputy Head of the UN Peacebuilding Support Office which earmarks significant funding to women and youth-focused projects in several countries. 

Participants at the Peace Circles affirmed the call for action, demanding greater and more sustained investments in young women peacebuilders to meet the challenges of these uncertain times.

This action is critical for achieving ¡°a feminist peace where safety, dignity and care are inseparable from civic freedom; where every young woman can lead without fear, at home, online and in society," concluded Shkula Zadran, the former Afghan Youth Envoy to the United Nations. 

Learn about the UN Women's Young Women Peacebuilders Initiative. 

Disproportionately impacted by violence

While the world faces unprecedented conflict, crisis, displacement and soaring military spending, structural and financial support for women peacebuilders, and life-saving aid for women and girls trapped in conflict remains woefully inadequate. Recent years have seen a drastic rise in the number of women being killed, violated and displaced by war, according to .

In 2024, the United Nations documented over 4,600 cases of used as a tactic of war, terror, and repression, marking an alarming 87 per cent increase between 2022 and 2024. The , where gender-based violence was assessed as severe or extreme in 22 out of 25 countries. 

Compounding the situation, over 120 million people were forcibly displaced at the end of 2024, representing a decade of relentless year-on-year increases. Over 60 million forcibly displaced and stateless women and girls face elevated risks of gender-based violence.

Moreover, during conflicts, there were over 1,600 attacks on in 16 countries and territories with complex humanitarian emergencies in 2024 alone. In many of these countries, including Palestine, Sudan and Ukraine, were deprived of life-saving services, including sexual and reproductive healthcare.  

Learn about the .