Q&A: Women’s participation is key for preventing conflict, says Norway’s Deputy Minister for International Development
In only five years, the world has seen a 50% increase in the number of women and girls living in areas of conflict, which reached 614 million in 2022. Across many conflict and crisis-affected countries – including Sudan, Yemen, Gaza, Ukraine, Haiti, Afghanistan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo – women and girls continue to suffer the consequences of war, including increases in gender-based violence, higher rates of maternal mortality, as well as economic impacts.
Yet, women are key to both preventing conflict and responding to it if it does erupt. Peace processes that include women are more resilient and durable, and gender-equal societies are less likely to experience conflict in the first place. Across many communities, local women-led organizations are the first ones to respond to the needs of their communities when a conflict or disaster strikes, but the majority still lack the flexible and sustained funding they need to adequately respond to a crisis. Despite increasing needs, yearly funding to women’s rights organizations in fragile contexts remains at only $198 million on average — less than a tenth of a percent of total official development assistance.
On the sidelines of the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, the WPS-HA Compact spoke to Bjorg Sandkjaer , the Deputy Minister for International Development at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, about what’s needed to advance gender equality in conflict and how member states – including Norway as the Compact board co-chair – can make sure much-needed funding reaches local, women-led organizations
The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Q: What are the biggest barriers to advancing gender equality in conflict situations and humanitarian crises?
It is well-known that conflicts and crises affect men and women in different ways. The location of conflicts and wars has also changed, and many violent conflicts now happen where people live, be it in cities or other densely populated areas. That means civilians are much more prone to experience the impacts of violent conflicts and wars than they were before.
The best protection against conflict is women’s participation and for them to be able to influence the situation and the response. We still see too few women at the peace negotiation tables, in political positions, and in other positions of decision-making.
Q: What role do women-led organizations play in responding to conflict in their communities?
Women tend to organize differently, be it in civil society or community organizations, and we must recognize that these structures play an important role in conflict response. Those of us looking to advance the WPS agenda need to find ways to link up with women's organizations and with civil society. These organizations are often community-based and the first ones to respond to the needs of their community – but they need to be adequately supported.
Women also play an important role in conflict prevention. Communities will see the signs that a conflict is brewing, that something might be escalating. If there were ways for communities to alert authorities, to ask for help, and to access resources that enables them to de-escalate a potential conflict, then these organizations could contribute even more to conflict prevention.
The Compact is advancing a new way of looking at conflict by recognizing that it's much more complex than just militaries clashing, and that we need to involve women and women-led organizations in prevention, as well as in response. These women-led organizations are a kind of early warning system, and there need to be structures in place that can receive and respond to their warnings. It’s also about making sure they are resourced and have access to reliable funding, because such networks are important partners in response to conflicts and emergencies.
Q: Part of this year's theme for the Commission on the Status of Women was to strengthen institutions and financing with a gender perspective. What role do member states play in advancing these goals? And what are Norway’s priorities?
Member states are very important for providing financing and while the international system can provide some support, member states are key for financing. One very important tool for redistribution and raising funds is through taxes. Norway is currently working a lot on taxation together with other countries. There are several processes in the context of the UN and the OECD that look at how we can put in place global taxation agreements to tax multinationals, as well as ways to strengthen domestic taxation at the country level.
As Norway, we find that our experience in taxation is in demand – we know about tax and have therefore set up programs to support countries that would like to learn from our experience. When you construct a taxation system, you need to recognize how it might affect men and women differently, and you have to be mindful not to create taxation systems that disproportionately affect women. You need to consider the gender aspects, for example by constructing a taxation system that gives tax credits to people with very low incomes, which would mostly benefit women as they are often the ones earning low wages.
At the global level, the Women's Peace & Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) , as well as country financing mechanisms under OCHA [the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs] help provide funding that, in turn, can help reach some of those community-led organizations.
Q: Norway has been a driving signatory to the WPS-HA Compact and a co-chair of its board. What has Norway and its partners been able to achieve that wouldn't have been possible without the support and network of the Compact?
The Compact is an important platform that brings together different types of actors, including member states, UN organizations, civil society, as well as regional organizations, and it provides a space for all of us to share our experiences and discuss how to jointly address these issues. This kind of space didn’t exist before, and it helps to move these discussions forward.
We're also approaching the Summit of the Future, and the Compact can help bring in an intergenerational aspect to this convening. For Norway, it’s really important to bring in young leaders who can inform the responses to these new threats facing young women, including online harassment and digital conflicts.
The fact that the Compact has given priority to building a digital self-reporting platform where each signatory submits yearly reports also really helps to boost transparency and accountability. There are a lot of civil society organizations on the platform, and they are really good at reporting – and we would like to see more member states join the Compact and report on their progress in advancing these issues.
The Compact is an important platform that brings together different types of actors, including Member States, UN organizations, civil society, as well as regional organizations, and it provides a space for all of us to share our experiences and discuss how to jointly address these issues.
Friedensforscher - Peace Researcher
7moAbsolutely true, as also stated in the #resolution1325 of the UN Security Council. But another factor hindering peaceful societies is a widespread violence against children, as my research shows. #endcorporalpunishment #sdg16_2 .