Opinion | Women Peacebuilders: Bridging Divides

Women are emerging as pillars of peace and progress. Through compassion, courage, and community efforts, they are quietly stitching together a future defined by trust, opportunity, and collective healing.

Women’s Experience of Conflict is Different. She perceives conflict in ways that are frequently more personal, traumatic, and enduring than for men. While men are more actively involved as combatants, women bear disproportionately the indirect effects of conflict like displacement, separation from families, dissolution of community institutions, sexual and gender-based violence. In some conflicts, rape is employed as a weapon of war to terrorize communities and exercise control. The resulting emotional and psychological harm frequently goes unattended because of social stigma, silence, and the absence of mental health care. Additionally, women become heads of household during conflict, becoming new caregivers, breadwinners, and guardians with no support or resources. They are left to work through ruined social systems, restricted health care, and interrupted schooling for their children. Conflict can reinforce inequalities in male dominated societies, further inhibiting women from taking back power or reconstructing their lives after conflict. Due to these multiple burdens, women also build resilience, local knowledge, and survival strategies that make them indispensable to peacebuilding. Their experiences provide them with a very particular sense of what communities require for recovery and healing locating them at the center of any durable, inclusive peace process.

Why it is Important to Engage Women in Peace-Building:

When women are brought into peace-building, the outcomes are more powerful, lasting, and significant. Based on research conducted by UN Women and the Council on Foreign Relations, peace accords that involve women are 35% more likely to endure for 15 years or more. This is because women don’t merely speak of ending violence, they speak of healing wounds, restoring trust, and building a brighter future for families and communities.

Women prioritize actual issues that are important to the citizens; children’s education, sick people’s health, meals on the table, and quiet homes. Women seek to heal relationships and unite people, even after decades of combat and terror. Women tend to be the initial responders in moments of conflict assisting neighbors, mentoring children, and protecting families. This is why women need to be included when we discuss peace.

In Kashmir, women have personally witnessed the anguish of terror and turmoil. They have alone raised children, tended to injured relatives, and kept households together during the toughest of times. But they are seldom consulted when decisions are made. If their opinions were taken, Kashmiri women can have a strong contribution towards creating peace at village levels, towns, and even at government levels. They can talk to people from communities. They know their families’ needs. They understand how to rebuild trust. Kashmiri women belong to the grassroot and can engage with the locals through self-help groups, Anganwadis, and panchayats. They are teachers, nurses, social workers, or just capable mothers. With some effort, they can become peace leaders to speak to youth, mediate minor disputes, assist survivors, and serve as a link between the government and community. Also, when women are brought into leadership and decision-making, the whole society becomes fairer and more peaceful. Nations and societies that involve women are more stable, less violent, and develop faster. This is what we want for Kashmir and our Country. If we are to have Viksit Bharat a developed and powerful India, we cannot afford to leave behind women. And we cannot construct peace without their assistance. Engaging Kashmiri women in peacebuilding is not only good for women it is good for all. They can assist in restoring trust, reconstructing homes and hearts, and providing our children with a future free from fear. Peace starts at home, and women are the center of every home. Let’s bring them to the forefront of peace.

There are some groundbreaking steps and efforts taken by the women of Kashmir themselves, realizing their potential in peacebuilding. For instance, Mental well-being is a critical but often neglected aspect of peace-building after war. Srinagar psychiatrist Dr. Henna Bhat has been instrumental in bringing mental health services to communities affected by trauma throughout Kashmir. With better security and access, she trains neighborhood women as mental health workers within their communities, building networks of support that mitigate stigma and provide long-term stability. Her methods extend beyond therapy for traumatic instills hope, resilience, and dignity. Empowered by improved outreach and logistic support, her efforts facilitate healing within communities, reestablishing emotional health and trust. Another amazing woman is Ezabir Ali, a seasoned peace builder who has been working throughout Jammu, Ladakh, and Kashmir. Through art, storytelling, and positive dialogue, Ezabir heals the richly textured social scars left in the wake of decades of partition. Women are learning to reconstruct their stories, find solidarity in shared pain, and mobilize for peaceful futures.

While progress is heartening, there are obstacles. Societal norms, mobility controls, and cultural practices can still restrict women’s active participation in decision-making. But global agendas such as UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which demands greater representation of women in peace building, provide sorely needed push. Growing awareness throughout India and Kashmir of the necessity of engaging women at every stage of policymaking and people’s development and providing them with greater amplification of their voices is evident. Today, Kashmir’s new narrative is not one of conflict but of rebirth. Determined women leaders, empowered citizens, and the enabling climate generated by national efforts towards stability are all coming together to write a new chapter. The synergy among community organizations, local government, and security agencies provides fertile ground for trust building and shared prosperity. The narrative is being transformed from a narrative of adversity to one of hope. By investing in women’s leadership, inclusive development, and long-term security and dialogue, Kashmir is providing the world with a very strong example of a model for how peace and progress can emerge from even the most challenging histories.

Writer can be reached drkshn666@gmail.com