CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2014
| Author | Daurer, Vanessa Yvonne |
|---|---|
| Title | Raising Their Voices: Women's Mobilization in Nepal's Conflict and Transition |
| Summary | When the peace talks were initiated in Nepal in 2006, between the Seven Party Alliance and the Maoists after the decade long People’s War (1996-2006), women were excluded from the peace processes, despite their significant contributions in bringing the two conflicting parties to the peace negotiations. As had been the case in many conflict countries around the world, women were excluded from peace talks and decision-making procedures and pushed back into traditional gender hierarchies. Unlike in many other post-conflict societies, women in Nepal refused to be pushed back and excluded by mobilizing themselves and protesting strongly through e.g. rallies and campaigns. I examine what factors influenced women’s movements’ active engagement in the peace process and in achieving policy changes in the aftermath of conflict, such as a quota of 33% women representation in the Constituent Assembly. The empirical findings, based on semi-structured interviews with women leaders, NGO-leaders, women activists and female parliamentarians, suggest that there had been three important preconditions to women’s active mobilization during the peace process: 1) women’s organization and activism prior to conflict, 2) committed and conscious women leaders, and 3) women’s networks and unity on security related issues. These networks cut across societal divisions and the women’s movement actively engaged with key policymakers and state stakeholders, which became a critical part of women’s repertoire of actions in contentious politics. Nepal’s women’s movement demonstrates several generalizable characteristics of a strong social movement which I claim enabled women to overcome post-conflict challenges. |
| Supervisor | Makszin, Kristin |
| Department | International Relations MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2014/daurer_vanessa.pdf |
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