Women, Gender Equality, and Post-Conflict Transformation: Lessons Learned, Implications for the Future by Joyce P. Kaufman & Kristen P. Williams

Author:Joyce P. Kaufman & Kristen P. Williams [Kaufman, Joyce P. & Williams, Kristen P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472468956
Goodreads: 29140162
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2016-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

Bosnia, Dayton, and lessons to be learned

In the first decade after the signing of the Dayton Accords, it was evident that the international administration of Bosnia included little input from local actors and civil society organizations, including women’s NGOs, in terms of the policies and the implementation of those policies. Today, two decades after the Dayton agreement, the country continues to be plagued by serious political, economic, and security challenges. By far “the most serious macroeconomic problem” is the high unemployment level. While in 2006 the government instituted a value-added tax in order to gain much-needed revenue, the fact of the matter is that “a large share of economic activity remains unofficial and unrecorded.”104 Large-scale demonstrations in 2014 reflected the frustration of Bosnia’s citizens with the dire economic situation given overall unemployment rate at 45% (youth unemployment at more than 60%).105

Politically, the process of state integration and consolidation remains stagnant. Attempts at concluding an agreement on constitutional reforms in the last five years, for example having one president rather than the current structure of the three-person presidency, have not materialized.106 After the 2010 state elections, a new central government was finally formed in early 2012. But that new government has not been effective in large part because of “political squabbling” that negatively affects the country’s “ability to engage in reforms needed to boost its economy and move closer to the EU” since “major decisions have to be made by consensus among the main ethnic parties.” The problem is that the different entities do not share the same vision of what Bosnia’s future should be.107 In fact, in April 2015, the SNSD Party, the largest Serb party in Bosnia, whose leader, Milorad Dodik, is also the president of the Serb Republic, adopted a resolution threatening to hold a referendum on independence in 2018 if the Serb Republic does not get more autonomy and power by the end of 2017.108 Without a shared vision for moving the country forward, the post-conflict transition will remain just that – a transition, with lack of stability and sustainability.

There is also a gendered aspect to the lack of a shared vision. The war brought about the redefinition as well as the renegotiation of gender roles. Women became heads of households, engaged in community activism, and worked in both the informal and formal economies to ensure an income. With the end of the war, women face continued challenges and uncertainty as a result of the absence of men as well as high unemployment and poverty, and prevailing traditional gender roles for women – and men.109 As Elmaja Bavcic and Zlatan Delic conclude: “wartime discrimination against women did not subside during peace.”110 In essence, Bosnia’s peace can be described as a “gendered peace.” A gendered peace, according to Donna Pankhurst, is one in which “women usually remain marginal, as a group or as individuals, in peace negotiations, in consultations about post-war strategies, and in the public life of post-war societies.”111

In considering the political, economic, and security challenges facing

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