"Equality and development will not be achieved however if peace is not understood from women's' point of view"

Equality and development depend on a definition of peace that reflects the lived realities of women. Peace cannot be reduced to the absence of war or the silence of guns; it must include freedom from fear and want in homes, streets, schools, hospitals, and workplaces. When safety, dignity, and bodily autonomy are missing in everyday life, formal stability masks deep insecurity, and progress stalls.

For many women, the most immediate threats are domestic violence, harassment, trafficking, discriminatory laws, and the crushing burden of unpaid care. These forces limit mobility, education, economic participation, and political voice. A country may boast growth and infrastructure, yet if women cannot travel safely to work, access reproductive healthcare, own property, or seek justice without shame and retaliation, development remains partial and unequal. Narrow peace agreements that ignore these realities leave the roots of conflict intact and allow violence to continue in private and community spaces.

Including women’s perspectives reshapes priorities: survivor-centered justice, prevention of gender-based violence, safe public transport and sanitation, livelihoods that recognize care work, and equitable access to land, credit, and technology. When women participate meaningfully in negotiations and reconstruction, agreements tend to be more durable because they widen the agenda from ceasefires to social cohesion and accountability. Gender-responsive disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration, as well as investment in health, education, and childcare, convert peace into everyday security and opportunity.

The practical implications are clear. Redefine security indicators to track GBV, maternal health, time poverty, and access to justice. Fund grassroots women’s organizations that understand local risks and solutions. Collect sex-disaggregated data to guide policy. Reform laws on inheritance, citizenship, and labor. Engage men and boys to transform norms that sustain violence. Attend to intersectionality so the needs of rural, indigenous, migrant, and disabled women are not sidelined.

Only when peace is built from women’s experiences will equality be substantive and development sustainable.