The shared experiences of women and their potential to contribute both to war and particularly to peace are highlighted in this discussion of the long-running conflicts in the Middle East, Africa and Eastern Europe. Policy makers, practitioners and academics consider why women’s concerns have yet to be placed at the forefront of both analysis and practical outcomes. This selection of essays presents an overview of different feminist approaches to peace building and conflict resolution and puts forward concrete policy measures to achieve these ends. Contributors argue for the need to move beyond the myriad projects that involve women to consider the factors that contribute to the relatively poor overall impact of such projects - an outcome that often results from a failure to understand the underlying gendered power relations and the dynamics of social change

Preface
Part 1
Introduction: War and peace: what do women
contribute?
Haleh Afshar
The 'sex war' and other wars: towards a feminist approach to peace building
Donna Pankhurst
Women and wars: some trajectories towards a feminist peace
Haleh Afshar
Developing policy on integration and re/construction in Kosova
Chris Corrin
Kosovo: missed opportunities, lessons for the future
Lesley Abdela
Training the uniforms: gender and peacekeeping operations
Angela Mackay
Palestinian women, violence, and the peace process
Maria Holt
Women and conflict transformation: influences, roles, and experiences
Ann Jordan
Fused in combat: gender relations and armed conflict
Judy El-Bushra
Women in Afghanistan: passive victims of the borga or active social participants?
Elaheh Rostami Povey
Part 2
Introduction: Peace and reconstruction - agency and agencies
Deborah Eade
Relief agencies and moral standing in war: principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality, and solidarity
Hugo Slim
Aid: a mixed blessing
Mary B. Anderson
Women and war: protection through empowerment in El Salvador
Martha Thompson and Deborah Eade
Sustainable peace building in the South: experiences from Latin America
Jenny Pearce
Training for peace
Glenda Caine
Making peace as development practice
Sumaya Farhat-Naser and Gila Svirsky
Building bridges for peace
Rola Hamed
Human security and reconstruction efforts in Rwanda: impact on the lives of women
Myriam Gervais
Mission impossible: gender, conflict, and Oxfam GB
Suzanne Williams
Resources
Index