Forschung
Rethinking Peacebuilding:
Women, Revolution, Exile and
Conflict Resolution in Yemen
Introduction to the Peace Women Project
Ewa K. Strzelecka
T
he Peace Women Project is a full-length and multisite study of women, revolution, forced migration
and peacebuilding in Yemen and beyond. It proposes a deeper and more critical understanding of
the role of women’s rights activists and refugees in post-­
revolutionary conflicts and peace processes. It focuses particularly, but not exclusively, on female Yemeni activists
based in the Netherlands, Germany and Jordan. The project, which began in October 2021 and will continue until
September 2023, is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship. It is hosted
by the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at
the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam (Netherlands) and by
CARPO – Center for Applied Research with Partnership
with the Orient in Bonn (Germany).
Research Overview
The revolutionary process in Yemen has mobilized masses
and led to a significant politicization and polarization of
Yemeni society, including women. Female political activists participated in Yemen’s uprising (2011–12) and in the
National Dialogue Conference (2013–14) (al-Sakkaf 2018;
Strzelecka 2017; Strzelecka 2018; Shakir et al. 2012; Shakir
2015). However, they have been largely excluded from decision making in the ongoing war that broke out in 2014/15
(Transfeld & Heinze 2019; Zabara & Al-Thawr 2021). Up to
now, for example, almost no women have been among the
negotiators in the U.N.-­sponsored peace talks for Yemen
(Qassim at al. 2020; Buringa 2021). Yet, women leaders
have been active to bring about peace (Heinze & Stevens
2018; Buringa 2021; Awadh & S
­ huja’adeen 2019). Many
of them fled the country and continue political activities
in exile.
Most recent studies on gender, migration and peace have
identified a strong link between the durability of peace
and the political inclusion of women and refugees (Krause
2018; Janmyr 2015). Scholars further argue that women’s
participation increases public representation and brings
their social knowledge and gender-sensitive expertise
to the negotiation table, thus improving the legitimacy
of the agreements reached and increasing chances for a
more inclusive and equative culture of peace (Bell 2015).
At the same time, an analysis of women’s roles in major
peace processes between 1992 and 2018 shows that women remain largely unrepresented at the table, where key
decisions about post-conflict recovery and governance are
being made (Domingo et al. 2013). According to statistics,
women comprise 3% of chief mediators, 4% of signatories
and 13% of all negotiators around the world (UN Women
2020). Similarly, refugees, particularly female refugees,
are rarely consulted and represented in the official peace
talks (Koser 2009; Jacobsen et al. 2008). Academic literature on women’s efforts and actions in peacebuilding and
conflict resolution pays little attention to the potential role
of female refugees and migrants in peace processes. Moreover, the current wave and impact of Yemeni refugees and
asylum seekers have been almost completely overlooked
by researchers.
The Peace Women project attempts to bridge this
knowledge gap by focussing on Yemeni female refugees
and exiled activists to explore how the situation of post-­
revolutionary violence and ongoing war has shaped their
political participation, and how these women have contributed to conflict resolution and peacebuilding in and outside
the country. Until 2019, Yemen’s war produced more than
71,000 Yemeni refugees and asylum seekers, and more
than 3.62 million of internally displaced people (UNHCR
2020). Women (24%) and children (54%) prevail among
displaced persons in Yemen, while conflict-induced international migration of Yemenis has predominantly male
character. Men comprise more than 51% of the Yemeni
refugees and asylum seekers, while women make up 22%
and children 27% of this group (UNHCR 2021). Among
these women are highly educated and well-connected activists who participated in the 2011 Yemeni uprising and
who became involved in Yemen’s transnational politics. A
number of them claim their agency to participate in peace
processes and contribute to social change. These women
are not a homogenous group and may come from different
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The Peace Women Project
political backgrounds, hold diverse understandings of
peace and pursue distinct priorities and political goals
(Krause et al. 2018).
With this in mind, the Peace Women project addresses
the specific questions on how these politically and culturally diverse women enter and negotiate their goals in peace
processes, how they influence homeland politics through
political remittances, and how women transnational networks emerge and endure. The study looks mainly, but not
exclusively, at the Yemeni community in the Netherlands,
Germany and Jordan. According to UNHCR data, Jordan
has one of the highest numbers of Yemeni refugees and
asylum seekers (14,477 in 2019: 75% male and 25% female) (UNHCR 2021). The number of Yemenis in Europe
doubled between 2014 and 2019 to over 11,000 (IDMC
2020). Most of them live in Germany. In 2020, the UNHCR
registered 3,879 Yemeni refugees and asylum seekers in
Germany (65% male and 35% female) and 1,621 in the
Netherlands (82% male and 18% female) (UNHCR 2021).
The current political exile community also consists of
Yemenis with dual citizenship.
The research aims not only at exploring and rethinking
women’s role in peace processes, but will also shed light
on the dynamics between gender, conflict, migration, and
peacebuilding. The results will be put in a broader perspective that links warfare, migration and state formation with
previous research on gender, revolution and transnational
politics. Last but not least, the study will link research
findings to relevant policy makers and put forward evidence-based gender-sensitive policy recommendations to
address the Yemeni crisis and support the peace-building
process. This will be done by addressing the root causes
of the conflict and by recognizing the significance of the
inclusion of women and refugees in sustainable peacebuilding and in the politics of post-conflict reconstruction
in Yemen and beyond.
Literature
Bell, Christine (2015): Text and Context. Evaluating Peace Agreements for
Their Gender Perspective, UN Women. Available at https://wps.unwomen.
org/pdf/research/Bell_EN.pdf (05.01.2021).
Buringa, Joke (2021): Strategizing Beyond the Women, Peace and Security
(WPS) Agenda in Yemen. The Importance of CEDAW, Sana‘a Center
for Strategic Studies. Available at https://sanaacenter.org/publications/
main-publications/14915 (05.01.2021).
Domingo, Pilar et al. (2013): Assessment of the Evidence of Links between
Gender Equality, Peacebuilding and Statebuilding. Literature Review,
London. Available at https://cdn.odi.org/media/documents/8767.pdf
(05.01.2021).
IDMC (2020): Yemen. The Implications of Forced Immobility. Available
at https://www.internal-displacement.org/sites/default/files/publications/
documents/202006-yemen-policy-paper.pdf (05.01.2021).
Jacobsen, Karen, Helen Young and Abdalmonim Osman (2008): ‘Refugees
and IDPs in peacemaking Processes’, in: J. Darby and R.M. Ginty (eds.):
Contemporary Peacemaking, London, pp. 313–327.
Janmyr, Maya (2015): ‘Refugees and peace’ in: C. Bailliet and K.M. Larsen
(eds.): Promoting Peace through International Law, Oxford, pp. 308–328.
Heinze, Marie-Christine and Sophie Stevens (2018): Women as Peacebuilders
in Yemen, SDD/YPC Report. Available at https://www.sddirect.org.uk/
media/1571/sdd_yemenreport_full_v5.pdf (05.01.2021).
Krause Jana, Werner Krause and Piia Bränfors (2018): ‘Women’s participation in peace negotiations and the durability of peace’, in: International
Interactions 44/6, pp. 985–1016.
Awadh, Maha and Nuria Shuja’adeen (2019): Women in Conflict Resolution
and Peacebuilding in Yemen, UN Women. Available at https://arabstates.
unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2019/01/women-in-conflict-resolution-and-peacebuilding-in-yemen#view (05.01.2021).
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al-Sakkaf, Nadia (2018): ‘Negotiating women’s empowerment in the NDC’,
in Marie-Christine Heinze (ed.): Yemen and the Search for Stability. Power,
Politics and Society after the Arab Spring, London, pp. 134–159.
Shakir, Wameedh (2015): Women and Peacemaking in Yemen. Mapping the
Realities, CMI. Available at https://cmi.fi/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/
Women_and_Peacemaking_in_Yemen_EN.pdf (05.01.2021).
Shakir, Wameedh, Mia Marzouk and Saleem Haddad (2012): Strong Voices. Yemeni Women’s Political Participation from Protest to Transition, Safeworld.
https://www.saferworld.org.uk/resources/publications/666-strong-voices
(05.01.2021).
Strzelecka, Ewa (2018): ‘A political culture of feminist resistance. Exploring
women’s agency and gender dynamics in Yemen’s uprising (2011-2015)’,
in Marie-Christine Heinze (ed.): Yemen and the Search for Stability. Power,
Politics and Society after the Arab Spring, London, pp. 47–70.
——— (2017): Mujeres en la Primavera Árabe. Construcción de una Cultura
Política de Resistencia Feminista en Yemen [Women in the Arab Spring.
The Construction of a Political Culture of Feminist Resistance in Yemen],
Madrid.
Transfeld, Mareike and Marie-Christine Heinze (2019): Understanding
Peace Requirements in Yemen. Needs and Roles for Civil Society, Women,
Youth, the Media and the Private Sector, CARPO Report 06. Available
at https://carpo-bonn.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/carpo_policy_report_06_2019.pdf (50.01.2021).
Qassim, Abdulkarim, Loay Amin, Mareike Transfeld and Ewa Strzelecka
(2020): The Role of Civil Society in Peacebuilding in Yemen, CARPO
Brief 18. Available at https://carpo-bonn.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/
carpo_brief_18_04-05-20_EN.pdf (05.01.2021).
UNHCR (2021): ‘Refugee data finder’. Available at https://www.unhcr.org/
refugee-statistics/download/?url=GWpo10 (05.01.2021).
——— (2020): Global Trends Forced Displacement in 2019. Available at
https://www.unhcr.org/globaltrends2019/. (05.01.2021).
UN Women (2020): ‘Facts and figures. Peace and security’. Available at
https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/peace-and-security/facts-andfigures (05.01.2021).
Zabara, Bilkis and Sabria Al-Thawr (2021): ‘The role of women in post-conflict Yemen’, in Amat Al Alim Alsoswa and Noel Brehony (eds.): Building
a New Yemen. Recovery, Transition and the International Community,
London, pp. 97–118.
Dr. Ewa Strzelecka is Marie Skłodowska-Curie
­Postdoctoral Fellow at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
and Principal Investigator in the Peace Women project.
e.strzelecka@vu.nl