Gendering the 1991-95 Bosnian Peace Process: Current Research and Future Directions

This working paper maps the possibilities for developing a gender perspective of the peace process that took place in BiH between 1991 and 1995. By synthesising the existing literature (which broadly speaking does not have a gender perspective) the working paper identifies where further research and analysis could provide a gendered perspective on the peace process in BiH. This task is a challenging one, not least because it is not an “obvious” case study, given that the oft-repeated narrative in BiH is that women were not involved. The working paper largely proceeds in a chronological order, and is divided into three parts. Part One begins with an overview of the peace processes that took place before the bulk of the diplomatic work on Dayton started. Part Two focuses on the run up to the Dayton negotiations, as well as the negotiations themselves and giving a feminist analysis of the peace agreement (known as the General Framework Agreement). Both Part One and Part Two end with suggestions for more research to develop a gender perspective on the peace negotiation process. All the suggestions are substantive research projects in their own right and are outlined to provoke further reflection on what it means to develop a gender perspective about the peace process in BiH. Part Three moves away from a more general gender perspective and focuses on a substantive discussion of
female presence during the peace process. Drawing on scholarship concerned with feminist and women’s organising in BiH, and female political roles in BiH, as well as interviews with feminist activists during 2013 and 2014, Part Three offers some thoughts about why female presence in the Bosnian peace process was so limited. This is crucial work for drawing out reasons for female exclusion, and like in Parts One and Two, I outline a number of directions that future research
could take. In conclusion, this working paper argues that it is important to develop a gender perspective on the 1991-5 peace process, in particular because the Dayton Agreement continues to be criticised for the constitution that was produced through that process (Husanović 2015; Mujkic 2008; Sebastian 2007).