publication

Mobilizing gender for conflict prevention women's situation rooms

Authors:
Paula DRUMOND RANGEL CAMPOS
Elisabeth PRüGL
Maria Consolata SPANO
2021

In West Africa, women's organizations have created the Women's Situation Room (WSR) – a mechanism aimed at preventing and responding to episodes of violence and instability. Drawing on experiences from Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria, the article explores how strategies developed and deployed by WSRs use gender as a productive force to counteract violence. We identify three ways in which WSRs take advantage of gendered constructions: feminist organizing creates the political networks that make the WSRs possible; women’s location outside formal politics gives them legitimacy; and maternal constructions of femininity give them the power to disrupt and coopt potentially violent actors.