Women and the Art of Peacemaking: Data from Israeli‐Palestinian Interactive Problem‐Solving Workshops

Abstract

Are women "natural" peacemakers? If so, is this because of natural inclinations to avoid conflict or to engage in tough discussions? Are there particular skills in which women excel that make them more likely than their male counterparts to be able to build relational bridges, to facilitate negotiations, and to reduce tensions? After a review of the literature on gender differences in such skills, a systematic comparison of interaction quality is made between two Israeli-Palestinian interactive problem-solving workshops that differed only in gender composition. A third Israeli-Palestinian workshop that involved female political elites is also examined for subsequent changes in the conflict relationship or for changes in political activity. The implications of different repertoires of skills for altering political processes are discussed.Many people assume a natural link between women and peace. Women have often been in the forefront of peace movements (Alonso, 1993; Harris & King, 1989;Sharoni, 1995). Does this mean that women are "natural" peacemakers? If so, is this because of natural inclinations to avoid conflict or to engage in tough discussions? Are there particular skills in which women excel that make them more likely than their male counterparts to be able to build relational bridges, to facilitate negotiations, and to reduce tensions?In this article, we seek to answer these questions by observing and comparing interaction styles of male and female Palestinian and Israeli participants in three

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An Experiment in Peace: Reconciliation-Aimed Workshops of Jewish-Israeli and Palestinian Youth

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Half of the Cabinet: Explaining Ethiopia’s Move to Gender Parity in the Government

“…The latter judge the prime minister's efforts to build a stable cabinet not only on the basis of the representational criteria that are important domestically, but also on the basis of criteria they value. Increasingly, women's empowerment and gender equality are an important focus of donors, because progress in these areas is assumed to have a positive impact on good governance and to reduce conflict and corruption (Caprioli, 2000(Caprioli, , 2005Caprioli and Boyer, 2001;Dollar et al, 2001;Esarey and Chirillo, 2013;Hudson et al, 2008Hudson et al, , 2012Koch and Fulton, 2011;Melander, 2005;Pearson d'Estree and Babbitt, 1998;Regan and Paskeviciute, 2003;Tripp, 2015;UN Women, 2013;Valdini, 2019;Weikart et al, 2006).…”