Female Religious Actors as Peace Agents in Afghanistan

Abstract

With some notably rare exceptions, the literature on religion and peacebuilding has predominantly focused on men as religious actors, leaving the works of female religious actors in the shadows. This research focuses on a group of female religious actors in Afghanistan, their aspirations, and modes of working to build peace in their country. The research draws on structured interviews with 20 female members of a network of religious actors working for peace. In addition, quantitative data on activities carried out by those women and other network members has been employed to contextualise and improve the validity of findings. By examining the experiences and perceptions of these female religious leaders, the article illustrates the importance of religious literacy for Muslim women working for peace in Afghanistan. This research shows that such literacy facilitates social acceptance: it enables women to maximise the impact of the gendered peacebuilding spaces they have and, more importantly, to enlarge those spaces and create opportunities for conflict transformation.

Keywords:

• Afghanistan
• religion
• female religious actors
• women
• peacebuilding
• conflict mediation

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Javier Fabra-Mata

JAVIER FABRA-MATA, PhD, is a senior advisor for methods and results at Norwegian Church Aid, focusing on Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East. His research areas of interest include peace mediation, peacebuilding, evaluation, and conflict and fragility measurements. His international experience includes working with Norad, UNDP, OSCE, UN DPKO and WFP.

Muzhgan Jalal

MUZHGAN JALAL is a programme officer at Norwegian Church Aid, focusing on gender and conflict transformation and inclusion of women in peacebuilding. Prior to that she worked as project coordinator with the Right to Play Canada and was the founder of Ariana Development Foundation, an organisation working for Afghan refugees.