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ABSTRACT
In conflict and post-conflict settings, the international community operates with the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda supporting gender equality. During and after war, gender roles are often deeply contested as part of larger societal transformations and uncertainties. In Somalia since the 1960s, gender identities and roles have undergone substantial changes, influenced by contemporary political systems, the women’s movement, civil war and religious transformations. The international community’s role in these societal transformations should not be over-estimated. Life history research with Somali women shows that debates on women’s roles in the public sphere are taking place irrespective of the international agenda. Somali women have, at least since the 1960s, held civil-political leadership positions, despite substantial disagreements on the public role of women in Somalia. Furthermore, the “international” and “local” are difficult to disentangle. The Somali female elite have often spent years abroad and introduced new gender perspectives from places as divergent as Egypt, Russia and the United States. Global cultural and religious trends are influencing post-war Somalia, Somaliland and Puntland. In this complex socio-cultural landscape, the international WPS agenda can support – but also risk delegitimizing – Somali processes and perspectives. The article illustrates the gap that exists between global norms and local realities by focusing on Somali discourse on women’s public roles and political participation.
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Sundus Osman and Elin Doeland (PRIO) for research assistance supporting this article, and to Elin Doeland, Joyce Matthews and anonymous reviewers for constructive feedback on an earlier draft. I am grateful to all of my GENSOM (Gender in politics in Somalia) project colleagues – and in particular Maimuna Mohamud (University of Cambridge) and Laura Hammond (School of Oriental and African Studies) – for their hard work and many inspiring discussions. And a big thank you to all the women and men who have been willing to share their life stories with us, answer our questions or have taken part in the various debates we organized.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1. Goldstein, War and Gender.
2. Kirby and Shepherd, “Reintroducing Women, Peace, Security,” 249.
3. United Nations, Resolution 1325; Kirby and Shepherd, “Reintroducing Women, Peace, Security.”
4. Coomaraswamy, Preventing Conflict and Transforming Justice; Kirby and Shepherd, “Futures Past”; Tryggestad, Women, Peace, Security Agenda; United Nations, Challenge of Sustaining Peace.
5. Coomaraswamy, Preventing Conflict and Transforming Justice.
6. Groβ, “The Journey from Local to Global.”
7. This article uses “Somalia” to refer to south-central Somalia, Puntland and Somaliland, though there is political disagreement as to whether these are federal states within Somalia or independent national units. When I refer to one of these political units in particular, I will indicate this clearly by referring to Somaliland or Puntland.
8. Mohamed, Gender and the Politics of Nation-building.
9. For interesting descriptions of colonial and pre-colonial gender realities, see Kapteijns, “Gender, Transformation of Tradition” and Mohamed, Gender and the Politics of Nation-building.
10. Life history interviews and focus group discussions were conducted by Maimuna Mohamud (for the Heritage Institute for Policy Studies [HIPS]), Sahra Koshin (for HIPS), Muna Hersi (for HIPS), Laura Hammond (SOAS and HIPS) and the author. Maimuna conducted interviews and focus group discussions in Mogadishu, Nairobi, Columbus, Toronto and Doha; Sahra conducted interviews in Garowe; Muna conducted interviews and focus group discussions in Hargeisa; Laura conducted interviews in London and Hargeisa; and I conducted interviews and focus group discussions in Oslo, Nairobi and Hargeisa. The current article builds on Horst and Doeland, Women’s Empowerment Agenda.
11. Hudson, “Decolonising Gender and Peacebuilding,” 197.
12. Gardner and El-Bushra, Somalia: The Untold Story; Mohamed, Gender and the Politics of Nation-building.
13. Horst and Nur, “Governing Mobility Through Humanitarianism.”
14. Gardner and El-Bushra, Somalia: The Untold Story.
15. Davidson, “Somalia in 1975.”
16. All names are pseudonyms with the exception of public figures whose perspectives are well-known, and who have agreed to be named.
17. Amina Daud, Interview, London.
18. Mohamed, Gender and the Politics of Nation-building.
19. Aideed, “Haweenku wa garab.”
20. Gardner and El-Bushra, Somalia: The Untold Story, 96.
21. Mohamed, Gender and the Politics of Nation-building.
22. Ibid.
23. Brons, Society, Security, Sovereignty in Somalia, 200.
24. Abdi, “Convergence: Reimagining Somali Women.”
25. Ibid., 189.
26. Ibid., 189.
27. Mohamud, “Women, Piety, Political Representation.”
28. Amina Daud, Interview, London.
29. Gardner and El-Bushra, Somalia: The Untold Story.
30. Mohamed, Gender and the Politics of Nation-building.
31. Bryden and Steiner, Somalia Between Peace and War; Ingiriis and Hoehne, “Civil War on Somali Women.”
32. Bryden and Steiner, Somalia Between Peace and War, 44.
33. El-Bushra, “Feminism and Peace Activism.”
34. Kapteijns, Clan Cleansing in Somalia.
35. Dickert, Building Inclusive Security; Gardner and El-Bushra, Somalia: The Untold Story.
36. El-Bushra, “Feminism and Peace Activism.”
37. Hodan Abdillahi, Interview, Nairobi.
38. Gardner and El-Bushra, Impact of War on Men.
39. Ibid.
40. Maryam Muse, Interview, Galgacyo (Puntland).
41. El-Bushra, “Gender Relations and Armed Conflict”; Tec, Resilience and Courage.
42. Lindley, “Between a Protracted and a Crisis Situation.”
43. Franceschet, Krook, and Piscopo, Impact of Gender Quotas.
44. Ibid., 2.
45. See Goetz, “Women in Politics”; Tripp, “Autonomy and Cooptation in Africa”; and Burnet, “Gender Balance in Post-Genocide Rwanda.”
46. Paxton, Kunovich, and Hughes, “Gender in Politics,” 265; ibid., 272.
47. Carrol and Dodson, Reshaping the Agenda: Women.
48. Franceschet, Krook, and Piscopo, Impact of Gender Quotas, 13.
49. Shadia Khaliif, Interview, Garowe (Puntland).
50. Nawal Hussein, Interview, Mogadishu (Somalia).
51. Maryam Qaasim, Interview, Oslo.
52. Fartun Suleiman, Interview, Hargeisa (Somaliland).
53. Ellerby, “Understanding Women’s Substantive Representation.”
54. Ibid.
55. Film Screening and Focus Group Discussion, Hargeisa (Somaliland). The film we screened was developed by the research team based on the same data discussed in this article. It is called Somali Women’s Civic Engagement: Past, Present and Future. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYZ2NSERhLU.
56. Khadra Hussein, Interview, Hargeisa (Somaliland).
57. Fardosa Ibrahim, Interview, Hargeisa (Somaliland).
58. Abdi, “Convergence: Reimagining Somali Women,” 185.
59. Qaasim, “Somali Women in Diaspora.”
60. Kapteijns, “Gender, Transformation of Tradition.”
61. Bryden and Steiner, Somalia Between Peace and War, 51.
62. Abdi, “Convergence: Reimagining Somali Women.”
63. Mohamud, “Women, Piety, Political Representation.”
64. Ibid., 13.
65. Badran, “Understanding Islam, Islamism.”
66. Faiza Hussein, Interview, Mogadishu (Somalia).
67. Qaasim, Somali Women in Diaspora.
68. Focus Group Discussion, Hargeisa (Somaliland).
69. Idil Qambi, Interview, Mogadishu.
70. Horst, “Making Difference in Mogadishu?”
71. Bradbury, Abokor, and Yusuf, “Somaliland.”
72. Clifford, Routes; Horst and Nur, “Governing Mobility Through Humanitarianism.”
73. QUESTS-MIDA, which stands for Qualified Expatriate Somali Technical Support – Migration for Development in Africa, is a project of the United Nations Development Programme and the International Organization for Migration.
74. Horst, “Making Difference in Mogadishu?”
75. Ibid.
76. Hearn and Zimmerman, New Deal for Somalia?
77. Tholens and Groβ, Diffusion, Contestation and Localisation.
78. Mahmood, Politics of Piety.
79. Hudson, “Decolonising Gender and Peacebuilding.”
80. Ibid.