Women and Peace Building in Cameroon Issues and Perspectives
Peace building activities address the root causes or potential causes of violence, create a societal expectation for peaceful conflict resolution and stabilize society politically and socio economically. Though Cameroon has hardly been involved any full scale war or persistent armed conflict like those of some Africa countries were conflicts have resulted in destabilization, displacement, and destruction of both people and infrastructural, both men and women are involved in the different approaches and phases of peace building that has to do with issues related to minor boarder violence like that of the Bakassi Peninsular , the Boko Haram insurgence in the Northern Region and the recent minor ongoing Anglophone crises and other forms of gender based violence in families and the community. The women in Cameroon just like those in Burundi, Sudan, Rwanda, Liberia and others have performed important roles as peace negotiators and peace educators in both families and society, but unlike their male counterparts they seem to be facing some difficulties in their participation in the different phases of peace building as stated by UNESCO Women and Peace Building in Africa, 2003.This paper is descriptive, guided by conceptual and theoretical frameworks of women and peace like the Liberal Feminist, Conflict and interactionist theoretical perspectives. The Paper seeks to analyse women's role in peace building and conflict resolution and the contributions they make with their traditional methods to ignite peace in the community in Cameroon. Examples in Cameroon as in other Case studies especially in Africa shows that Women have issues in peace building and security, and the development of interventions to address them that are linked to their lack of voice and political will. The paper also identifies women's needs that should be met through the mainstreaming of gender in peace and conflict resolution to stimulate women's active participation in any peace building and conflict resolution effort. Bisong Clara Bate Ashu ...