6 Conclusion

This paper applied the frameworks of both Arnstein’s ladder and “gender-aware” participatory development to the role of women in the Colombian peace process. Furthermore, it applied Saxena’s definition of participation and Heller and Rao’s theory on deliberation to show the extent to which women were able to participate and deliberate.

Starting with a brief overview of Colombian history that led to the 50 year long conflict, this paper described the role that women had in the ongoing peace process between the government and the FARC. Initially, when formal negotiations first began, women’s participation was more tokenistic than anything else. However, women’s participation in civil society, especially at the National Summit of Women for Peace, led to the increase in women’s participation at the formal negotiating table.

The findings in my analysis indicated that women held meaningful roles in the peace process and were able to influence negotiations. As previously stated, there is still a long way to go to until women can fully participate. We wont be able to make progress if participation efforts aren’t completely gender aware. Despite the fact that Colombia’s peace process was a gender aware approach, the majority of development work is not. That is where the work needs to be done.