Paper long abstract:

Borders and border issues have enormous implications for peacebuilding. Peacebuilding does not need to be imposed, but rather supported by cross-border communal engagement to strengthen social cohesion. The paper focuses on the role of women in peacebuilding processes on a grassroots level between cross-border communities in Central Asia's Ferghana Valley. I argue in this paper that women play a limited role in participating in decision making when it comes to preventing, managing and resolving border incidents and conflicts. This is due to patriarchal and traditional social and behavior norms that places men as decision-makers and women as housewives. Unequal gender identities and roles hinder the peacebuilding process on a grassroots level in cross-border communities and this as a result undermines achieving lost lasting stability in the region.

In the most recent border conflict in March 2019 between residents of Ak-Sai village in Kyrgyzstan and Voruh exclave in Tajikistan, all women from Ak-Sai village, for example, were evacuated and men stayed to protect their land and participate in the decision-making process.

A continually growing research base has now recognized the important role of women in peace and security issues to achieve long lasting stability within the communities. Grassroots peacebuilding will be more effective and peace more sustainable in cross-border communities if women are seen as equal decision-makers and leaders and not victims.

The paper relies on secondary resources, including on the results of a nation-wide research on gender perception study in Kyrgyzstan, and on primary data from survey among women in the border communities of Kyrgyzstan.