EWD Workshop reports

Widows without Rights Conference

London - 6-7 February, 2001
Tuesday 6th February 2001
morning session

Introductory presentations

Kate Young
Baroness Sally Greengross
Margaret Owen
Dr Eleanor Nwadinobi
Dr Mohini Giri
Lesley Abdela

The final contribution of this session was by Lesley Abdela, Chief Executive of Project Parity and founder of the All-Party 300 Group to help get more women into the UK Parliament. Formerly Deputy Direct of Democratisation for the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Kosovo, she spoke on Widowhood and Armed Conflict.

She stressed that widowhood was worse in conflict situations. In Rwanda, for instance, 70 per cent of adult women are widows. Women in war are uncounted and invisible - they are just felt to be in the way of the men conducting the war. In Northern Iraq, after the Gulf War, food did not reach the women. In Bosnia and Kosovo, they suffered discrimination in the reconstruction, and were unrepresented, because men said it was "not in the culture" for women to be in leadership positions: "after everything else, came the women". Women heads of household were overlooked, and rape was condoned. And widows, as always, had extra problems, because they were often unable to prove property ownership to get their houses repaired. The hierarchical UN system excluded Kosovan women from structures and committees, and ignored the informal sector, where women predominate.

She suggested that solutions to the problems for women and widows arising in post-conflict situations lay in:

Breaking the cycle of making the same mistakes;

Ensuring women and widows have access to decision-making in peace missions, with at least 40 per cent participation; and

Facilitating women's access to resources and to rehabilitation, retraining and rehousing. Above all, gender awareness training was needed for all involved in post-conflict situations: men "need a thistle up their kilts".

A paper on 'Widows and Conflict' by EWD Founder Margaret Owen is available - or by e-mail on request to WRI: [email protected].