Women-to-women diplomacy : the pursuit of feminist peace in Georgia and Myanmar

Abstract: Why and how do women engage in peacebuilding efforts across conflict divides? This dissertation coins a novel concept, women-to-women diplomacy – or W2WD – to explore women’s peace activism in Georgia and Myanmar. W2WD consists of three components: 1) the promotion of women’s agency as a key aspect of mobilisation and peacebuilding practices; 2) women’s own experiences of conflict as a basis for bridging divides; and 3) women’s visions of gender equality as a fundamental part of peace. This concept emerged from my empirical observations of women’s organisations and activists from Georgia and Myanmar as charted through interviews and participant observation. It also builds on previous research on bottom-up peacebuilding and literature on women and peace. Until now there has been limited knowledge about the practices, motivations and visions of peace underpinning women’s peacebuilding efforts. This dissertation addresses this gap by exploring women’s peace activism at different stages of inter-ethnic civil conflict based on case studies from two conflict contexts, Georgia and Myanmar, covering situations of active fighting, ongoing peace negotiations, and frozen conflicts. The dissertation shows that W2WD is an alternative peacebuilding approach which creates platforms for dialogue and cooperation by facilitating personal encounters between women who share both experiences of conflict as well as a common goal of achieving equal rights. By developing the concept of W2WD, this dissertation theorizes and makes visible recurring patterns in women’s peacebuilding practices across conflict settings and contributes a new analytical framework that can be used in further research. The findings of this dissertation are also important for practitioners who wish to broaden their understanding of women’s organisations as key partners in the formulation of alternative peacebuilding strategies.