Challenging the Invisibility of Women Combatants: Five Steps Towards Gender-Responsive DDR

This week the Security Council will meet for its annual Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Open Debate under the theme of “Women Building Peace in a Changing Environment.” Despite the WPS agenda’s goals for including women in all aspects of security and peace-making, their participation in disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR), a crucial part of peace processes, has often been minimal or merely symbolic. Drawing on research from the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) and the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR), this article examines the history and progress of the inclusion of women in DDR—and proposes five steps towards more inclusive and gender-responsive DDR processes.