groups have taken such titles as Women’s Leader-
ship for Peace. Motherhood traditionally gave
women the legitimacy to intervene in conflict man-
agement; since it was considered a male domain
only mothers, wives, or daughters could raise voices
against violence. Recent experiences have led
women to make their appeals less as mothers and
more as citizens. When women appealed as moth-
ers or wives they were marked as partisan and
excluded from political negotiations. In the recent
peace talks in Sri Lanka women’s groups have rep-
resented themselves as citizens and recovered a
space for themselves in conflict management. Even
in state versus state disagreements women have
achieved some success in managing conflicts.
Women’s groups are increasingly active in civil
society initiatives for peace between India and
Pakistan. Also, it was the women’s movement in
Pakistan that condemned the atrocities of its own
army and apologized to Bengali women in
Bangladesh. However, it is in the intra-state con-
flicts that women have achieved most in conflict
management, particularly when they have been
able to feminize the space for peace.Bibliography
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right. A collection of essays, New Delhi 1995.Paula BanerjeeSub-Saharan Africa: The Horn and
East AfricaPopulations of Muslims extend from the coasts
of Eritrea throughout East Africa. Within the Horn
of Africa there are diverse Muslim populations liv-
ing in Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti,
and Kenya. While many of these populations are
also related in culture, ideology, and national bor-
ders, there are significant regional differences.
Muslim women throughout this area have been
active in resolving conflicts and disputes, primarily
at the household and community level. However,
because many of these women are living in societies
characterized by long-term, low- and high-level
conflict, women have taken an increasingly public
role in working for peace in their societies, at a
community, national, and international level.
Historically, Muslim women in the Horn and
East Africa have played an important role in dis-
pute resolution at the household level. This is facil-
itated in part by exogamous marriage patterns that
ensure women move from their father’s households
to a neighboring clan or sub-clan when they marry.
Women retain the linkages with their familial clan
as well as their husband’s clan throughout their
lifetimes, facilitating communication and dispute
resolution between groups. They act as important
go-betweens keeping communication between
clans flourishing while men are often trapped into a
more rigid vertical communication structure within
their clan. Women are also assigned the responsi-
bility of ensuring harmony among themselves and
their husbands and among their children and their
spouses. Muslim women have drawn on notions of
purity and religiosity and codes of behavior from
the Qur±àn to ensure relationships flow smoothly
(Hirsch 1998).
The Horn of Africa has been a site of prolific
public peacebuilding efforts by women. Somali
populations that reside within Djibouti, Ethiopia,
Somalia, and northern Kenya have been active in
promoting both conflict and conflict resolution for
centuries. Groups of women have taken an increas-
ingly public stance that has challenged gender roles
while drawing heavily on notions of Islamic purity
and religiosity in order to gain further legitimacy
among local, national, and international frame-