October 2010 marked ten years since the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, whereby the international community acknowledged – for the first time – the critical role of women in global peace and security. Resolution 1325 called on the international community to address the various impacts of conflict on women and to engage them fully in conflict resolution, peacekeeping and peacebuilding. The foundation was further broadened through Resolutions 1820, 1888 and 1889, which linked the prevention of sexual violence, peacemaking and mediation.
Together, these Resolutions now offer a powerful framework and mandate for implementing and measuring change in the lives of women in conflict‐affected countries.

Yet, in practice, only limited and sporadic progress has been achieved. While women remain a minority of combatants and perpetrators of war, they continue to suffer the greatest harm. Women are still poorly represented in formal peace processes, although they contribute in many informal ways to conflict resolution. In fact, in recent peace negotiations, women have represented fewer than 8 percent of participants and less than 3 percent of signatories. Women in war‐torn societies continue to face devastating forms of sexual violence, while ineffectively designed transitional justice mechanisms discourage them from testifying about these crimes.

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