Gender and peace: Bougainvillean women, matriliny, and the peace process

Abstract

This thesis is a study of the role Bougainville women played in the peace process during and after the period of the civil war in Bougainville. The civil war developed between the Papua New Guinea Security Forces (PNG SF) and its ally, the Bougainville Resistance Force (BRF), against the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) from late 1989 to 1998. The issues which led to the civil war were wide-ranging, including economic and political problems between the people of Bougainville and the Government of Papua New Guinea, most notably involving the Panguna landowners in struggles over copper mining on their land in Central Bougainville. Conflict resolution processes involved peacemakers, negotiators and mediators from within Bougainville and Papua New Guinea, and from the international community including Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Island countries, (Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji), the European Community and the United Nations Peace Observers Mission. Assistance came from government and non-government organizations from all these sources. But what was especially striking was Bougainvillean women's own involvement in the peace process at the village community, regional, national and international levels. This thesis explores how nd why this happened. First, women initiated peace activities at the village community level during the period of intense fighting between the warring factions in the early 1990s. Then, following the development of the formal peace process, as agreements were signed and implemented by Bougainvillean and Papua New Guinean Government leaders and officials, women gradually made their way into the regional, official level of the peace process. While some men used arguments about "culture" and "tradition" to attempt to marginalize women's participation in the peace process, women, on the other hand, used it to promote their peace efforts. Rejecting the argument that tradition relegated women to domesticity, as wives and mothers, women celebrated their powerful roles as "mothers of the land" and in particular their status in matrilineal traditions. In such traditions, some women (like men) had chiefly status and women in general were seen as mothers of the matrilineage, its land, valuables, ceremonies, knowledge and history. Land is intimately linked to women and their capacity to regenerate people. Men are identified as fathers of such cultural wealth and can publicly represent their matrilineage but their roles depend on women's agreement and prior authority. Women saw their role in peacemaking as one of both reviving their matrilineal status and making matriliny newly relevant in the modern context of Bougainville society. The connection and interaction between their matrilineal and modern roles, within Christianity, education and the professions were consciously and consummately blended together, so that women became powerful agents for making peace in Bougainville. Show more