The magic bullet against semi-automatic weapons : A quantitative study about the effect of gender mainstreaming in peace processes 

Women and men experience conflict and peace processes differently. The thesis builds on the idea of feminist policy and gender mainstreaming that suggests women should be substantially included within and around all policy decisions including peace processes, not only to provide gender equality but also because inclusion leads to more long-lasting and qualitative solutions. The purpose of this thesis is to examine if gender mainstreaming in the form of engendered language in peace agreements affects post-conflict sexual violence. To achieve this, a systematic large-N study with OLS regression analysis was conducted. The hypothesis was that engendered language in peace agreements would lead to a smaller prevalence of post-conflict conflict-related sexual violence and hence the correlation between the two would be negative. The findings rather show that there is a positive correlation between the two on a 95 percent significance level, generating questions regarding both measurements of the prevalence of post-conflict conflict-related sexual violence and about the effectiveness of gender mainstreaming in peace agreements. Hence, the general conclusion of the thesis is that gender mainstreaming in peace agreements as a ‘magic bullet’ is not the complete answer in the struggle towards gender equality in post-conflict situations