The men were supposed to be ending the war in Liberia, but they were getting nowhere. Talks were deadlocked; fighting was still raging in the countryside.
A group of women, frustrated by years of war and the loss of husbands and children, finally took matters into their own hands by surrounding the building and threatening to take off their clothes.
It worked. By embarrassing the men and threatening to break a taboo on female nudity, the “sex for peace” campaign, waged by activists such as Asatu Bah-Kenneth, forced the men to settle their differences.
Mrs. Bah-Kenneth, now the deputy inspector-general of police for administration in Liberia, told the story this week to 400 participants at a Washington forum on the role of women in national and regional security.
Women account for only 5 percent of the jobs in the security sector worldwide, and in some countries are totally excluded, the delegates were told. Yet several speakers argued that women can make a vital contribution to sustainable peace because of their skills in reconciliation.
It is of primary importance that leaders in troubled regions listen to their citizens and learn to see threats in their broader social context, said U.S. Lt. Gen. Douglas E. Lute in a keynote speech Tuesday. He said there can be “no reconciliation without civil participation.”
Amal Jadou, the director general of international affairs for the Palestinian Authority, even suggested the United States could advance the cause of peace by refusing to meet with any foreign delegation that did not include women.
Delegates from Afghanistan, Colombia, Liberia, Haiti, Israel and Palestinian territories participated in round-table discussions with the State Department, U.S. armed forces, police and advocacy organizations at the forum, sponsored by the Cambridge, Mass.-based Hunt Alternatives Fund, run by former U.S. Ambassador Swanee Hunt.
Shukria Barakzai, a member of Afghanistan’s parliament, said she found the forum useful for three reasons.
“Firstly, we recognize we are not the only women suffering from war and violence; secondly, we can try to find similar ways to deal with the same problems; and thirdly, we see how women are united themselves, and that this solidarity means something,” she said.
Orzala Ashraf, the founder of a group called Humanitarian Assistance for the Women and Children of Afghanistan, said, “The most important thing is introducing the definition of security from a woman’s perspective.
“It is not a man in a uniform standing next to a tank armed with a gun. Women have a broader term, human security, the ability to go to school, receive health care, work and have access to justice,” she said.
“Only by improving these areas can the threats of insurgents, Taliban, druglords and warlords be countered.”
The delegates devised policy initiatives on how to place more women in senior roles in their countries’ police and armed forces, with the goal of making them more responsive to their people and winning public trust.
Mrs. Barakzai was asked whether the highly conservative men who run her country would ever accept an increased security role for women.
“Yes, it is difficult, but it is my right to raise my voice,” she said. “They ignore me. They hate me. But it is my right to represent the people.”
In Afghanistan, 28 percent of parliament is female, even more than the 25 percent required by the country’s 2004 constitution. Mrs. Barakzai said she is sure the number will rise in the next election to 30 percent.
“It is difficult,” said the self-described anti-drug, antiwar, liberal democrat. “Warlords and the Taliban have the same view of women — that they should be at home with babies.”
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