A female voice must be present at Geneva II

The Geneva II Middle East Peace Conference began Jan. 22 and will focus on ending the Syrian civil war, but, already, there have been problems. After a boycott of the conferences by the Syrian Opposition Coalition, Iran was uninvited from the meeting.
 
I find one aspect of the conferences highly disturbing — no women have been allowed or invited to participate in the conferences at all.

According to international mediator Lahkdar Bahimi, female representatives are demanding women make up at least 30 percent of the negotiators present at
Geneva II.

Activist Kefah Ali Deeb has said Syrian women and children make up 80 percent of Syria’s both internally and externally displaced refugees.With those kinds of statistics, 30 percent seems like a stipulation Geneva II can meet.

It’s shocking to me that the thought women could be left out of the conferences even entered anyone’s mind.

With the amount of bloodshed in Syria, the controversy surrounding the conferences, it seems cumbersome, tedious and ridiculous anyone would bother starting a debacle about the sexes.

The conferences have the eye of every government watching them and also
feminist groups worldwide.

Besides that, it is absolutely crucial women’s voices be heard, in any situation.

The key word here is children. Women in the refugee and displacement camps have taken care of their children by themselves. That means female representatives would also represent children and underage refugees, and take care of their needs.

Women not only provide a more complete scope of the Syrian population, but they represent people who would otherwise be unable to represent themselves.

They have a hands-on idea of the damage the war has done.

They know exactly the needs of the refugees and what needs to be done for rebuilding and replacement.

This cannot just be a conference loaded with warlords and Western diplomats throwing their weight around.

Women must be involved.

We’ll even take the 30 percent.

­—  ewenning@indiana.edu
Follow columnist Emma Wenninger on Twitter
@EmmaWenninger.