Gatekeepers of Peace: Unearthing the Role of Women and Women Associations in Conflict Resolution in Post-Terror Northeast Nigeria

Data from my PhD fieldwork have uncovered the unprecedented roles of women and women associations in post-terror Northeast Nigeria. For instance, one of the women leaders who participated in the study supplied that;

"We as women here have constituted ourselves into an association of women and we meet to interact regularly with one another. This platform helps us to share and solve problems...In our religious school (Islamia) we (as women) try to instil the idea of peace and peacebuilding in our children through the careful outlaying of Islamic tenets and how our religion supports peace and not violence. It is our new way of encouraging tolerance among the youth." (KII/Women Leader/Female/35Years/Bama/Borno State/2022)

The above presents a contradictory analogy to existing studies where women in Northeast Nigeria are viewed as subservient and silent players in decision-making and policy enactment (Makama, 2013). This is because Northeast Nigeria had been (re)presented as a politico-religious conservative society which congenially elevates patriarchal dominance while deprecating women’s efficacy (Asiyanbola, 2005; Mensah, 2023). Using Wollstonecraft’s ideas of liberal feminism, this study enhances the literature on women as conflict mediators, especially in sub-Saharan post-conflict societies like Northeast Nigeria.

While applying the cross-sectional research design, this study purposively and through a snowball sampling method, selected 15 female research participants from two study areas (Maiduguri and Bama) in Northeast Nigeria. Female community/religious leaders, heads of women's associations, internally displaced persons, and peasant farmers formed the study population. Data were gathered through key informant and in-depth interview methods and were thematically analysed with the aid of Nvivo software. Verbatim quotations were adopted where necessary.