Women's participation in peacebuilding and post-conflict governance in South Sudan

Abstract

Despite formal commitments to gender inclusion, women's participation in peacebuilding and post-conflict governance in South Sudan remains constrained by structural and cultural barriers. Drawing on a qualitative case study grounded in feminist standpoint epistemology, this article examines the lived experiences of women navigating patriarchal peace processes. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 purposively sampled participants, including female delegates from the 2018 Revitalised Agreement on the Resolution of the Conflict in South Sudan (R-ARCSS) negotiations, civil society leaders, and local peace committee members in Juba and Yei. These data were triangulated with policy document analysis, including the 2018 peace agreement and the South Sudanese National Action Plan on UNSCR 1325. The findings reveal a persistent gap between policy rhetoric and reality: women's involvement is largely channelled into informal, community-level roles such as grassroots mediation, while their representation in formal decision-making structures remains markedly low. Cultural norms and patriarchal attitudes, compounded by the militarisation of public life, systematically delegitimise women's claims to leadership, even where constitutional quotas—such as the 35 per cent mandate—are nominally in place (Madut & Nyuon, 2026). This study addresses contextual mechanisms left unresolved by prior research, demonstrating that institutional frameworks alone are insufficient without confronting deeply entrenched gender hierarchies. The article concludes that sustainable peace in South Sudan requires a fundamental reorientation of governance structures to recognise and integrate women's agency beyond tokenistic participation. References Madut, M. A., & Nyuon, A. K. (2026). Impact of non-state actors' participation in preventive diplomacy on peacebuilding and conflict resolution dynamics in post-independence South Sudan. PARJ African Journal of Peace and Security Studies. Nyuon, A. K., & Elia, L. L. (2025). Gender, governance, and peace: Policy implications of women's political representation in post-conflict South Sudan (2018–2025). PARJ African Journal of Peace and Security Studies.