ABSTRACT
The chapter analyses the role of women in contributing to mediation processes in South Sudan. It focuses on the interaction between gender mainstreaming and mediation and assesses how much this is in line with the strategies that the African Union (AU) has adopted on women in mediation and United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1325.
The literature on women's involvement in the leadership of mediation remains limited, in relation to South Sudan. This chapter explains why women have been excluded from positions of leadership in the mediation process in South Sudan. Their exclusion from mediation leadership is a contributing factor to the slow progress in the mediation process in South Sudan.
The chapter argues that the impact of mediation is hypothesised to be more comprehensive and long-lasting if women play a leadership role in the processes given the gender-differentiated impact of war on women. The mediation process in South Sudan has been widely criticised for the lack of inclusion of women in leadership. In almost all mediation talks, women took a backseat. They were not visible and their participation remained insignificant.
