# Why peace talks fail when women are excluded > Women's absence from war negotiations is reversing decades of progress and making peace agreements weaker and less durable. - Title: Why peace talks fail when women are excluded · TIME | Shortify - Summary: Women's absence from war negotiations is reversing decades of progress and making peace agreements weaker and less durable. Peace processes that exclude… - Keywords: women in peacemaking, peace negotiations, gender representation, sudan conflict, syria reconstruction, united nations, trump administration, ceasefire agreements, sexual violence, diplomatic exclusion, postwar reconstruction, colombia peace process - Source: TIME — https://time.com/article/2026/09/25/peacemaking-united-nations-sudan-syria-gaza-women - Author: Cristal Downing - Published: 2026-09-25T10:00:00+00:00 - Read time: 2 min - Topics: women in peacemaking, peace negotiations, gender representation, sudan conflict, syria reconstruction, united nations, trump administration, ceasefire agreements, sexual violence, diplomatic exclusion, postwar reconstruction, colombia peace process ## Women's voices fading from peace talks For decades, the UN pushed to include women in peace negotiations and postwar rebuilding. Now that progress is reversing as warlords and conservatives find new ways to exclude them from discussions about war and peace. > Wars exact a heavy toll on women and yet, too often their voices and concerns are pushed to the margins of global peacemaking. ## Colombia showed what inclusion looks like Colombia's peace agreement brought in civil society groups including women's organizations to discuss rural reform, governance, and accountability for sexual violence. The result was a more durable agreement grounded in local legitimacy. ## Recent talks exclude women entirely Sudan's peace talks, negotiations with China, and Gaza's Board of Peace have all featured all-male negotiating teams. Women's representation has become less visible in daily diplomatic practice. ## Ceasefire deals ignore sexual violence None of the thirteen ceasefire agreements reached in twenty twenty-five prohibited sexual violence. This represents both a moral failure and a practical loss, since women often hold political networks that men do not. ## Why diplomacy became narrower Battlefield stalemates pushed diplomats toward minimalist ceasefires focused only on stopping fighting. Complex conflicts left less room for longer-term goals like political representation. ## Sudan talks treat gender as impossible Diplomats describe gender as a non-starter with Sudan's warring factions, who want to avoid accountability for sexual violence. Negotiators are pursuing only a basic ceasefire while postponing broader questions. > Diplomats with involvement and knowledge of the Sudan talks describe gender as a "non-starter" with the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces. ## Syria's parliament excludes women Syria's new parliament has only twenty-two women out of two hundred seven seats, falling below the twenty percent quota and far short of the thirty percent target that civil society and the UN recommend. ## Trump administration opposes diversity The Trump administration has made opposition to diversity a defining feature of its foreign policy, rejecting quotas and portraying diversity as weakness. This stance reinforces minimalist peacemaking with only elite male negotiators. > Senior U.S. officials have portrayed diversity as a weakness and linked traditional markers of masculinity, such as testosterone levels, to the ability to effectively deter battlefield threats. ## Women organize peace from the ground up In Sudan, women who worked in political resistance committees created Emergency Response Rooms to address protection, health care, and psychosocial support. They negotiate humanitarian access and mediate local disputes outside formal peace talks. ## Diplomats must reconnect with communities High-level negotiators should remember that peace must be made with people who have the legitimacy and relationships to sustain societies through war. Diplomats need to stay connected to grassroots peacemaking efforts. > Peace must be made not only by and for the belligerents in a conflict but also with and by people who have the legitimacy and relationships necessary to sustain societies through war and into peace. ## Key takeaway Peace processes that exclude women lose access to crucial local networks, community legitimacy, and practical knowledge needed to build lasting peace.