Gender, peace and security

North African women played a major role in the 2011 uprisings and the mobilisations that followed. But they still face considerable challenges to their involvement in public and political events. With limited access to the public sphere and the threat of gender-based violence, women have to fight daily to make their voices heard.

Since 2012, Saferworld has been working with Egyptian and Libyan women to address issues which prevent women’s political participation, and which threaten their personal safety and security. With partners we conducted research with women in Egypt and Libya published in our report "It's dangerous to be the first": security barriers to women's public participation in Egypt, Libya, and Yemen. The report recommends governments and civil society groups address safety issues that impede women’s ability to participate in public and political life.

In Egypt, we supported civil society groups with technical expertise on gender-sensitive policing to promote women’s rights in the security sector. We conducted research into the work of Egypt's Violence Against Women (VAW) unit and made key recommendations to the Ministry of Interior for ways to improve Egypt’s policing response to violence against women.