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Q: Haven't women been marginalized since then? A: I'm told that many of those women [in the Afghani National Assembly] have suffered. And the war in Iraq has intensified the pressure on [Muslim] women [generally]. This conflict has been painted as the West vs. Islam. The husbands and male leaders say to women, "Show us that you are a good Muslim woman, and don't have any of those Western ideas."
Q: What's the potential for women playing a role in peacemaking in Iraq? A: It's very important that Iraqi women be perceived as major untapped resources. They can play a key role as planners, leaders, and organizers of the reconstruction. That includes the transitional justice [system] that must be established. My experience with women in postconflict situations is that they very much have their fingers on the pulse of the community.
I've talked to maybe 500 women from conflict situations around the world [about] difference between men and women. Mary Okumu, who has worked on the conflict in the Sudan for years, once told me: "What men and women want in these situations is very different. The men want a whole state. The women want a safe place for their families." Maybe that's because of social roles, maybe it's because we're hardwired differently. But they all say, "We approach it differently."
Now, I'm very aware that many of the great peacemakers in the world are men -- Nelson Mandela in South Africa, for instance. We're not talking about all-men-this and all-women-that. It's just that the Bell curves are in different places.
Q: Do you think that the rising number in parliaments around the world will mean that it will become less likely that countries will go to war in various situations? A: My educated guess is, yes. [Among] American men and women, there was a very significant gender gap [on going to war in Iraq] -- as much as 15%, depending on the question asked -- before the war. [But] if you convince women that it's about protection- -- such as [asserting a] September 11 connection [with] Saddam Hussein -- then those numbers start eroding.
Q: Would it make a difference in voting patterns if 30% or 40% of the U.S. Congress were women? A: I can't give you the numbers. But my experience in interviewing women over the years is that women tend to think of themselves as less competent than they actually are, [while] men tend to think of themselves as more competent than they actually are. Women are helped, therefore, when they have a larger group with which to identify. It connects to how good women are at relationship-building, collaboration.
Q: If I said what you're saying, many women would call me sexist. A: Exactly. It's classic. Most of these stereotypes about men and women are grounded in reality. It's just that they are abused, used in ways that hurt men or hurt women. That's why we hate stereotypes.
Q: The other striking thing we see in the news these days is some very brave women soldiers in combat. A: I've done some studying of women in combat -- not of Americans but of guerrilla fighters. For instance, I had [South Africa's] Thandi Modisi in my home for dinner, and I said, "Thandi, tell me, what did you do before you were in Parliament?" She said, "I was a [guerrilla] fighter."
I [also] spent a day interviewing an Eritrean woman who lead her platoon into battle several times. A very, very gutsy woman. She said she was particularly effective because the men would have been mortified to have not followed her into battle, even when they were petrified. She said the Ethiopians had a saying: "Oh, please God, don't let me be captured by an Eritrean woman." So there are other sides to this.
I don't think that looking for peaceful solutions is the job of cowards. There's tremendous damage anytime you drop the bombs. And I say that having implored [General] Wesley Clark to start the bombing in Kosovo sooner than he did. Military intervention is a tragic choice -- though sometimes the less violent of all of the choices.
Q: Why did you implore General Clark to drop the bombs earlier? A: I had watched the genocide in Bosnia, and I was convinced that Slobodan Milosevic would respond to military force and [nothing] else.
Q: Any further thoughts? A: The interesting question is whether the women warriors have the same motivation as the men warriors.
Q: What's your answer? A: I don't have an answer. I only have a niggling thought that there may not be the same kind of enjoyment of aggression that I see on the playground with my son and his friends. I'm convinced that boys and girls are different.
Peterson is a contributing editor at BusinessWeek Online. Follow his weekly Moveable Feast column, only on BusinessWeek Online Edited by Douglas Harbrecht
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