Women shaping peace
Women's leadership and meaningful participation are central to inclusive political solutions and sustainable peace. Across the world, the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) works to advance women's full, equal and meaningful participation in political and peace processes, while integrating gender perspectives into conflict prevention, mediation and peacebuilding.
Guided by Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) and subsequent Women, Peace and Security (WPS) resolutions, DPPA works to translate these commitments into practice through gender-responsive diplomacy, political analysis and support for inclusive peace processes.
Amid growing global insecurity and challenges to gender equality, advancing the WPS agenda remains an urgent priority. Women continue to be underrepresented in peace negotiations and political decision-making, while their perspectives, priorities and security needs are too often overlooked in efforts to resolve conflict.
DPPA integrates gender perspectives across its political and peacebuilding work, from conflict analysis and mediation to electoral assistance and peacebuilding initiatives. The Department works to address barriers to women's participation, strengthen their leadership and ensure that the perspectives and priorities of women and girls inform political decision-making and peace processes.
Established in 2016, DPPA's Gender, Peace and Security (GPS) Unit has played a central role in advancing the Women, Peace and Security agenda across the Department. In January 2026, under the UN80 reform initiative, the gender units of DPPA and the Department of Peace Operations (DPO) merged to form a joint DPPA-DPO Gender Unit, bringing together expertise and strengthening coordination across UN peace and security efforts.
DPPA integrates gender perspectives into political and conflict analysis to better understand the causes, dynamics, and impacts of conflict. This analysis helps identify barriers to participation, patterns of exclusion, and opportunities to support more effective and inclusive peace and political processes.
The full, equal, and meaningful participation of women in mediation, dialogue, peacemaking, and peacebuilding is fundamental to sustainable peace. DPPA supports inclusive processes by advocating for women's direct participation and engagement in decision-making and peacebuilding efforts.
As the United Nations focal point for electoral assistance, DPPA supports Member States in promoting women's participation as voters, candidates, elected representatives, and electoral officials, while helping ensure that electoral processes are inclusive and responsive to gender equality objectives.
Conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) undermines peace, security, and recovery efforts. DPPA integrates CRSV prevention and response measures across its work by strengthening analysis, supporting gender-responsive peace agreements, promoting accountability, and advancing survivor-centred approaches.
DPPA integrates gender considerations into project design, implementation, monitoring, and resource allocation to ensure that peacebuilding investments contribute to gender equality and women's empowerment.
