Raising awareness of the little-known challenges which women face during conflicts: that’s the reason behind the “Women and peace-building” event, organised in partnership with ELLE magazine.

The first challenge: participation. Too often, women are excluded from talks and are prevented from participating in the process to rebuild their countries. The first panel, “Women: largely absent in negotiations and peace processes” will explore the reasons behind this under-representation and the keys to inclusive negotiations.

Because women pay a heavy price in armed conflicts, the second panel entitled “Sexual violence: the forgotten war crime”, will focus on rape in wartime. How can we fight against this scourge? How can we put an end to impunity and the taboo which surrounds this crime?

The third panel, “Female leadership to safeguard peace”, is intended to provide hope. Education, human rights: women’s causes and peace are closely intertwined. Climate change, in particular, undermines both peace and equality.

ELLE magazine’s editorial staff will spend an afternoon in the plenary hall at the Normandy World Peace Forum where they will welcome several guests and focus on these three subjects. This session, which is one of the Forum’s key events, will bring together public figures from around the world and will close with a speech by Barbara Hendricks, a UN Goodwill Ambassador.

Because of the sanitary crisis, some speakers will address the conference through videos: Hajer Sharief.

(Re)watch the conference: