In the 20 years since the ground-breaking UN Security Council resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, women’s access to formal peace processes is continues to be severely limited despite years of active advocacy from Women, Peace and Security actors. Formal peace negotiations remain a secluded and heavily male dominated arena. It is time to move beyond demanding a seat at the table for women, and rather to re-think and re-strategize what inclusive mediation should look like.

A workshop on inclusive mediation was held in Reykjavík in November 2021 with the objective of looking beyond the narrow models of women’s inclusion, and to focus instead on exploring a variety of avenues available for women’sparticipation in peace processes. Attendees of the workshop got the opportunity to discuss and develop concrete ideas of different avenues that could be utilized to ensure women’s active inclusion in peace processes worldwide.