“Peace begins at home,” says Elizabeth Henry Angok, attending a one-day women’s forum in Aweil town.

“We are peace makers. We are mothers and we know how to deal with our children and our husbands at home when there are issues.”

The forum, aimed at sensitizing women on peacebuilding and reconciliation, has been organized by the United Nations Mission in South Sudan and has brought together fifteen women from different civil society organizations in the area.

For Ms. Angok, who also works for the local government, such arenas for exchanging ideas and information are essential to increase the active participation of women in peacebuilding.

“Women and children suffer the most from what has happened in Bentiu, Wau, Malakal and elsewhere in South Sudan, in terms of violence, in terms of hunger and in terms of diseases,” she says.

Margret Aliai Francis, also in attendance, pinpointed another important takeaway from the forum.

“We have learnt how to ask for our rights and we should not give up,” she says, adding that the armed conflict have forced women to run small-scale businesses, like selling tea or vegetables, to survive while their husbands are “in the frontlines”.

Angelina Thiep Malek, a civil society representative and gender equality activist, has a different view and narrative. She believes that women have been indirectly supporting the five-year-long civil war – by supporting their husbands.

“Women sing morale-boosting songs, they cook food, they contribute money to buy bullets,” says Angelina. “We cannot distance ourselves and say that we have not been part of this conflict.”

Now, however, Angelina thinks that women need to be “part of this peace” and lead the process of consolidating it.

For females to empower themselves in such a way, Eliza Akuc Wol, another forum participant, believes that sexual violence and forced marriages need to come to an end. Sustainable peace won’t be possible while these practices continue unabated.

“People in South Sudan only want to be rich through dowries, but we want our daughters to go to school and be educated,” Ms. Wol affirmed, referring to the high bride prices being paid, which in turn fuel violent crimes like cattle raids, which often lead to revenge attacks and more inter-communal tensions.