Gender UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 urges member states to increase women’s representation at all decision-making levels in national, regional and international institutions in mechanisms for the prevention, management, and resolution of conflict. Despite this, non-adherence to this important principle is more common in formal peace processes. The UN Commission on the Status of Women attributes the notable absence of women from formal peace processes to gender stereotypes and male attitudes towards power sharing as well as inadequate training.56 Education and training can enhance women’s capabilities and can more easily be addressed than systemic and attitudinal barriers that skew power relations against women’s inclusion. For long, a range of activists, observers and peace advocates have decried the limitations in meaningful participation of women in formal peace processes. The ‘structural’ exclusion of women from decision making processes in critical negotiations and agreements whose provisions carry much weight in the recovery period is deeply problematic.57Peace negotiations and mediations are precursors of agreements that capture consensus or compromise positions on distribution or redistribution of power, resources and socio-economic priorities. Out of 31 major peace processes between 1992 to 2011 that were sampled (of which 16 were in Africa ie 56%), women comprised of 9 percent on average and between August 2008 to March 2012, only two out of 61 (3.2 percent) peace agreements had women present.58 Of the 16 African countries only the DRC had all three categories with women represented; 5 percent women as signatories, 20 percent lead mediators in North Kivu and 20 percent lead mediators in South Kivu in 2008. Kenya had 33 percent women lead mediators in 2008. Without women’s presence in peace processes, there is a high risk that resultant position documents will not adequately reflect women’s interests, affecting transitional or post conflict implementation.59 However, presence does not always equate to 56 Porter E ‘Women, political decision-making, and peace-building’ Global change, peace & security, v. 15, no. 3 (2003) 57 ibid 58 UN Women ‘Women’s Participation in Peace Negotiations: Connections between Presence and Influence’ UN 2010 59 Elisabeth Porter, 'Political Representation of Women in Northern Ireland', Politics, 18,1 (1998) 29