The Contribution of Women to Peace and Reconciliation

an effective strategy for the colonial rulers to divide and rule the people
of Somalia. To date, division, competition and envy continue to affect
the unity, trust and cooperation of Somalis in a militarized regime.
Somalia gained its political independence in 1960. In the post-independence
era, the men who had the benefit of education from the colonial
rulers and served as administrators became the political leaders of the
nation. While these men received colonial education and experience,
they lacked the depth and skills needed to govern their newly independent
nation, which suffered high unemployment levels, illiteracy, pov -
erty, and a lack of proper infrastructure and human resources. In
addition, they lacked gender sensitivity, and failed to include Somali
women in either the state or the nation-building processes. Thus, the
nation-building process from colonial rule to independence was not only
difficult, but also male-dominated. The Somali local leaders who became
the leaders of the nation only took over from their colonial rulers, and
did not change the policies of the former colonial powers. Thus, what
changed in newly independent Somalia was that the colonial powers
were no longer physically present in Somalia, but their policies and leg -
acies continued to affect the lives of the Somali people.
Like their colonial rulers, the new post-independence leaders relied on
certain clans as a tool to perpetuate divisions among Somalis and to advance
their political interests. In the early years of the military government,
there were attempts to outlaw clan favouritism. Through its
principles of scientific socialism, the military government emphasized
building a political system that promoted the equality of all Somalis, including
gender equality. It symbolically “buried” the clan and encour -
aged the people to rely more on the state than on their clans in order to
benefit the state and the people in general. By having the trust of the
people, the military state would become legitimate in the eyes of the
people. Moving away from one’s clan weakened the clan system which
co-existed in a parallel fashion with the military government. Thus, the
military government decided, in its earlier years in power, to outlaw the
clans. To ensure that people move away from clanism, men and women
was obliged to address each other as “jaalle”, or “comrade”. Such sal -
utation was considered to be the right way to do away class, clan hie-
128