Dawn.com: Simon Tisdall
THE idea that a woman can mediate successfully between armed groups of hostile men, and that one of these groups comprises hardline, Sharia-touting Islamists, might seem far-fetched to traditional Western societies.
But not so in the Philippines, where two women have taken the lead in resolving the long-running Muslim insurgency in Mindanao.
Teresita Quintos Deles, a former teacher, women’s rights advocate and anti-poverty tsar, was reappointed presidential adviser on the peace process by President Benigno Aquino in July, 2010.
Since then, her steady and patient hand has guided the combatants of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and their government interlocutors towards a historic peace deal that both sides now regard as all but inevitable.
Categories: Asia, Philippines, Women