omen are essential to peacebuilding. Across the globe, women are at the forefront of trauma healing, playing a crucial role in restoring trust within communities by mending fractured relationships and rebuilding lives following conflict. Their vital work supports families and strengthens societies, yet many of these women carry their own hidden wounds.
As a woman peacebuilder in conflict–affected communities, I have experienced this truth firsthand. While supporting others, I have also managed my own challenges, including post–traumatic stress and caring for a loved one with suicidal tendencies. I have faced significant hardships and emerged stronger. Mental health is personal for me, which is why I believe it is crucial to discuss it openly, ensuring other women in difficult situations know they are not alone.
In communities impacted by conflict, many women have experienced the loss of loved ones to violence, yet continue to support others. They often grieve in silence after unseen trauma like miscarriages, difficulties in childbirth, overcoming health issues, or forced displacements, all while engaging in peace–building discussions. Each day, these women juggle the roles of breadwinner, caregiver, and community leader. They contend with harassment and gender–based threats and assault, both online and offline. Such dangers should never be regarded as an acceptable part of their endeavors.
Yet women peacebuilders are expected to be endlessly resilient and selfless. Their mental health and wellbeing remain taboo topics, buried under cultural silence. The cost is heavy: burnout, depression, anxiety, and post–traumatic stress are far too common. Over time, the very people who devote themselves to building peace are left without peace within themselves.
If peacebuilding is to remain truly transformative, this must change. Mental health is not a secondary concern—it is central to sustaining women peacebuilders, their communities, and the peace they work tirelessly to achieve. As Baruch Spinoza once wrote, “Peace is not the absence of war.” For women peacebuilders, peace must also mean dignity, safety, and wholeness.
Who cares for the women peacebuilders?
The World Health Organization warns that armed conflicts, disasters, and other crises heighten the risk of mental health conditions. Yet the needs of those working in humanitarian and post–conflict settings remain largely unmet. For women peacebuilders, the burden is twofold: they absorb the grief of their communities while navigating gendered struggles in their personal lives. Their overlapping responsibilities leave them vulnerable to PTSD, anxiety, depression, and burnout—struggles often overshadowed by narratives of strength and sacrifice. But women’s mental health is not just about survival. It is what enables them to lead effectively and sustain peace.
Why Women’s Mental Health Matters in Peacebuilding
Clarity and creativity in crisis. Mentally healthy peacebuilders bring empathy and strategic insight to complex situations, making space for innovative solutions.
Breaking stigma through advocacy. When women speak openly about mental health, they redefine strength and encourage others to share and heal.
Resilience and recovery. Access to therapy, culturally grounded self-care, and peer support help women process trauma and sustain their leadership.
Quality of life. A woman who is emotionally well can nurture her family, inspire her community, and lead peace efforts with renewed hope.
Steps Toward Supporting Women Peacebuilders
To strengthen peacebuilding, we must strengthen the systems that care for women at its core. This requires both cultural and structural shifts:
- Normalize conversations on mental health. Sharing stories of struggle and healing breaks stigma and reminds women they are not alone.
- Create peer support networks. Safe spaces for women to exchange experiences reduce isolation and enable collective healing.
- Provide accessible services. The Philippines made a significant stride by passing the Mental Health Act in 2018. This makes mental health care affordable and available, from the barangay to the national level. No woman should have to choose between feeding her family and seeking therapy.
- Allow time for rest and renewal. Rest—whether through mindfulness, nature retreats, or spiritual reflection—is not indulgence; it is survival.
- Finally, integrate mental health into peace programs. Support must be foundational, not optional.
UN Women Philippines exemplifies this last point by embedding access to psychiatrists within its Women, Peace, and Security initiatives, clearly demonstrating that the healing of women leaders is just as crucial as their advocacy. At one event, participants were provided the opportunity to engage with a psychiatrist and her team. This was not merely a service—it was a powerful acknowledgement of the importance of our healing. In a society where mental health often carries a stigma, this small step felt like a significant victory, affirming that our wellbeing matters.
Women peacebuilders form the backbone of communities in crisis. They embody leadership, healing, and nurturing, yet they are also human—grieving, struggling, and enduring pain that often goes unnoticed. Supporting their mental health fortifies the very foundation of peace. A woman peacebuilder who feels valued and cared for doesn’t merely survive; she thrives. She heals, inspires, and leads with resilience and compassion. You don't need to be a mental health expert to initiate these conversations. If you have navigated trauma, conquered despair, or endured pain while continuing to move forward, your story holds significance. Sharing it may empower another woman to persevere and remind her that she is not alone.
The truth is both simple and urgent: Women peacebuilders need peace too.
a global affairs media network
Caring for women who carry the weight of peace
Photo by Marcos Paulo Prado on Unsplash
October 10, 2025
We often talk about the mental health crisis, but less often about mental health in crisis situations. Women peacebuilders carry an exceptional burden that weighs on their mental health, and it’s a problem often left unseen, writes Jamila–Aisha P. Sanguila.
W
omen are essential to peacebuilding. Across the globe, women are at the forefront of trauma healing, playing a crucial role in restoring trust within communities by mending fractured relationships and rebuilding lives following conflict. Their vital work supports families and strengthens societies, yet many of these women carry their own hidden wounds.
As a woman peacebuilder in conflict–affected communities, I have experienced this truth firsthand. While supporting others, I have also managed my own challenges, including post–traumatic stress and caring for a loved one with suicidal tendencies. I have faced significant hardships and emerged stronger. Mental health is personal for me, which is why I believe it is crucial to discuss it openly, ensuring other women in difficult situations know they are not alone.
In communities impacted by conflict, many women have experienced the loss of loved ones to violence, yet continue to support others. They often grieve in silence after unseen trauma like miscarriages, difficulties in childbirth, overcoming health issues, or forced displacements, all while engaging in peace–building discussions. Each day, these women juggle the roles of breadwinner, caregiver, and community leader. They contend with harassment and gender–based threats and assault, both online and offline. Such dangers should never be regarded as an acceptable part of their endeavors.
Yet women peacebuilders are expected to be endlessly resilient and selfless. Their mental health and wellbeing remain taboo topics, buried under cultural silence. The cost is heavy: burnout, depression, anxiety, and post–traumatic stress are far too common. Over time, the very people who devote themselves to building peace are left without peace within themselves.
If peacebuilding is to remain truly transformative, this must change. Mental health is not a secondary concern—it is central to sustaining women peacebuilders, their communities, and the peace they work tirelessly to achieve. As Baruch Spinoza once wrote, “Peace is not the absence of war.” For women peacebuilders, peace must also mean dignity, safety, and wholeness.
Who cares for the women peacebuilders?
The World Health Organization warns that armed conflicts, disasters, and other crises heighten the risk of mental health conditions. Yet the needs of those working in humanitarian and post–conflict settings remain largely unmet. For women peacebuilders, the burden is twofold: they absorb the grief of their communities while navigating gendered struggles in their personal lives. Their overlapping responsibilities leave them vulnerable to PTSD, anxiety, depression, and burnout—struggles often overshadowed by narratives of strength and sacrifice. But women’s mental health is not just about survival. It is what enables them to lead effectively and sustain peace.
Why Women’s Mental Health Matters in Peacebuilding
Clarity and creativity in crisis. Mentally healthy peacebuilders bring empathy and strategic insight to complex situations, making space for innovative solutions.
Breaking stigma through advocacy. When women speak openly about mental health, they redefine strength and encourage others to share and heal.
Resilience and recovery. Access to therapy, culturally grounded self-care, and peer support help women process trauma and sustain their leadership.
Quality of life. A woman who is emotionally well can nurture her family, inspire her community, and lead peace efforts with renewed hope.
Steps Toward Supporting Women Peacebuilders
To strengthen peacebuilding, we must strengthen the systems that care for women at its core. This requires both cultural and structural shifts:
- Normalize conversations on mental health. Sharing stories of struggle and healing breaks stigma and reminds women they are not alone.
- Create peer support networks. Safe spaces for women to exchange experiences reduce isolation and enable collective healing.
- Provide accessible services. The Philippines made a significant stride by passing the Mental Health Act in 2018. This makes mental health care affordable and available, from the barangay to the national level. No woman should have to choose between feeding her family and seeking therapy.
- Allow time for rest and renewal. Rest—whether through mindfulness, nature retreats, or spiritual reflection—is not indulgence; it is survival.
- Finally, integrate mental health into peace programs. Support must be foundational, not optional.
UN Women Philippines exemplifies this last point by embedding access to psychiatrists within its Women, Peace, and Security initiatives, clearly demonstrating that the healing of women leaders is just as crucial as their advocacy. At one event, participants were provided the opportunity to engage with a psychiatrist and her team. This was not merely a service—it was a powerful acknowledgement of the importance of our healing. In a society where mental health often carries a stigma, this small step felt like a significant victory, affirming that our wellbeing matters.
Women peacebuilders form the backbone of communities in crisis. They embody leadership, healing, and nurturing, yet they are also human—grieving, struggling, and enduring pain that often goes unnoticed. Supporting their mental health fortifies the very foundation of peace. A woman peacebuilder who feels valued and cared for doesn’t merely survive; she thrives. She heals, inspires, and leads with resilience and compassion. You don't need to be a mental health expert to initiate these conversations. If you have navigated trauma, conquered despair, or endured pain while continuing to move forward, your story holds significance. Sharing it may empower another woman to persevere and remind her that she is not alone.
The truth is both simple and urgent: Women peacebuilders need peace too.
