The role of women, as both perpetrators and victims in the tragedies of so-called ‘ethnic cleansing’, is so complex that it will take many inter-disciplinary, cross-cultural studies in order to establish any general patterns and correlations. We have become increasingly aware of this form of warfare through global media and some progress has been made in fields such as clinical work with the female victims of rape and violence. However, the interplay has yet to be identified and systematised between women's given roles in the societies to which they belong and the roles they take on in situations of ‘ethnic conflict’.

The turmoil that has swept through conflict-torn, post-communist Europe is exceptionally perplexing in so far as in Western Europe the media had, to a certain extent, identified with fellow-Europeans, even Eastern ones, in a way that was not characteristic of coverage of the Rwandan conflict, for example. Recent suggestions of the violent participation of female church members, let alone secular women, in the Rwanda massacres will undoubtedly yield insights into the nature of this interplay of gender-related social roles and their breakdown or, perhaps, re-interpretation in certain conditions.

The role of women in violent events in Eastern Europe can be examined in at least three ways: as perpetrators of violence, as victims and as ‘peacemakers’. It is their role as peacemakers which will be briefly examined here.

As a general point, it appears that only rarely are women able to step outside their defined roles and challenge the male-dominated political arena.