Back-channel negotiations are commonplace in peace negotiations and can serve as crucial mechanisms for reaching agreements. While there has been a moderate increase in scholarship examining back-channel negotiations in the last two decades, none has explored the gendered nature of these spaces. This article analyzes how and why back-channel negotiations are highly gendered processes and why their gendered nature matters for sustainable peace. We begin with a review of the current literature on back-channel negotiations and discuss how and why they are critical mechanisms in peace negotiation and agreement processes. Next, we show how women’s inclusion in peace negotiations and agreement practices matters for sustainable peace. Thereafter, we discuss how secret negotiation spaces are infused with gendered power and masculine logics of war and peace. We argue that three key features of back-channel negotiations—secrecy, uncertainty, and limited trust—come together to create an echo chamber of hypermasculinity ideas, values, styles, and norms that prevent women from achieving descriptive and substantive representation inside fundamental secret negotiation spaces. This article adds to the developing literature on back-channel negotiations and helps us better understand how and why women and their interests are regularly excluded from peace processes despite the global prominence of the United Nations’ Women, Peace, and Security agenda.

中文翻译：

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秘密、不确定性和信任：秘密和平谈判的性别本质


秘密渠道谈判在和平谈判中很常见，可以作为达成协议的重要机制。尽管在过去二十年里，研究秘密渠道谈判的学术有所增加，但没有人探讨这些空间的性别本质。本文分析了秘密渠道谈判如何以及为何是高度性别化的进程，以及为什么其性别化性质对于可持续和平至关重要。我们首先回顾有关秘密渠道谈判的现有文献，并讨论它们如何以及为何成为和平谈判和协议进程中的关键机制。接下来，我们将展示妇女参与和平谈判和协议实践对于可持续和平的重要性。此后，我们讨论秘密谈判空间如何注入性别权力以及战争与和平的男性逻辑。我们认为，秘密渠道谈判的三个关键特征——秘密、不确定性和有限的信任——结合在一起，形成了一个充斥着男子气概思想、价值观、风格和规范的回声室，阻碍了女性在基本秘密谈判中获得描述性和实质性的代表性。空间。本文丰富了有关秘密谈判的文献，帮助我们更好地理解尽管联合国妇女、和平与安全议程在全球范围内占据重要地位，但妇女及其利益如何以及为何经常被排除在和平进程之外。