It has been argued that postconflict and transitional settings provide real opportunities to renegotiate women's political power and advance gender equality goals. The increased focus of the international community in recent years on women, peace and security – through both a protection and a participation lens – provides an opportunity to reinforce normative obligations and commitments undertaken by the state, as well as an opportunity to address structural factors that serve as a barrier to effective protection and participation in peace and security negotiations. Meaningful participation requires adherence to existing norms and obligations emanating from the Charter of the United Nations (UN Charter, 1945), including those regarding process and means, but also an adherence to norms and standards emanating from relevant international and regional treaties, resolutions and declarations. Strategic and practical interests of women need to be factored into the process and content of negotiations, to ensure that individual, institutional and structural issues are raised during negotiations, that they are factored into claims made, and are monitored postnegotiations. A commitment to transformative equality, nondiscrimination, dignity and bodily autonomy, among others, is crucial to address the politics of exclusion, oppression, discrimination and violence, which form the reality of women's lives in many contexts.