In this article, we address protracted, often recurring violent conflict, arguing that the failure to solve entrenched conflicts and build sustainable peace is due in part to the absence of women from peace-building processes. To change this negative status quo, we put forward three essential instruments: gender mainstreaming to make gender relations the foundation of any analysis and decision making, the three-pillar framework of conflict mapping, and the New European Peace and Security System model of conflict intervention. When these tools are employed together, they can establish conceptual and operational coherence and positive systemic change by empowering women to work with men as equal partners to build and maintain sustainable peace in fragile, postconflict environments.