Women, Peace and Security

Reintroducing women, peace and security (pages 249–254)
PAUL KIRBY and LAURA J. SHEPHERD

Gender as national interest at the UN Security Council (pages 255–273)
SOUMITA BASU

The ‘war on terror’ and extremism: assessing the relevance of the Women, Peace and Security agenda (pages 275–291)
FIONNUALA NÍ AOLÁIN

Gendering normative power Europe: lessons of the Women, Peace and Security agenda (pages 293–312)
ROBERTA GUERRINA and KATHARINE A. M. WRIGHT

Queering women, peace and security (pages 313–332)
JAMIE J. HAGEN

Decolonizing branded peacebuilding: abjected women talk back to the Finnish Women, Peace and Security agenda (pages 333–351)
MARJAANA JAUHOLA

The ‘woman-in-conflict’ at the UN Security Council: a subject of practice (pages 353–372)
SAM COOK

The futures past of the Women, Peace and Security agenda (pages 373–392)
PAUL KIRBY and LAURA J. SHEPHERD

Women, Peace and Security (WPS) scholars and practitioners have expressed reservations about the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) principle because of its popular use as a synonym for armed humanitarian intervention. On the other hand, R2P’s early failure to engage with and advance WPS efforts such as United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution 1325 (2000) has seen the perpetuation of limited roles ascribed to women in implementing the R2P principle. As a result, there has been a knowledge and practice gap between the R2P and WPS agendas, despite the fact that their advocates share common goals in relation to the prevention of atrocities and protection of populations. In this article the authors propose to examine just one of the potential avenues for aligning the WPS agenda and R2P principle in a way that is beneficial to both and strengthens the pursuit of a shared goal – prevention. They argue that the development and inclusion of gender-specific indicators – particularly economic, social and political discriminatory practices against women – has the potential to improve the capacity of early warning frameworks to forecast future mass atrocities.

During the past year, the UK Government has become the lead advocate for a perhaps surprising foreign policy goal : ending sexual violence in conflict. The participation of government representatives from more than 120 countries in a London Summit in June 2014 was the clearest manifestation of this project. This article offers an early assessment of the Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI) and situates it within the history of global action against sexual and gender-based violence from UN Security Council Resolution 1325 onwards, with a particular focus on three key developments. First, the PSVI has embraced the already common understanding of rape as a ‘weapon of war’, and has stressed the importance of military training and accountability. This has exposed the tensions within global policy between a focus on all forms of sexual violence (including intimate partner violence in and out of conflict situations) on the one hand, and war zone activities on the other. Second, the Initiative has placed great emphasis on ending impunity, which implicates it in ongoing debates about the role of international and local justice as an effective response to atrocity. Third, men and boys have been foregrounded as ignored victims of sexual and gender-based violence. The PSVI has been crucial to that recognition, but faces significant challenges in operationalizing its commitment and in avoiding damage to existing programmes to end violence against women and girls. The success of the Initiative will depend on its ability to navigate these challenges in multiple arenas of global politics.

Notes: Recent efforts to implement gender mainstreaming in the field of security sector reform have resulted in an international policy discourse on gender and security sector reform (GSSR). Critics have challenged GSSR for its focus on ‘adding women’ and its failure to be transformative. This article contests this assessment, demonstrating that GSSR is not only about ‘adding women’, but also, importantly, about ‘gendering men differently’ and has important albeit problematic transformative implications. Drawing on poststructuralist and postcolonial feminist theory, the author proposes a critical reading of GSSR policy discourse in order to analyse its built-in logics, tensions and implications. She argue that this discourse establishes a powerful ‘grid of intelligibility’ that draws on gendered and racialized dualisms to normalize certain forms of subjectivity while rendering invisible and marginalizing others, and contributing to reproduce certain forms of normativity and hierarchy. Revealing such processes of discursive in/exclusion and marginalized subjectivities can serve as a starting point to challenge and transform GSSR practice and identify sites of contestation.

"Since the 1970s, women have been increasingly integrated into the military; in Iraq and Afghanistan many women served on the frontline in combat. The article argues women's integration has been facilitated by the all-volunteer professional forces in which individuals are judged purely by competence. Female soldiers have been accepted in all military roles if they perform competently. There are serious limitations in the infantry, however, as only a small number of women pass the selection tests and it is likely no more than one percent of the infantry could be female at present. Moreover, masculine prejudices abound and women are still the victims of discrimination, harassment, and abuse." [FROM ABSTRACT]

"The recent decision to integrate the US military fully was met with a range of emotions. For some it was a misguided decision that would erode combat effectiveness and have negative consequences for US security. Various objections were raised to justify keeping women out of combat units but most have been demolished by ten years of combat. This article exposes the flaws in two of the more persistent objections : (1) the presence of women in combat units will erode the vital bond that develops between men and (2) women are not as strong as men and so put male soldiers at risk." [FROM ABSTRACT]

"Many concerns related to women in combat roles stem from two related assumptions : (a) the existing structure and culture of the armed forces are well adapted to the requirements of combat; and (b) politically imposed change is harmful to the professionalism and effectiveness of the military. These can be dangerous assumptions. Instead, the traditional 'truths' about the nature of unit cohesion and the optimal capabilities of individual soldiers and officers need to be periodically examined. Doing so can maximize the effectiveness of military organizations in a changing environment." [FROM ABSTRACT]

Les ambitions et les contradictions de la résolution 1325 du Conseil de sécurité portant sur "les femmes, la paix et la sécurité" sont l'objet de cette réflexion qui aborde entre autres la composition des troupes intervenant sous mandat de l'ONU et la question des femmes et des petites filles dans les conflits armés.

Do women‟s political gains in office translate into substantive differences in foreign policy
outcomes? Previous research shows that men and women hold different national security policy
preferences, and that greater representation by women in the legislature reduces conflict
behavior. But, are these relationships an artifact of confounding variables? To answer this
question, we analyze the defense spending and conflict behavior of 22 established democracies
between 1970 and 2000. We argue that the ability of female office-holders to represent women‟s
interests is context-dependent – varying with the level of party control over legislators, and the
gender stereotypes that office-holders confront. Consistent with the literature on stereotypes, we
find that increases in women‟s legislative representation decreases conflict behavior and defense
spending, while the presence of women executives increases both. However, these effects are
conditioned by the gendered balance of power in the legislature and the degree of party control in
the political system. [ABSTRACT]

The Arab League General Secretariat has announced it is working on a pan-arab regional strategy under the title , protecting arab women .. security and peace''. The strategy aims at ensuring ample protection to arab women against violence especially in cases of conflicts and wars. [ABSTRACT]

The article offers information on the Women in Defense, A National Security Organization (WID), an affiliate of the U.S. National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA). The stated mission of WID is to cultivate and support the advancement and recognition of women in all aspects of national security. WID members represent three categories and receive benefits and provided with opportunities such as education and professional developments. Among the priorities of WID and its chapters are encouraging interest in science, technology, engineering and math. [ABSTRACT]

"The article discusses the gender dimensions in the Security Sector Reform in Nepal, with reference to United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 on women, peace and security passed on October 31, 2000. It notes the existence of general crisis and confusion of accountability towards 1325 with respect to women and children. The beginning of women inclusion parameters and commitment through various legal policy and tools is acknowledged. Also examined is the status of women in national security agencies." [FROM EBSCO]

"Does the security of women influence the security and behavior of states? Existing evidence linking the situation of women to state-level variables such as economic prosperity and growth, health, and corruption is fairly conclusive. Questions remain, however, concerning the degree to which state security and state security-related behavior is linked to the security of women. The "women and peace" thesis draws upon evolutionary biology/psychology for ultimate causes of this linkage, and sociological theories of social diffusion and psychological theories of social learning for more proximate causal mechanisms. Together, a new data resource--the Woman Stats Database--and conventional methodology and a robust, positive relationship between the physical security of women and three measures of state security and peacefulness. In addition, a comparison of this proposition to alternative explanations involving level of democracy, level of economic development, and civilizational identity shows that the physical security of women is a better predictor of state security and peacefulness. Although these results are preliminary, it is still possible to conclude that the security of women must not be overlooked in the study of state security, especially given that the research questions to be raised and the policy initiatives to be considered in the promotion of security will differ markedly if the security of women is seriously considered as a significant influence on state security." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"The article focuses on issues related to the exclusion of women's peace-building activities in Solomon Islands during the 1998-2000 ethnic tensions. Women's political role were hindered by structural barriers that prevented their full inclusion. Although the role of women in peace negotiations in the country was significant to sustain peace and development, they were unable to break boundaries of feminine stereotypes and challenge traditional power hierarchies." [FROM EBSCO]

"This article discusses women and peace-building in Solomon Islands and the effect of law, theory and practical circumstances on their role. It looks at the place of Solomon Islands women in society historically, with particular reference to war and peace. It then analyses their current status from a legal perspective, looking at the existing Constitution, the proposed Federal Constitution, and relevant aspects of international law. It questions whether gender equity provisions are sufficient to promote participation at a practical level. The article also disputes the effectiveness of various international, regional, and local initiatives, designed to enhance the status of women. The article discusses the application of some of the theories relating to women and peace-building to the circumstances of Solomon Islands. It concludes by looking to the future and discussing means of consolidating women’s position, and increasing their involvement in leadership and decision-making." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"This paper examines the way that women’s relationship to peace is constructed in international institutions and international law. It identifies a set of claims about women and peace that are typically made and considers these in light of women’s experience in the conflicts in Bougainville, East Timor and the Solomon Islands." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 was adopted in 2000 with the aim of ensuring all efforts toward peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction, as well as the conduct of armed conflict itself, would entail sensitivity toward gendered violence and gendered inequalities. In this article, I contrast two accounts of the writing of UNSCR 1325 that issue from the two institutions that claim authority over the document: the United Nations Security Council and the NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security. I make a broader theoretical argument about the importance of paying analytical attention to the discursive terrain of international institutions when analyzing the formulation and implementation of security policy, concluding that contemporary theorizing of international institutions is product/productive of a particular configuration of political authority and legitimacy that can, and should, be challenged." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"An essay on the impact of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on women in armed conflicts is presented. The authors note that the resolution stressed the necessity to involve women in conflict prevention, peace building and postconflict reconstruction. This essay also provides an overview of the resolution's historical background including its potential for the advancement of women and examines the advances in addressing gender issues." [FROM EBSCO]

"The article discusses "gender mainstreaming," or considering the implications of any policy or action for women as well as men, in the context of peacekeeping missions. The history of military peacekeeping operations is discussed, as is the expanding definition of peacekeeping as undertaken by the United Nations in the 21st century. The effects on the host society, especially for the social condition of women, is discussed." [FROM EBSCO]

This symposium on peace and security was organized by the Institute of Peace (USIP) in the second decade of UN Security Council Resolution 1325. Jointly hosted by USIP and the Peace Research Institute-Oslo (PRIO), the event also marked the release of the book "Women & War: Power and Protection in the 21st Century."

The American Journal of Public Health has released a study on rape in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The study is gated so you have to be a subscriber to the journal to get a copy.

Women are disproportionately affected by war as victims. Yet of the 24 major peace processes since 1992, fewer than 3 percent of signatories to agreements have been women. Including women in negotiations is not just fair; it's indispensable to durable peace.

"In this Air & Space Power Journal article Lt Col Alfonso briefly examines the role of women in combat. She takes you through a facinating exploration of whether current US laws and policies excluding women from combat remain valid or need amending. Lt Col Alfonso reviews three case studies that demonstrate the variety of ways women have participated in modern armed conflict.
This article is derived from her longer work - Femme Fatale: An Examination of the Role of Women in Combat and the Policy Implications for Future American Military Operations, Drew Paper no. 5 (Maxwell AFB, AL: Air University Press, 2009)."