Women's Peace Research Articles

The Force Intervention Brigade in the drc, Civilian Security and Women Peace and Security

Abstract This article examines the UN Security Council (unsc) authorised Force Intervention Brigade (fib) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (drc) and the component of the mandate that articulates civilian security as a rationale for justified force. In examining civilian protection (articulated as both civilian security and as the protection of civilians), we explore the parallels between the women, peace and security agenda and the image – versus the reality – of civilian vulnerability in the drc. In focusing on the narratives of civilian security we explore how the ten years of repeat authorisations for the fib replicate heteronormative and colonial tropes that have ultimately undermined security in the drc and, for international lawyers, undermine peacekeeping principles, authorisations of force, and understandings of consent. The contradictions between the Security Council’s commitments to addressing and preventing conflict-related sexual violence and the mobilisation of the fib are drawn on to demonstrate the ways in which gender simultaneously strengthens the Council’s legitimacy and yet produces few spaces of significant change from a feminist perspective. We conclude that not only is the legacy of the fib detrimental to women’s security in the drc given reports of sexual exploitation and abuse (sea) perpetrated by peacekeepers but that the fib has transformed peacekeeping away from peace, embedding militarised responses to a complex humanitarian crisis.

Estimates of unintended pregnancy among US active-duty service women and the impact on Women Peace and Security objectives as measured by potential readiness days lost

IntroductionThe prevalence of unintended pregnancy (UIP) in the United States is high among active-duty service women (ADSW).ObjectiveTo estimate the number of UIPs and the impact these pregnancies have on the...

Coloniality, modern subjectivities in Kenya and exclusion of African women in preventing violent extremism

Cosmetic attention to contextual nuances has been a major obstacle in many programmes for preventing violent extremism (PVE) in Kenya. The study highlights how donor-funded interventions often disregard cultural values and local experience by posing a subtle resistance to learn from the knowledge of local actors. The non-recognition of contextual knowledge postures a gender problem, increasing chances for systemic exclusion of African women from the knowledge production system. The paper interrogates how modern subjectivities, entrenched in contemporary interventions, exude colonial legacies in PVE. Using decolonial theory and interviews with local practitioners, the study submits that many donor-funded PVE approaches risk pushing further the voice of indigenous African women to the periphery of knowledge production. The paper concludes that PVE interventions in the local context have an opportunity for reinforcing indigenous perspectives through a decisive decolonial strategy in the women peace and security agenda.

Walking (to) Greenham, Again

This article makes the case for the inclusion of live and performance art in commemorative practice, including specifically the artistic-activist practice of walking, in reference to the complex feminist legacies of the women's peace camp at Greenham Common (1981–2000). Such practices offer alternatives to the impasses of public sculpture, resonate with Greenham's feminist aesthetics and politics and prove adept to the celebration and (re-)activation of women's movements and feminist activism. I focus on practices that seek to disentangle the collective work of activist transmission from the compromised habit of memorialization, showcasing specific performative alternatives to the commissioning of sculptural monuments. Such alternatives operate in a queer time of collectivity and gather momentum through ritual repetition, where remembrance vibrates with the energy of an embodied commitment to continue and expand the work of our chosen feminist foremothers. The practice of Jemima Brown, Elspeth Owen, Anne Robinson, and Nina Wakeford selectively deploys performance across its making and delivery, but mostly (re-)activates a kind of performativity that can never be exhausted in the act of passive spectatorship and demands sustained purchase. At a time when monuments are being toppled, ephemeral interventions prove strangely resilient and efficacious in their responsiveness and their capacity for embodied transmission across the generations and geographies of feminism. The practice of these artists proposes models of heritage-as-activation and transforms the audience into fellow actors, and even activists.

Kehidupan Wanita Mesir Dalam Novel Al-Ifthor Al-Akhir Karya Hisyam Syaban Perspektif Ian Watt

Egyptian society is known as a nation that has a good culture from ancient times, it is not only good that it turns out that Egyptian society also has other cultures. This study aims to find out how the life of Egyptian women in the novel Al Ifthor Al Akhir Karya Hisyam Syaban, according to Ian Watt's perspective. This study discusses how the description of the life of Egyptian women is in the novel. The method used in this research is descriptive descriptive research method. The data taken by the researcher is in the form of words that describe the reflection of the life of women in Egypt. The results of the study show that the researcher found 2 data from the novel Al Ifthor Al Akhir which reflects that there is peace for women in the Egyptian area, 3 data states that women are in a powerless position and 3 data states that many affairs have occurred.

From Peace Talks to Pandemics: The Continuum of Feminist Peace Activism

Abstract Feminist scholarship has convincingly shown that violence is more accurately conceptualized as a continuum rather than a war/peace binary. While recent scholarship has elucidated women's peace activism during armed conflict, peace negotiations, and post-peace agreement transitions, we know little about the work of self-identified women peace activists beyond those highly visible moments. We examine the activities of a Burundian women's peace organization in exile, Mouvement Inamahoro, during COVID-19. Our data are derived from thirty-six semi-structured interviews with individual members of the organization and reviewing hundreds of primary-source documents. We find that from Inamahoro’s standpoint, the intersection of COVID-19 and exile constituted security threats, relevant to its mandate to build peace. Accordingly, it responded with humanitarian assistance, advocacy, and awareness-raising among its own members as well as with Burundians both inside and outside the country. Inamahoro also continued its regular activities to promote longer-term peace and security in Burundi through media programming, training women and girls for political leadership, and liaising with Burundian civil society and international non-governmental organizations (INGOs). Based on the continuum of violence concept and building inductively from the Inamahoro case, we propose a multidimensional continuum of activism that occurs before, during, and following conflict (dimension 1, time); is conducted in multiple arenas (dimension 2, space); deals with issues of insecurity at multiple levels (dimension 3, scale); and is concerned with threats that are structural, direct, and cultural/symbolic (dimension 4, type). In so doing, we offer a preliminary framework with which to examine the everyday activities of women peace activists, which constitute often overlooked interventions in global politics.

The Bottom Drawer: NETWORK’s Fifty Years of Political Ministry

The Bottom Drawer: NETWORK’s Fifty Years of Political Ministry Mara D. Rutten (bio) In the summer of 1978, Father William J. Brennan, SJ was attending the seventh legislative seminar of NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice, an organization formed by U.S. women religious, when news reached the attendees that Illinois had once again failed to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), one of the organization’s primary issues. “As a minority male,” he later wrote, “the mood made one uncomfortable. But once the cloud of depression passed, I was amazed at the resilient spirits of these 200 women.” When he expressed his own frustration with the hurdles that the amendment faced to Sister Maureen Kelleher, RSHM, she responded with equanimity. The women of NETWORK do not win too many, she reminded him, because “you see, Bill, we don’t espouse popular causes.”1 The causes they did work on were not those with much money or powerful interests behind them. Unlike other lobby shops, they did not have a particular client or agenda, unless one counted advocating for a just and equitable society on behalf of those living on the margins. Fighting for healthcare or workers’ rights while opposing military spending and tax cuts hardly endeared them to the powers that be. Thus it was a surprise when, in 2012, NETWORK, in the guise of “Nuns on the Bus,” took these issues on the road and became something of a media darling and the focus of adulation by justice seekers both in and outside the church. It had been a long time coming. A Call to Action NETWORK was founded shortly after the Second Vatican Council, when Catholic Social Teaching, a body of teachings emphasizing the [End Page 109] political, social, and economic implications of the gospel, was in vogue among those excited about the changes the church was undergoing. When Pope John XXIII called for a council charged with aggiornamento (bringing the church up to date), no single group of Catholics embraced the spirit of reform with more enthusiasm than American women religious. Vowed religious life itself underwent a renewal, with sisters reviewing their way of life in light of “the original spirit of the institutes and their adaptation to the changed conditions of our time.”2 They rewrote their constitutions, transformed their governing structures, and replaced their medieval habits with modern clothing. “These, however, were only the external changes,” Sister Anneliese Sinnot, OP wrote, “the more important transformations had to take place within the members.”3 Inspired by the council’s Gaudium et Spes, which reiterated the scriptural mandate to place the cry of the poor at the center of Christian discipleship, and the social movements of the 1960s, sisters who had previously worked in institutional church settings explored “open ministry,” or discerning their professional calling for themselves. Many went out into the world to live and work among those on the margins, becoming advocates for better housing, food security, workers’ rights, peace, and equal rights for LGBTQ, women, and people of color, shifting “the meaning of ministry . . . from church work to the work of the church.”4 Though long practiced at charitable works, the sisters received an education concerning the underlying causes of the problems they saw every day. “Sisters began to feel that they were running around stamping out brush fires as they tried to prevent gang wars or counsel drug addicts,” reflected Kelleher. “After reflecting on the causes of gang wars and the availability of drugs, they recognized the need to address themselves to action on the causes of these problems, causes related to unemployment, substandard housing and corruption in high places. And so this combination of study and experience has brought them to a new consciousness leading to a new response—organizing for social impact.”5 [End Page 110] Click for larger view View full resolution Sister Maureen Kelleher, RSHM, NETWORK’s first lobbyist on staff (undated) Photo courtesy NETWORK Lobby for Catholic Social Justice The sisters leaned heavily on Catholic social teaching as their guide. Sisters who had been moved by the spirit to engage in justice issues were galvanized when, in 1971, Pope Paul VI released his apostolic letter, Octogesima...

The effect of family support on anxiety and depression in pregnant women with high-risk pregnancies hospitalized in the third trimester of pregnancy: Results of randomized controlled trial

Background. During pregnancy, it is crucial to minimize maternal anxiety to maintain the mental and physical health of both the mother and fetus, especially in high-risk pregnancies. This study aimed to investigate the effect of family support on decreasing depressive and anxiety symptoms in women hospitalized with high-risk pregnancies in their third trimester. Methods. This randomized controlled clinical trial was performed on 70 high-risk pregnant women in their third trimester. Samples were randomly divided into intervention and control groups. The intervention group walked for five weeks, five days a week, with their spouse or a family member for half an hour a day in the hospital. The control group received routine care. Participants completed the Spielberger Anxiety and Beck Depression Inventory once before and once a week during the intervention. Data were analyzed using SPSS.21 software using ANCOVA, independent t-test, and Mann-Whitney U. Results. Results showed that the subjects were homogeneous in terms of mean overall score of anxiety before the intervention, and there is no significant difference between the intervention group 43.2 (±2.93) and the control group 42.63 (±3.3) (P=0.53). Statistical tests showed that, three weeks after the intervention, the mean anxiety score in the study group decreased significantly, and there was a significant difference in the mean anxiety score of women in the intervention 41.3(±3.07) and control 42.12(±3.6) groups (P=0.032). On the other hand, the level of state anxiety in the study group decreased (P=0.03). The results showed that the depression score after the intervention in the study group decreased significantly (P=0.001). Conclusion. Anxiety level and depression score decreased after the intervention. Practical Implications. The current study's results showed that talking to a spouse or relatives during pregnancy can increase women's peace of mind, and social support during hospitalization can reduce the anxiety and depression of the pregnant mother. Therefore, using such methods will be beneficial for the pregnant mother.

Funding Precarity and Women's Peace Work in Colombia, Nepal, and Northern Ireland

Abstract Civil society supports peace work in many ways, including through education, advocacy, health outreach, data gathering, expertise- and experience-sharing, event-running, community mobilization, conflict prevention, and peacebuilding. However, there are limited funds available to support this work, even though key development, peace, and security actors, including the United Nations Secretary-General, have acknowledged that developing the capacity of civil society to support peacebuilding efforts required increased investment. Scarcity of funding has created important political dynamics that affect the work that civil society can do. This study uses a qualitative semi-structured interview design to elicit information about donor funding dynamics and imperatives from expert research informants across three conflict-affected countries: Colombia, Nepal, and Northern Ireland. We explore funding dynamics, various organizational features that influence mobilization strategies, and the impact of COVID-19 on women's civil society groups working on peacebuilding. We argue that, while it is an ongoing concern, scarcity of funding is not the only inhibitor to effective peace work. Donor priorities, and embedded assumptions about the value of peace work—largely undertaken by women and women-led organizations—also challenge the viability of continued efforts toward sustainable peace.

“Unable to Defend Him”: Conflicting Views of Female Violence in Swedish Medieval Law

“Unable to Defend Him”: Conflicting Views of Female Violence in Swedish Medieval Law

UN Peace Operations: Diplomacy, Delivery and New Directions

This paper explains roles of diplomacy for better UN (United Nations) Peace Operations, major obstacles in the delivery of mandates of UN Peace Missions, inter alia, due to weaknesses in UN peace architecture and thematic new directions in the course of its evolution. The research methodology involves document analysis and review. The sources of data are UN documents on UN Peace Operations and UN Study reports on the same.It finds the inevitable role of diplomacy in leading discourses, designing and deciding mandates of missions. Due to the political nature of conflicts and dynamic nature of global politics, more effective diplomacy is needed both at global and local level. Reviewing UN peace architecture, it finds that UN Peace Operations are largely successful though beset by some key challenges. Further, it explains such thematic new directions as protection of civilians, women peace and security, concern about safety and security of peacekeepers, regionalism, building and sustaining peace, and growing demand for accountability and professionalism. Finally, some findings and implications for diplomats and peacekeepers involved in UN Peace Operations have been drawn.

Rooting, shifting and mobilizing: Women's peacebuilding across differences in Georgia and Myanmar

This article explores how female peace activist's experiences of armed conflict drive their activism. By analyzing women's peace activism as a manifestation of transversal politics, I capture how women's experiences and social positioning in relation to the armed conflict influence how they shape their identities and create alliances across conflict divides. Building on the narratives of activists and members of women's organizations in Georgia and Myanmar, I argue that when experiences such as displacement and loss are articulated with the awareness of the gendered dynamics of the conflict, women expand the categories in which their identities are defined, and challenge political stances which were hitherto only guided by the ethno-political context. This process allows women to approach other parties (which were previously either neglected or considered as opponents) and to build common ground for peace activism despite the existence of multiple differences within and across groups.

Examining Women, Peace, and Security Agenda in Local Concept Case study: Aceh, Indonesia


 The UN security council established Resolution 1325 (SCR1325) to affirm women's vital role in peacemaking and peacebuilding in conflict. Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda emphases equal participation of men and women in the negotiation process and creates gender equality in post-conflict, and eradicates gender violence in conflict. This study illustrates how women in Aceh fight for their rights throughout the conflict and post-conflict within an unequal society; and also highlights how important to adapt the WPS agenda to ensure gender equality and social justice. By applying narrative analysis, researchers enable to explore Acehnese women's experiences and struggles in seeking justice through their narratives. The implementation of the WPS agenda in Aceh faces many challenges, both structural and cultural. Thegovernment and combatant groups overlooked women's participation in peace negotiation. When the conflict ended, gender inequality is still lingering in every aspect. Aceh women experience injustice, sexual violence, and discrimination in the domestic and public sphere. Besides revealing the challenges in adapting the WPS agenda and creating gender equality in Aceh, this study also obtains policy recommendations to be considered by the local and central governments to ensure gender justice and substantial peace for women in Aceh post-conflict.
 
 
 

Nepal’s Gender Policies: Achievements and Challenges

Nepal has experienced extraordinary political and social changes in the last 25 years. Since the Constituent Assembly (CA) election in 2008, progress has been noted in increasing women’s access to literacy, education, and healthcare services. Despite significant gender reforms in policies and strategies, Nepali women continue to experience discrimination and violence mainly because of their gender. Drawing upon six different cases – constitutional and international framework, participation of women, women peace and security, sexual and reproductive health rights, gender-responsive budget and citizenship law – this paper highlights some of the achievements and gaps in the area of gender reform policies and practices. Methodologically, the study adopts document review and personal reflections of authors as the main source of information. The paper concludes with some key recommendations to address existing challenges and gaps of these selected policies/strategies.

Introduction: WPS 20 Years On: Where Are the Women Now?

ABSTRACTTo commemorate the twentieth anniversary of Resolution 1325, this introduction discusses the state of the field in the women peace and security (WPS) agenda and outlines the challenges to implementation. It begins by introducing the current gaps we see in WPS practice, many of which are driven by insufficient data and lack of funding. The section that follows provides a brief discussion of the global diffusion of the WPS agenda. We highlight the important contribution the Global South has made in implementing the agenda in the absence of great power leadership and the stultified progress of the Global North. We argue that the WPS agenda remains hampered by poor national implementation, a lack of support for civil society initiatives and a failure to recognize the importance of its application in context. The final section introduces the articles in this issue, showing how they advance an emerging human security agenda: integrating WPS into UN-led security initiatives like R2P, and the challenges of the implementation of the WPS agenda in varied local and national contexts. We conclude by arguing that to meet future challenges, the WPS agenda must be broadened to include areas outside traditional conceptions of security and embrace the full remit of evolving security threats; in particular, structural barriers that prevent the empowerment of women across the board.

Advancing Women in Peace And Security

Overcoming gender bias has been increasingly important to counter ongoing threats to national and international security. The article focus on the institutional framework that exists for the participation of women in peace and security at the United Nations and NATO levels. It expands to the success story of women’s inclusiveness in the Jordanian armed forces, as well as to the challenges of health security, and concludes with a set of concrete policy recommendations.

Do All Women Combatants Experience War and Peace Uniformly? Intersectionality and Women Combatants

Abstract Do women combatants experience war and post-war “peace” in the same way? Existing studies on gender and war treat women combatants as a homogeneous group with similar identities, interests, and statuses experiencing the war uniformly. I argue that women combatants’ experiences of war and post-war “peace” cannot be detached from their multiple statuses, positions, and identities. I follow the stories of five women ex-combatants in the Maoist insurgency in Nepal at different spatial and temporal spaces out of thirty-nine semi-structured interviews that I conducted in Nepal (2017–2018). The women ex-combatants come from the same rank but from different caste, class, ethnicity, marital status, social status, education status, and geographical location. I use a feminist intersectional framework inspired by “matrix of domination” while using intersectionality also as a method. My research shows that women ex-combatants’ experiences of the insurgency and post-insurgency lives have been molded by their intersectional positions and identities in complex ways. This work not only contributes to the holistic understanding of the war in its complexity but also has implications for designing the policy interventions aimed at the prevention of armed conflict and building sustainable post-war “peace.” ¿Las mujeres combatientes experimentan la guerra y la “paz” de la posguerra de igual manera? En estudios existentes sobre género y guerra, se considera a las mujeres combatientes como un grupo homogéneo, con identidades, intereses y estatus semejantes, que experimentan la guerra de manera similar. En esta investigación, sostengo que las experiencias de las combatientes sobre la guerra y la “paz” de la posguerra no pueden desvincularse de sus diferentes identidades, posiciones y estatus. Realicé un recorrido por las historias de cinco excombatientes de la insurgencia maoísta en Nepal, en diferentes situaciones espaciotemporales, mediante treinta y nueve entrevistas semiestructuradas que llevé a cabo en Nepal (2017–2018). Las excombatientes tenían el mismo rango, pero diferían en ciertos aspectos como su casta, clase social, etnia, estado civil, estado social, nivel de educación y ubicación geográfica. Utilicé un marco interseccional feminista inspirado en la “matriz de dominación” en combinación con la interseccionalidad como método de análisis. En mi investigación, demuestro que las identidades y posiciones interseccionales de las excombatientes moldearon, de manera compleja, sus experiencias de vida en la insurgencia y posinsurgencia. Este trabajo no solo contribuye a lograr una comprensión integral de la guerra, en toda su complejidad, sino que además tiene implicancias para diseñar intervenciones sobre políticas que eviten conflictos armados y construyan una “paz” de posguerra sostenible. Les femmes combattantes vivent-elles la guerre et la « paix » d'après-guerre de la même manière ? Les études existantes sur le genre et la guerre traitent les femmes combattantes comme un groupe homogène dont les membres ont des identités, des intérêts et des statuts similaires et vivent la guerre d'une manière uniforme. Je soutiens que les façons dont les femmes combattantes vivent la guerre et la « paix » d'après-guerre ne peuvent pas être détachées de leurs multiples statuts, positions et identités. J'ai suivi les histoires de cinq femmes ex-combattantes de l'insurrection maoïste au Népal à différents moments et en différents lieux par le biais de trente-neuf entretiens semi-structurés que j'ai menés au Népal (2017–2018). Ces ex-combattantes avaient le même grade mais leur caste, leur classe, leur ethnicité, leur situation maritale, leur statut social, leur niveau d’étude et leur origine géographique n’étaient pas identiques. J'ai employé un cadre féministe intersectionnel inspiré de la « matrice de domination » ainsi qu'une méthode d'intersectionnalité. Ma recherche montre que les façons dont les ex-combattantes ont vécu l'insurrection et l'après-insurrection ont été modelées de manières complexes par leurs identités et positions intersectionnelles. Ce travail contribue non seulement à la compréhension holistique de la guerre dans sa complexité, mais a également des implications pour la conception des interventions politiques visant à prévenir les conflits armés et à établir une « paix » durable après la guerre.

"Basically Feminist": Women Strike for Peace, Maternal Peace Activism, and Memory of the Women's Peace Movement

This article examines the varying historical expressions of activists in Women Strike for Peace (WSP) to assess how changing gender ideology and feminist beliefs influenced the memory of the women's peace movement. A transformation in collective identity occurred among WSPers in the late 1960s, causing the group to engage with the women's movement in a way that had not previously occurred. Exploring how activists understood their past, this article reveals that leaders revised their group's historical narrative to craft a collective memory that gave WSP a history of feminist activism. This is shown most prominently in the reappraisal of Bella Abzug and the histories produced by activist Amy Swerdlow. The article argues that interpretations of the history and memory of the women's peace movement must acknowledge how gender politics change over time. It asserts the significance of this transformation for historicizing feminist beliefs among women's peace activists.

Women for Peace: Promoting Dialogue and Peace through Facebook?

The goal of this study is to examine the ways in which dialogue and peace are promoted and mobilized through a Facebook page in the protracted, ethnopolitical conflict between Israeli-Jews and Palestinians. A thematic qualitative text analysis based on the grounded theory approach was conducted on posts and comments that were published on the Facebook page of the Israeli grassroots movement Women Wage Peace (WWP), created by the Jewish and Arab women that participate in this movement. Our findings point to three major mechanisms through which attempts to mobilize peace were performed: building solidarity, maintaining engagement, and calling for action, thus contributing to our understanding of social media as a dialogue-provoking platform that enables users from different gender and ethnopolitical groups in divided and conflicted societies to perform peacebuilding actions. However, the findings indicate that at the same time, the page also constitutes a space for blatant expressions of hostility, hatred, and sexism that convey a backlash against the initiative and activity of WWP.

Well-intentioned but missing the point: the Australian Defence Force approach to addressing conflict-based sexual violence

ABSTRACT In 2015, the Australian Defence Force, during Exercise Talisman Sabre 15, implemented for the first time concrete measures to give effect to the Australian Government’s commitment to the prevention of conflict-based sexual violence articulated in the ‘National Action Plan on Women Peace and Security 2012–2018’. This short article analyses through a queer/feminist critique the National Action Plan and associated policy documents and then the operational implementation documents from Talisman Sabre 15 to assess how the ADF is going about the job of conflict-based sexual violence prevention. We conclude that while the practical implementation of conflict-based sexual violence prevention measures are common sense and reasonable, the optics and language used to implement these measures undermine these efforts and render them mostly ineffective.