Lecture 9: Gender Dimensions of Peace and Security

Question 1

3 focuses of liberal feminism

Answer 1

1. Making women visible in security
2. How security measures affect women differently than men
3. Equal representation of women in global security studying

Question 2

Core argument of liberal feminism

Answer 2

The functioning of the international relies on the private division of labor (e.g. unpaid domestic work of wives of military men contributes to global security and diplomatic interests and careers)

Question 3

Main goal of liberal feminism

Answer 3

Making women visible

Question 4

3 limitations of the liberal feminist approach

Answer 4

1. No critique of the positivist foundation of realist theories
2. “Add women and stir” (doesn’t go beyond realism)
3. Essentializes women’s identities

Question 5

3 focuses of standpoint feminism

Answer 5

1. How does security look from a female perspective? How are their experiences of security different from men’s?
2. Redefining through a feminist lense the ways in which we understand security
3. The perspective of women add something new and different to security

Question 6

The core argument of standpoint feminism

Answer 6

The distinction between the “international” and the “domestic” relies on gendered assumptions, tropes, and metaphors

The international is defined in words like strength, power, autonomy, independence, rationality, whereas the domestic is defined like weakness, naiveté, irrationality

Question 7

2 Main goals of standpoint feminism

Answer 7

1. Include women’s experiences to transform global politics
2. Understand the history of exclusion and de-valorization of women in global politics (why did it happen?)

Question 8

3 implications of standpoint feminism for studying security?

Answer 8

1. Behavior in the domestic and the international sphere are inseparable (the brave soldier depends on the idea of a vulnerable woman in need of protection=
2. Identity is important, and inclusion of women’s views might lead to a less militarized state identity and more peaceful relations between states
3. Gender equality is important for global security (human insecurity often has gendered origins)

Question 9

2 limitations of standpoint feminism

Answer 9

1. Are there “authentic” female views and experiences across time, space, and culture? Can we generalize about women or would this reinforce gendered view of security?
2. Can there truly be a “non-gendered” discipline?

Question 10

2 focuses of post-structural gender approaches

Answer 10

1. Understanding gender as a category
2. How is the concept of men and women socially constructed and can be fluid? How does shifting perceptions change security?

Question 11

Core argument of post-structural gender approaches

Answer 11

Our viewpoints are never “neutral” and always “gendered”. We always speak from dominant assumptions about masculinity and femininity

Question 12

Definition: gendering

Answer 12

Assigning characteristics of masculinity and femininity to certain phenomena

Question 13

2 main goals of post-structural gender approaches

Answer 13

1. Deconstruct gender and sex categories
2. Critically engage with the consequences of gendered global politics (e.g. how national security reproduces hierarchies and structural violence against people it claims to protect)

Question 14

Limitation of the post-structural gender approach

Answer 14

How can we pursue change if we can’t speak for “women”? Can lead to exclusion of women and reproduction of inequalities

Question 15

When women are included in peace processes…

Answer 15

There is a 35% increase in the probability of an agreement lasting at least 15 years

Question 16

How can women be “honest brokers”?

Answer 16

Having interests that differ from the people in power, outside the existing power structure

Question 17

6 ways women work as 6 peace makers

Answer 17

1. Work across cultural and sectarian lines
2. Act as honest brokers
3. Stage mass action
4. Access critical information through community networks
5. Broaden the agenda (political, social, economic, and legal reforms)
6. Aid post-conflict recovery (monitoring peace process, reconciliation)

Question 18

The four pillars of the UN women, peace, and security agenda

Answer 18

1. Prevention (of violence against women)
2. Participation (incorporating women in decision-making in conflicts)
3. Protection (in peace-building and peace-keeping)
4. Relief and recovery (aid women post-conflict)

Question 19

What are the theoretical origins of the UN women, peace, and security agenda

Answer 19

Liberal and standpoint feminism: where are the women? Improve representation of women + women’s experiences can contribute to more peace

Question 20

Post-structuralist critique of the UN women, peace, and security agenda

Answer 20

By making the resolution about women and not gender in general, they reproduce the sources of inequality, hierarchy, and male dominance

Question 21

3 challenges for the UN women, peace, and security agenda

Answer 21

1. Securitizing women’s rights/issues implies a traditional military intervention
2. Gaps in implementation - there is no language on compliance/noncompliance
3. Is the agenda adequate? Can it prevent wartime sexual violence?

Question 22

Policies initiatives against sexual violence during war

Answer 22

International criminal tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda made sexual violence a war crime and crime against humanity

UNSC said gender-based violence is a threat to peace and a tactic of war, calling for monitoring, analysis, and reporting

Question 23

3 Feminist critiques of the policy agenda regarding sexual violence in war

Answer 23

1. Too narrow a focus on women as victims, leaving out male victims and female perpetrators
2. “Rape as a weapon of war” implies the problem can be solved with the legal prosecution of commanders and the logic of deterrence
3. Causes and dynamics of violence against women are not limited to wartime processes (continues in peace-time)

Question 24

Mention 4 causes of sexual violence during war

Answer 24

1. War increases men’s opportunity for rape
2. Rape is used to shame male relatives and the wider social/ethnic group who failed to protect the women
3. Women and men can be victims of sexual violence, which masculinizes the identity of the perpetrator and feminizes the identity of the victim
4. Much variation between and within civil war across space and time

Question 25

Causes of sexual violence during war: war increases men’s opportunity for rape

Answer 25

Essentialist position: Inequality, discrimination and male domination happens in war and peace, but war can give vent to men’s contempt for women

Limits:
Overestimates the occurrence of rape
Criminalizes all men

Question 26

Causes of sexual violence during war: rape is used to shame male relatives

Answer 26

Structuralist position: men have to prove their masculinity during war to their wider ethnic group, e.g. Bosnia 1992-1995 had 20,000 ordered rapes in 1992 alone

Limits:
Overlooks sexual violence against men
Limits occurrence of sexual violence to ethnic wars

Question 27

Causes of sexual violence during war: Sexual violence masculinizes the perpetrator and feminizes the victim

Answer 27

Social-constructivist position: Sexual violence occurs due to the social construction of the feminine as inferior and the masculine as superior, and is an expression of power relations in society

Question 28

Causes of sexual violence during war: Much variation between and within civil war across space and time (3 points)

Answer 28

1. Opportunistic individual interests (desire, prestige)
2. Strategic group interests (deter civilians from supporting rebels, ethnic cleansing)
3. Rape as a practice (Combatant socialization, a form of teambuilding)

Limits: does not account for continuities between war and peace (e.g. increase in rape after war ends)

Question 29

Reading: Why the Nobel Peace Prize Went to 2 People Fighting Sexual Violence in War - Ragnhild Nordas and Elisabeth J. Wood

Answer 29

Wartime sexual violence (sexual torture, forced marriage, rape and sexual slavery) is not inevitable

There is huge variability in sexual violence: some victimize ethnic groups, weapon of war, social pressures to conform to violent forms of masculinity, e.g. rape as a practice to create social bonds, managing sexual lives of army members

Organizations that effectively prohibit violence build strong institutions of norms of restraint and discipline, undermining the pressures that drive sexual violence