Participation and Protection: Security Council Dyanmics, Bureaucratic Politics, and the Evolution of the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda

Citation:

Goetz, Anne Marie, and Rob Jenkins. 2018. "Participation and Protection: Security Council Dynamics, Bureaucratic Politics, and the Evolution of the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda." In The Oxford Handbook of Gender and Conflict, edited by Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, Naomi Cahn, Dina Francesca Haynes, and Nahla Valji, 119-131. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Authors: Anne Marie Goetz, Rob Jenkins

Abstract:

This chapter focuses on the political and institutional factors behind the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 1325. It illuminates two elements of the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Agenda: participation and protection. It argues that despite the WPS Agenda’s efforts, women continue to remain underrepresented in peace negotiations and post-conflict political settlements. Further, by concentrating solely on protecting women from sexual violence, and neglecting an analysis of gender inequality and its contribution to conflict-propensity, the WPS Agenda perpetuates a protectionist narrative. This is due to opposition to the participation agenda from developing country member-states, a lack of accountability systems, and a lack of a powerful advocate within the UN bureaucratic system. The chapter concludes with suggestions for a recently formed working group under resolution 2242 to utilize, in order to better enable women’s participation in peace and security processes.

Keywords: Security Council Resolution 1325, protectionism, Security Council Resolution 2242, United Nation bureaucracy, women, Women Peace and Security agenda, gender

Topics: Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, International Organizations, Post-Conflict, Peace Processes, Sexual Violence, SV against Women, UN Security Council Resolutions on WPS, UNSCR 1325, UNSCR 2242

Year: 2018