GIWPS in NYC: New Research Reveals Need for WPS Agenda Amidst Global Conflict and Backlash to Women’s Rights
The Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS) was proud to join colleagues from around the world for a series of events and high-level workshops in New York to commemorate the 25th Anniversary of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda last month. During this critical moment and amidst rising backlash against women’s rights, GIWPS released three major research projects to further support the evidence-based case for women’s inclusion at all levels of peace and security.
Release of the 2025/26 WPS Index at the Permanent Mission of Norway to the UN
Ambassador Merete Fjeld Brattested, Permanent Representative of Norway to the United Nations, and Ambassador Yamazaki Kazuyuki, Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations, opened the global Women, Peace and Security Index launch event, emphasizing that we are not where we should be in terms of ensuring women’s agency in all matters of peace and security. They highlighted the importance of the fifth edition of the WPS Index, which scores and ranks 181 countries based on 13 indicators of women’s status across the dimensions of inclusion, justice, and security, and is produced biannually by GIWPS and the Gender Peace and Security Centre at the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO).
GIWPS Executive Director, Ambassador Melanne Verveer, highlighted key findings of the WPS Index.
“Our data show that advancing women’s rights and status is not only an ethical and moral imperative; it is also a practical and collective one,” she said.
WPS Index Research Manager and Lead Author, Haleema Hasan, discussed trends by region, within indicators, and across time while also exploring how the Index can serve as a critical tool for policymakers, practitioners, and activists.
“As wars and conflicts reach a historic peak, progress on women’s status nears a historic low,” said lead author Haleema Hasan. “And yet there is hope, with some of the greatest improvements on the WPS Index coming from the most challenging and conflict-affected places.”
Dr. Siri Aas Rustad, Research Professor and Index Project Leader at PRIO, further emphasized the importance of gender-disaggregated conflict data, noting the ways that women are disproportionately impacted by conflict.
The launch event was hosted by the Permanent Mission of Norway to the UN in partnership with the Permanent Mission of Japan to the UN, GIWPS, and PRIO.
Read about key findings, or watch the launch event recording.
WPS Survey launch at the Permanent Mission of Denmark to the UN
At a high-level launch event hosted by the Permanent Mission of Denmark to the UN, GIWPS released results from a global survey of nearly 3,000 women in 121 countries—one of the largest samples of women peacebuilders to date.
The Women, Peace and Security Survey highlights perspectives of women peacebuilders from around the world: where they find influence and meaning, the challenges they face, and how the international community can better support their critical work.
Ambassador Christina Markus Lassen of Denmark and GIWPS Executive Director Ambassador Melanne Verveer opened the event, reminding us that in a world increasingly plagued by conflict, it is more crucial than ever to listen to and support the women on the frontlines of peace and security.
WPS Survey lead author Kristine Baekgaard provided a briefing on the results, including that women play vital roles in peace and security and find deep meaning in their work, yet they remain under-resourced and face poverty, exclusion, burnout, and security risks.
Mariam Safi, founding director of the Organization for Policy Research and Development Studies (DROPS); Dr. Jasmin Nario-Galace, Senior Program Director at the Global Network of Women Peacebuilders; and Dr. Sonja Kelly, Global Head of the Women’s World Banking Institute, joined a panel discussion, bringing the data to life by sharing their stories, lessons learned, and the needs of the women in their communities.
“We are building peace with nearly empty hands,” said Dr. Nario-Galace.
Dr. Kelly spoke to a key finding of the WPS Survey data: the need for sustainable and flexible resourcing and financial support for grassroots women’s organizations. She emphasized that there can be “no resources without agency and no agency without resources.”
Safi spoke of both the plight and courage of Afghan women in her network, and implored the international community to continue listening to and amplifying the voices and needs of women and girls in Afghanistan.
“I am an Afghan girl, full of light, full of knowledge, full of power. They can close the school, but they can never extinguish the science from my mind. I am an Afghan girl, and I am proud to say that I am an Afghan girl.” – Survey Respondent in Afghanistan
Commitment 2025 High-Level Working Group Meeting at the Permanent Mission of Spain to the UN
GIWPS provided a briefing to UN Member States on data and trends related to women’s representation in security and diplomacy, financing for WPS, the use of policy instruments and expertise to drive implementation, and best practices for supporting gender advisors at an event co-hosted by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of Spain.
Ana Maria Alonso Giganto, Ambassador-at-large for Feminist Foreign Policy in Spain, and Lauri Voionmaa, Deputy Permanent Representative of Finland to the United Nations, opened the discussion, outlining the vision for Commitment 2025—an initiative to advance the WPS Agenda launched in 2019 by Finland and Spain—and reflecting on both achievements and obstacles.
GIWPS Executive Director Ambassador Melanne Verveer emphasized the urgency of coordination among UN Member States to monitor and advance collective action for WPS, especially in the context of cutbacks in aid funding for women’s organizations in conflicts.
Mohammad Naciri, Chief of Staff at UN Women, discussed WPS achievements within the UN system, noting the importance of ensuring existing tools are implemented and meaningful for women on the frontlines of conflicts.
GIWPS Research Fellow Dr. Rachel George led a presentation of the research findings, highlighting areas of progress over 25 years, including a doubling of women’s representation in many peace and security spaces and an expansion of aid funding marked in part for gender equality. She also warned of setbacks: a stagnation and recent decline in dedicated aid portfolios, persistently low representation of women in peacekeeping and defense, and increasingly outdated National Action Plans.
During the discussion, participants emphasized the importance of new and renewed efforts to move the WPS Agenda forward. These include ensuring that WPS commitments are adequately resourced and implemented and are not merely “box-checking” exercises, and that funding reaches grassroots women’s organizations.
The event was attended by high-level representatives from countries including Austria, Belgium, Chile, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Israel, and Spain.
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