WPS Resource Center
A tool for academics and practitioners interested in gender and conflict.
Addressing Conflict-Related Sexual Violence Through Multilateral Sanctions
The UN Security Council displays a troubling lack of action concerning reports of systematic conflict-related sexual violence. One of its worst failures is its disregard of the Myanmar military’s pattern of brutality and violence, both before and after the military’s coup d’état in February 2021. The Tatmadaw is responsible for the vast majority of sexual…
Women’s Empowerment as a Path to Peace
This study explores the relationship between gender inequality and violent conflict at a societal level. The results reveal that narrowing of gender gaps in education, employment, financial inclusion, and political participation, as well as reduced rates of adolescent fertility and intimate partner violence, are significantly associated with lower levels of organized violence. This suggests that advancing gender…
Advancing Women’s Participation in Post-Conflict Reconstruction
The post-conflict transition period offers a critical window of opportunity to mainstream gender in four areas of post-conflict reconstruction: governance and political systems, economic recovery and environmental sustainability, justice and the rule of law, and security sector reform. The joint report, commissioned by the Permanent Mission of the United Arab Emirates to the United Nations, …
Advancing Women’s Participation in Track II Peace Processes
Diplomacy and peace processes are multi-tracked. They happen at multiple levels, from official peace negotiations to informal peacebuilding initiatives. Meaningful participation of women across all tracks is essential to building sustainable peace. While women remain underrepresented in official Track I peace processes, Track II diplomacy has offered women a space to meaningfully participate in conflict-resolution efforts.…
Reframing Women’s Roles in Peace Processes
Increasing women’s participation in peace processes is an important goal for the international community, and evidence suggests that more inclusive peace processes involving meaningful contributions by women are more likely to help achieve sustainable peace. Today, women remain largely excluded from formal Track I peace processes, even as they play a major role in informal Track…
Gang Violence as Organized Violence
The Women, Peace and Security Index, introduced in 2017 by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS) and the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO), is the first index to combine insights from gender and development indices with those from peace and security indices. The WPS Index aims to measure women’s wellbeing more comprehensively by…
Lessons from the Past
In the Malaysian jungles in the mid-1950s, it would have been conceivable for a Malayan Communist Party insurgent – battling the Malayan government and British counter-insurgency forces – to hear the voice of his mother. During 1956, over “600 separate voice messages were recorded and more than 2,200 flights were made by aircraft broadcasting” messages…
Women, Deradicalization, and Rehabilitation
With the rise of violent extremist groups around the world, questions around how to disengage and reintegrate participants from these groups back into their societies have risen to the fore. To date, female participants have been relatively neglected, despite evidence of their growing numbers. Europol’s 2016 EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report found that the…
Advancing Women’s Agency in Conflict Settings through Health Work: A Comparative Evaluation of the Dr. Hawa Abdi Foundation and the Panzi Foundation
The work of Dr. Hawa Abdi and Dr. Denis Mukwege present an interesting set of approaches to connecting international resolutions with practical, tangible change. Their work — leveraging their organizations’ success in providing medical care, especially to women, in conflict settings — to institute larger programming efforts aimed at increasing women’s empowerment and agency is…
Women and Countering Violent Extremism
While the role of women and the importance of gender mainstreaming in peace building is becoming increasingly accepted (most notably through the adoption of and momentum generated by UNSCR 1325, as well as corresponding national action plans created by countries across the globe), the role of women in violent extremism remains an understudied issue. Much…
Election-Related Violence Against Women in Nigeria
“The 2014-2015 election period in Nigeria is creating unrest and concern over increasing rates of election-related violence against women. 2014 was reportedly “the most violent year” for women in Nigeria, in large part due to Boko Haram’s targeted kidnapping of and attacks against women and girls. They are also known to have coerced women and…
Peace, Security and Cooperation Framework for the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Great Lakes Region
Much of what has been written about women and gender in the DRC conflict over the past decade has focused on the issue of sexual and gender-based violence as a weapon or tactic of war. While this continues to be a major concern affecting many thousands of mostly women and girls in the DRC, this…
