Gender, Peace and Security
The adoption by the African Union of the Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in 2004 and the UN Security Council Resolutions 1325, 1820 and 1889 gave prominence to a broad range of women’s rights and participation in peace and security and more broadly in a context that is structurally dominated by a patriarchal narrative. Although the notion that gender analysis should be accorded a place in the public domain has been generally accepted it has evolved separately and as an additive to governance debates. The general separation of the women’s agenda from the security governance agenda raises a number of important questions about the depth and applicability of seemingly new and transformational security paradigms. This research cluster aims to respond to these gaps by: examining how governance and security and the most visible manifestations of state security, war and militarism, both construct and are sustained by specific masculinities and femininities; assessing the impact of gender constructions on the lives of particular groups of men and women; re-conceptualizing mainstream security and governance discourses by re-examining concepts such as nation-state, peace, security and militarism; revealing the gendered constructions, biases, and inequalities that mark both scholarship and praxis in these zones. It builds on recent research at the ALC on Women, Peace and Security and the implementation of the UN Resolution 1325 globally.
