Security through the Gender Security through the Gender Lens:Lens:

NTS Training Programme

Singapore, 21-24 August, 2007

Sumona DasGupta

Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace (WISCOMP), New Delhi

Security Through the Gender Security Through the Gender Lens:Lens:

Module Plan: Demystifying GenderRevisiting new issues of securityMapping the interface of gender and

security

Demystifying GenderDemystifying Gender

What is gender? There is a lot of misunderstanding about the word gender which is often seen as being synonymous with women. Why is there this misunderstanding?

Women and the status quoWomen and the status quo

3 different roles of men and women:Productive rolesReproductive rolesCommunity roles

Gender roles and gender Gender roles and gender activitiesactivities

RolesChef, tailor,

farmer, doctor

ActivitiesCooking, sewing,

planting vegetables, caring for the family

Understanding GenderUnderstanding Gender

Gender is about the balance of power between men and women

Gender refers to the cultural ideals and expectations about masculinity and feminity. Changes from one culture to another and from one time period to another.

Gender refers to how men and women’s roles, social relationships and expectations are built by society.

Terms of engagementTerms of engagement Gender inequality is a form of social exclusion. Gender justice encourages the greatest possible

participation of both women and men on equal terms in society.

Feminist InsightsFeminist Insights

Patriarchy: A system of social relations in which men’s power is dominant.

Essentialism: the idea that men and women possess certain universal natural characteristics and these form a basis of solidarity between them.

Agency embodies the idea that all human beings take active steps to deal with the constraints and limitations that life imposes of them.

New Issues of SecurityNew Issues of Security

Since 1994 UNDP's Human Development Report has emphasised people's security as opposed to territorial security. It has stressed the shift from security through armaments, to security through human development.

Freedom from Fear and Freedom from want – twin pillars

Ford ResearchFord Research

First phase of research yielded a cluster of issues- globalization, state and nation building, life and livelihood issues, movement of people across borders and boundaries, transnational crimes, trafficking, terrorism, proliferation of drugs and small arms, public health, militarization, collapse of financial markets, ethnic and other conflicts

Revisiting SecurityRevisiting Security

How do you sort out this mixed bag? Security is not self referential. Security for whom, security for which values, security from what threats?

Seven Security Sectors: Seven Security Sectors:

Economic security: assured basic income Food security: Physical and economic access Health security: against parasitic and

infectious disease Environmental security: land, forests Personal Security: against physical violence Community Security: cultural identity Political Security: human rights

Security from What ?Security from What ?

Disruptions caused by globalization, terrorism, cross national crimes, drugs syndicates, proliferation of small arms

What does gender mean for What does gender mean for our understanding of security?our understanding of security?New formulations on security have as

their twin planks freedom from fear and freedom from want. Women’s organizations and those concerned with women’s rights have tended to welcome this definition because it allows for issues of concern to to women and girls to be viewed in the context of women’s human rights.

Rethinking Conflict/Security Rethinking Conflict/Security Using a Gender Perspective: Using a Gender Perspective:

How security issues be addressed in a manner that is sensitive to gender issues?

How does conflict impact the security of individual men and women differently?

Do gender relations change as a result of heightened insecurity during a active conflict?

Why do women’s rights matter? What does gender mean for our

understanding of security?

How does Conflict Impact How does Conflict Impact Individual Men and WomenIndividual Men and Women

Conflicts generate 3 kinds of social changes all of which have a gender implication.

Demographic change or change in patterns of residence, population and organization.

Economic change: War requires people to adapt to new forms of livelihood

Political change: people, institutions, leadership

Do Gender Relations Change Do Gender Relations Change As a Result of the ConflictAs a Result of the Conflict

There are different aspects of gender relations:

Gender roles

Gender identities

Gendered power structures

Gender ideologies

Why do women’s rights Why do women’s rights matter?matter?

Priority: saving lives. Post conflict everyone has to pull together to rebuild. 2 main arguments:

Women’s human rights are assured under the charter of the United Nations. These instruments assert that institutions that fail to provide representation to all sections of the populations are undemocratic.

Women’s participation and perspectives enrich and transform political agendas and conflict resolution at all levels.

Women's Global MilestonesWomen's Global Milestones

1945 Charter of the United Nations 1947 Establishment of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1952 Convention on the Political Rights of Women 1967 Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women 1975 International Women's Year: Equality, Development, and Peace

Milestones continuedMilestones continued

1975 World Conference of the International Women's Year, Mexico City, Mexico 1976 - 1985 UN Decade for Women 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women 1980 World Conference of the UN Decade for Women, Copenhagen, Denmark 1985 World Conference to Review and Appraise the Achievements of the UN Decade for Women: Equality, Development and Peace, Nairobi, Kenya (Forward Looking Strategies)

Milestones continuedMilestones continued

1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Agenda 21) 1993 United Nations World Conference on Human Rights, Vienna, 1993 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women

1994 International Conference on Population and Development - Cairo, Egypt

Milestones continuedMilestones continued

1995 World Summit on Social Development, Copenhagen, Denmark

1995 Fourth World Conference on Women - Beijing, China (Beijing Declaration and the Platform for Action

1996 United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II), Istanbul, Turkey (Habitat Agenda) 2000 UN General Assembly Follow-up to the Platform for Action - New York

Landmark ResolutionLandmark Resolution

2000: UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security

Utstein Definition Utstein Definition

The Utstein Definition of Peacebuilding included a security dimension to peacebuilding. In this conceptualization,security specifically implied humanitarian mine action, disarmament, reintegration of combatants, small arms & light weapons, security sector reform