The National Action Plan was developed by a broad inter-agency group led by White House National Security Council staff which also included representatives from civil society networks. The U.S. NAP contained five objectives outlining the U.S. government's commitments to promoting women's roles in global peace and security: National Integration and Institutionalization, Participation in Peace Processes and Decision-making, Protection from Violence, Conflict Prevention, and Access to Relief and Recovery. The plan also listed outcomes, actions, and responsible agencies for each objective.[1]
To enhance implementation and increase accountability, the plan called for the three main implementing agencies – the Department of State, Department of Defense, and the U.S. Agency for International Development – to submit their own fully funded, time-bound plans for implementation and evaluation, with a requirement for annual reporting.
Iterations and versions
December 1, 2011 National Action Plan is created
December 2, 2013 USAID Implementation Plan is released
August 1, 2014 Overview of 2013 Implementation Plan is released
April 7, 2015 Overview of 2014 Implementation Plan is released
June 2016 updated National Action Plan is released[2]
October 2017 Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017 enacted
June 2019 The US Strategy on Women, Peace, and Security is released and supersedes the National Action Plan
Challenges to implementation
An August 2012 Implementation Plan set priorities for implementation of the National Action Plan.[3] Full implementation of women, peace, and security objectives put forward by the U.S. National Action Plan has been limited by external challenges ranging from lack of political will among international partners to societal discrimination against women in countries around the world. Internally, several factors have limited the ability of the U.S. government to fully integrate women, peace, and security objectives across all relevant work streams: resource and staffing limitations, insufficient training on gender-sensitive policies and programming, and uneven monitoring and evaluation are challenges to the plan.[4]
As Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton led the integration of women's issues as a core component of US foreign assistance and foreign policy. When she stepped down in 2012, some questioned whether the gains would be preserved. An opinion piece in POLITICO[5] stated, "The challenges for women are still steep, but they are stepping up to take ownership of their futures like never before. It’s hard to imagine an effective U.S. engagement with the world that does not take this powerful global change into account."
In 2015, a Huffington Post piece[6] on foreign policy in Afghanistan referred to the US National Action Plan, observing, "In the political world, there is often a long distance between words on a page and realities on the ground."
Also in 2015, a New York Times article[7] took President Obama to task for excluding women from regions impacted by violent extremism from a White House Summit on Countering Violent Extremism, "instead of honoring the U.S. NAP’s commitment to include women leaders."
Feminist foreign policy pre-UNSCR 1325
Ambassador Swanee Hunt was ambassador to Austria in the Clinton administration. During that decade the region was embroiled in post- Soviet conflict and Ambassador Hunt acted as a third party peace-maker. Writing for PRISM,[8] a publication that addresses complex operations in security Hunt discusses her role. During negotiations she arranged amongst Yugoslavian representatives she was embarrassed to realize she hadn't included a single woman in the peacemaking discussion, despite the many women contacts she had in the region. She laments that if she had included the perspective of women who were dealing with the Balkan conflict it would have illuminated the dangers of partition and problem with appointing old war criminals who had destroyed these women's communities as new leaders. Hunt writes, “Women’s perspectives had been missing at Dayton where, many told me, they would have made clear the ‘guaranteed’ right of return would be meaningless without the apprehension of war criminals. How could anyone return to a village where the police chief or mayor, still in office, had overseen genocidal rapes and murders? Not ideology, but pragmatism was the common thread that ran through [women in Bosnia's] words to me. But they had been excluded—first, by their own nationalist power brokers, and then by ‘the internationals’ who rewarded extremists with all available seats at the negotiating table. The result was not only a flawed right of return, but also a country bifurcated.”[8] There was growing international sentiment in the 90s that the well being of people, not states, should be of utmost priority to the peace and security community.
This idea of women in peace and security was entered into the pop cultural cannon with then first-lady Hillary Clinton's remarks at the 1995 World Women Conference in Beijing.[9] She proclaimed that “Human rights are women’s rights and women’s rights are human rights.”[9] This speech signaled another turning point towards taking a gendered approach to foreign policy making. Clinton's speech highlights the rumblings about the ways wars uniquely impact women that were starting to be discussed in the early 90s. These rumblings eventually led to the passage of UNSCR 1325.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325
Approved by the UN in 2000, this resolution was “Reaffirming the important role of women in the prevention and resolution of conflicts and in peace-building, and stressing the importance of their equal participation and full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security, and the need to increase their role in decision-making with regard to conflict prevention and resolution.”[10]
The Landmark Resolution on Women, Peace, and Security urges all actors to “increase the participation of women and incorporate gender perspectives in all United Nations peace and security efforts and also calls on all parties to conflict to take special measures to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual abuse, in situations of armed conflict.”[11]
UNSCR 1325 was the culmination of the last decade's shift in international thinking about women and security. The UN took a hard look at how women are uniquely positioned to make lasting peace but are also disproportionately harmed by violent conflict in ways that are rarely prosecuted, gender based violence and sexual violence being a few examples.
In 2004 the UN urged all member states to create their own National Action Plans on Women, Peace, and Security.[12] As of 2019 79 nations (40% of members) have adopted their own plans, with even fewer nations funding their plans as priorities in national budgets.[13]
More recently there have been many conversations on how women will be most affected by the consequences of climate change, and how policy makers might purposefully include women in creating strategies to combat climate change.[14]
Executive Order 13595
Executive Order 13595[15] was signed by President Obama on December 11, 2011. The plan is broken down into the five objectives, essentially the reasons behind the creation and implementation of the Executive Order, and the four benchmarks, which allow policymakers to measure the success of each new policy with specific guidelines in mind.
The Five Objectives:
National Integration and Institutionalization
Participation in Peace Processes and Decision-making
Protection from Violence
Conflict Prevention
Access to Relief and Recovery
The first objective, national integration and institutionalization, emphasizes that gender inclusion is essential to U.S. efforts to promote peace and prevent conflicts. The second objective, participation in peace processes and decision-making, highlights the responsibility of the U.S. government to uphold equality for women in positions of leadership in peace processes and decision-making positions. The third objective, protection from violence, discusses the U.S. role in preventing violence against women and holding perpetrators accountable to the fullest extent of the law. The fourth objective, conflict prevention, states that women's roles in conflict prevention position will be promoted as well as means to prevent conflict such as increasing women's access to education, health conditions, and economic opportunities. The fifth objective, access to relief and recovery, emphasizes that the U.S. government will respond to women and children in areas of conflict with accessible aid and assistance.
The Four Benchmarks:
Gender Analysis
Inclusion
Resources
Accountability
The four benchmarks are used to evaluate any actions carried out by the U.S. government through the U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security. The first benchmark, gender analysis, measures the impact of a policy on all genders. The second benchmark, inclusion, measures how well an action includes the consultation of relevant community members, specifically female community members and those directly impacted by a conflict or a policy. The third benchmark, resources, measures the budget of each project and if the project is an extension of an action already in place. The fourth benchmark, accountability, measures how accountable individuals, offices, and agencies are in ensuring an action is implemented successfully and that relevant deadlines are successfully met.[16]
U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security
Created on December 1, 2011, and maintained as mandated by Executive Order 13595[15] this plan is the culmination of the past 20 years of thinking on women and foreign policy. The plan is equally about promoting women's involvement in peacemaking in order to have more stable peace and protecting women against gender based violence that is overlooked in times of war and inadequately prosecuted.
The plan was deemed politically expedient in large part due to the growing proof that including women in peace processes makes the deals more effective. “Evidence shows that peace agreements are more likely to be secured—and are more likely to endure—when women are meaningfully involved.”[17] That is the tactical portion of the argument for the NAP, women mean good peace deals and increased security. Women make up less than 5% of peace agreement signers,[18] and 50% of peace agreements fail within five years,[19] the thinking goes that if the first number includes more women the second number might include longer peace.
The feminist argument policy for the plan lies with the idea that Hillary Clinton articulated in the 90s, that women's rights are human rights, and therefore women should be given the agency to determine peace in their countries where they make up half the population. “Tragically, war remains a regular and recurring feature of the human experience In many instances, conflicts have recurred or been prolonged in significant part because women—those who suffered the worst of the violence and bore the burden of reconstruction—were excluded from the negotiating table and the benefits of peace”[17] War also disproportionately affects women and that gender based violence should be included in discourse around war crimes.
This plan was implemented during Hillary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State, and the plan faced backlash as being simply a women's issue or a pet project of Secretary Clinton because she was a woman, a largely inconsequential piece of U.S. foreign policy. In response Secretary Clinton offered these remarks when speaking at a release event shortly after the plan was announced, “Now, why is all this happening, all these countries, the United Nations, NATO, and certainly us? Well, the reason is because we are convinced. We have enough anecdotal evidence and research that demonstrates women in peacekeeping is both the right thing to do and the smart thing, as well. It’s right, because, after all, women are affected disproportionately by conflict; they deserve to participate in the decisions that shape their own lives. And it’s the smart thing because we have seen again and again that women participating in these processes builds more durable peace.”[20]
Larger implications for feminist foreign policy
The U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security has led to the United States adopting a way of looking at the peace process through a gender lens. The field of feminist foreign policy has historically been left out of the peace process. But now with the U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security there is precedent for inclusion of those affected by peace discussions to have a place in this crucial process, specifically women.
Since the implementation of the U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security there have been a few key global moments that show the larger impact on bringing feminist foreign policy as more mainstream in the international community. A few key events include:[4]
G8 Foreign Ministers Meeting (April 11, 2013) - Foreign Ministers endorsed the Declaration of Sexual Violence in Conflict
“Women Key to Peace and Security” Speech by Sec. of State John Kerry - continued commitment to supporting women in order to build lasting peace in conflict and post-conflict areas
“Women of Character, Courage, and Commitment at the Department of Defense” - highlights how women leaders in U.S. DoD promotes national foreign interests through their peacebuilding skills
Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict June 2014 - Sec. of State John Kerry in London continues to announce U.S. financial support and launching increased initiatives
U.S. Dep. of State “Women Leaders: Promoting Peace and Security” bringing 85 women to explore how women can advocate for peace, promote stability, and improve security conditions
“Call to Action Ministerial on Protection from Gender Based Violence in Emergencies” Sec. of State John Kerry encourages that not only women leaders should care about this issue
October 2015 - U.S. continues commitment through series of financial support totalling $31.3 million
The impact of this plan is also present in the academic world. Since the implementation of the U.S. National Action Plan on Women, Peace, and Security through Executive Order 13595 by President Barack Obama there have been academic institutions establishing specific programs focused on advancing the topic of women, peace, and security. A few key examples of programs creation at academic institutions in the United States and internationally include:
The Program on Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) at Texas A&M University established in November 2015[21]
The Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security established in 2010[22]
Along with specific academic programs, academic institutions have also created spaces to increase the discussion around women, peace, and security through course offerings, fellowship programs, and lecture series.
In academic literature there has been an increase in the discussion of how to battle violence and advocate for lasting peace through the Women, Peace, and Security agenda. A few key examples of academics specifically addressing the impact of Women, Peace, and Security on foreign policy are Laura Shepherd[25] and Megan MacKenzie,[26] who both are currently working at the University of Sydney in Sydney, Australia.
Women, Peace, and Security Act
One of the early pieces of legislation enacted by the Trump administration was the Women, Peace, and Security Act in 2017.[27] While the law does not formally cite UNSCR 1325 or Executive Order 13595, it marks a formal step to codify in U.S. law the importance of women to the nation and globe's peace and security. The law was the first comprehensive legislation in the world recognizing women as critical to peacemaking and security maintenance and echoed many of themes captured within UN Security Council resolutions. Its preamble states “This bill expresses the sense of Congress that: the United States should be a global leader in promoting the participation of women in conflict prevention, management, and resolution and post-conflict relief and recovery efforts; the political participation and leadership of women in fragile environments, particularly during democratic transitions, is critical to sustaining democratic institutions; and the participation of women in conflict prevention and conflict resolution helps promote more inclusive and democratic societies and is critical to country and regional stability.”[27]
The Women, Peace, and Security Act required a national strategy as well as stand-alone implementation plans for each participating department, including the Department of Defense, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. The U.S. Strategy on Women, Peace, and Security was released on June 11, 2019, and formally supplanted the U.S. National Action Plan. In a statement marking the release, the White House recognized that ”societies that empower women economically and politically are far more stable and peaceful.“ [28]
A corresponding government-wide metrics framework was released in October 2019, offering a singular framework for measuring progress.
Related Research Articles
Melanne Verveer is the executive director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security at Georgetown University. She is a founding partner of Seneca Point Global, a worldwide women strategy firm, and a co-founder of Seneca Women. Melanne Verveer co-authored the book Fast Forward: How Women Can Achieve Power and Purpose with Kim Azzarelli.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (S/RES/1325), on women, peace, and security, was adopted unanimously by the UN Security Council on 31 October 2000, after recalling resolutions 1261 (1999), 1265 (1999), 1296 (2000), and 1314 (2000). The resolution acknowledged the disproportionate and unique impact of armed conflict on women and girls. It calls for the adoption of a gender perspective to consider the special needs of women and girls during conflict, repatriation and resettlement, rehabilitation, reintegration, and post-conflict reconstruction.
The Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace was the name given for a conference convened by the United Nations during 4–15 September 1995 in Beijing, China.
Gender mainstreaming is the public policy concept of assessing the implications for people of different genders of a planned policy action, including legislation and programmes. Mainstreaming offers a pluralistic approach that values the diversity among people of different genders.
Peacebuilding is an activity that aims to resolve injustice in nonviolent ways and to transform the cultural and structural conditions that generate deadly or destructive conflict. It revolves around developing constructive personal, group, and political relationships across ethnic, religious, class, national, and racial boundaries. The process includes violence prevention; conflict management, resolution, or transformation; and post-conflict reconciliation or trauma healing before, during, and after any given case of violence.
The Global Partnership for the Prevention of Armed Conflict (GPPAC) is a member-led network of civil society organisations (CSOs) active in the field of conflict prevention and peacebuilding across the world. The network is organised around 15 regional networks of local organisations, each region having its own priorities, character and agenda. Each region is represented in an International Steering Group, which determines joint global priorities and actions. GPPAC was initiated through extensive consultations in 2003-4, and officially launched as part of a global conference in 2005 at the UN headquarters in New York.
The Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR) is a study by the United States Department of State, conducted beginning in 2009 and intended to be done every four years, that analyzes the short-, medium-, and long-term blueprint for the United States' diplomatic and development efforts abroad. It seeks to plan on a longer-term basis than the usual year-to-year, appropriations-based practice, and to integrate diplomacy and development missions. It similarly seeks to correlate the department’s missions with its capacities and identify shortfalls in resourcing. Finally, it is a precursor to core institutional reforms and corrective changes. The first review was completed by the end of 2010. A second review began during 2014 and was released in April 2015. No further reviews have taken place.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1983 was adopted unanimously on June 7, 2011, after recalling meetings on HIV/AIDS in Africa and in the mandates of peacekeeping operations, as well as resolutions 1308 (2000), 1325 (2000), 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009), 1889 (2009), 1894 (2009) and 1960 (2010). The Council encouraged the inclusion of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support in its peacekeeping mandates.
European Peacebuilding Liaison Office (EPLO) is the independent civil society platform of European NGOs, NGO networks and think tanks which are committed to peacebuilding, and the prevention of violent conflict.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1888 was unanimously adopted on 30 September 2009. It was introduced by United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who also presided over the session. The resolution established the United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict.
Sanam Naraghi Anderlini, MBE is a British-Iranian author and Founder and Executive Director of the International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN). She has been a peace strategist working on conflicts, crises and violent extremism and as a consultant to the United Nations on the subject of women and conflict. Naraghi Anderlini joined LSE as Director of the Centre for Women, Peace and Security in December 2019.
The Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issues is located within the United States Department of State. In 2009, Melanne Verveer was appointed to be the first Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues. From September 2013 to May, 2017, Catherine M. Russell was appointed to this position. From May 2017 through December 2019, there was no ambassador for this office. Kelley Currie, a political appointee, joined the Global Women's Issues Office as U.S. Ambassador-at-Large in January 2020. Geeta Rao Gupta is the current Ambassador-at-Large for the office as of May 18th, 2023.
Gender and security sector reform is an emerging subfield of security sector reform (SSR) that is both practical and conceptual. SSR generally is a comprehensive framework within which all or part of a state's security sector undergoes a process of transformation in order to bring it more into line with principles such as democratic oversight, good governance and the rule of law. The overall objectives of SSR programmes – as defined both by the state in question and any international donors supporting the process – tend to include improving service delivery, enhancing local ownership and ensuring the sustainability of security sector institutions. As gender-specific approaches take into account the specific needs of men, women, boys and girls through gender mainstreaming and by promoting the equal participation of people of all genders in decision-making processes, states and international organisations increasingly consider them to be a necessary component of SSR programmes.
The "Hillary Doctrine" is the doctrine of former United States Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, particularly in reference to her stance that women's rights and violence against women should be considered issues of national security. The doctrine encompasses stances she has held before, during, and after her tenure as secretary.
Aisling Swaine is an associate professor of practice of international affairs, focusing on women, security and development at the Elliott School of International Affairs of the George Washington University.
Feminism in Sweden is a significant social and political influence within Swedish society. Swedish political parties across the political spectrum commit to gender-based policies in their public political manifestos. The Swedish government assesses all policy according to the tenets of gender mainstreaming. Women in Sweden are 45% of the political representatives in the Swedish Parliament. Women make up 43% of representatives in local legislatures as of 2014. In addition, in 2014, newly sworn in Foreign Minister Margot Wallström announced a feminist foreign policy.
The Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict (OSRSG-SVC) is an office of the United Nations Secretariat tasked with serving the United Nations' spokesperson and political advocate on conflict-related sexual violence, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict (SRSG-SVC). The Special Representative holds the rank of Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and chairs the UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict. The mandate of the SRSG-SVC was established by Security Council Resolution 1888, introduced by Hillary Clinton, and the first Special Representative, Margot Wallström, took office in 2010. The current Special Representative is Pramila Patten of Mauritius, who was appointed by United Nations Secretary General António Guterres in April 2017. The work of the SRSG-SVC is supported by the United Nations Team of Experts on the Rule of Law/Sexual Violence in Conflict, co-led by the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPO), Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), also established under Security Council Resolution 1888.
International law encompasses the protection of human rights, in both conflict situations and post-conflict reconstruction. The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1979 and has the goal of promoting women's rights. Women have contributed to work on the ground in post-conflict reconstruction, aid and ceasefire negotiations. They have also contributed to the Geneva II peace talks regarding Syria, and were involved in the Rohingya conflict in Myanmar as 'front-line responders'. ]
Feminist foreign policy, or feminist diplomacy, is a strategy integrated into the policies and practices of a state to promote gender equality, and to help improve women's access to resources, basic human rights, and political participation. It can often be bucketed into three categories: rights, resources, and representation. The concept was first coined and integrated into governmental policy by Margot Wallström, former Swedish Foreign Affairs Minister.
Gender is a subject of interest in security studies, a subfield of International relations and comparative politics. Feminist security studies and queer securities studies have provided a gender lens which shows that the study of wars, conflicts, and the institutions involved in peace and security decision-making can't be done fully without examining the role of gender and sexuality. Praising of masculine qualities has created a hierarchy of power and gender where femininity is looked down upon. Institutions reflect these power dynamics, creating systemic obstacles where women, who are seen as less capable than men, are prevented from holding high positions. Evolutionary theory and political sociology provides an understanding of how institutions like the patriarchy were created and how perceptions around national security formed between men and women.
References
↑ Hudson, Valerie (2015). The Hillary Doctrine: Sex and American Foreign Policy. Columbia University Press. pp.191–192.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
