Publications
“A Gentleman’s Agreement”: Women’s Participation in Burma’s Peace Negotiations and Political Transition
(link)
This report examines women’s participation in peace efforts in Burma and the devastating impacts of the country’s wars on women. Women have been almost entirely absent from nearly four years of peace negotiations to end the fighting in Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi heads the National League for Democracy, and a few other women hold leadership positions in groups involved in these negotiations, but there have been only 10 women among 195 senior delegates in 8 major peace efforts since 2012.
“Our Rights are Fundamental to Peace”: Slow Implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) Denies the Rights of Women and Girls in Armed Conflict
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The report, released in advance of the 15th anniversary of the UN Security Council's landmark resolution 1325, examines shortcomings in government and UN action on resolution 1325, including the continued exclusion of women from peace negotiations and the persistence of sexual violence with little access to assistance. It draws on Human Rights Watch field research and interviews with women and girls since 2012 in Afghanistan, Colombia, Iraq, Libya, Nepal,Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Uganda.
Women, Peace and Security and the UN Security Council
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Chapter (co-author), United Nations Global Study on Women, Peace and Security, October 2015
"In principle, the Council has a conflict prevention role where the encouragement of women’s participation— both as a pillar and contributing factor—could significantly enhance conflict prevention. In practice, however, the Council’s conflict prevention toolbox has been underutilized. The Security Council has rarely acted to proactively prevent conflict, and instead has focused largely on protection concerns, as reflected across its body of work."
"Mapping Women, Peace and Security in the UN Security Council: Report of the NGOWG Monthly Action Points for 2012-13"
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Co-author - Policy Report: Annual comprehensive assessment of the UN Security Council's work on women, peace and security on thematic issues and country situations, from 1 August 2012-31 July 2013. Qualitative analysis of country reports, meetings, presidential statements, and resolutions, evaluating the degree to which the UNSC is meeting its WPS obligations. NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security (NGOWG), New York, NY, December 2013
"Women, Peace and Politics at the UN Security Council"
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Analytical article on opportunities and obstacles for the UN Security Council's full implementation of the women, peace and security agenda. Discussing political realities in the Council, current policy frameworks, and the broad scope of the WPS agenda, the article makes the case that the Council's legitimacy is dependent on its ability to truly meet these obligations to women, men, and children whose lives have been upended by conflict. IPI - Global Observatory, New York, NY, 17 July 2013
"Mapping Women, Peace and Security in the UN Security Council: Report of the NGOWG Monthly Action Points for 2011-12"
[link]
Lead author - Policy Report: A comprehensive assessment of the UN Security Council's work on women, peace and security on 4 thematic issues and 30 country situations, from 1 August 2011-31 July 2012. We conduct a qualitative analysis of country reports, meetings, presidential statements, and resolutions, evaluating the degree to which the UNSC is meeting its WPS obligations. The findings are clear: while there has been development in policy and normative frameworks, deployment of this knowledge and subsequent necessary action has been inconsistent at best. Indeed, in key country situations there has been no action at all. NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security (NGOWG), New York, NY, October 2012, 180pp
"Incorporating a Women, Peace and Security Lens into Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) Programmes and Priorities"
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Chapter in Civil Society and Disarmament 2012: Applying a Disarmament Lens to Gender, Human Rights, Development, Security, Education, and Communication: Six Essays, United Nations Office of Disarmament Affairs edited volume, New York, NY, 2012
"Monthly Action Points on Women, Peace and Security"
[link]
Policy Briefs - Co-author; editor
Published monthly: November 2009 – April 2014, NGOWG, New York, NY"Women and Security"
"Mapping Women, Peace and Security in the UN Security Council: Report of the NGOWG Monthly Action Points for 2009-2010"
[link]
Policy Report - lead author
NGO Working Group on Women, Peace and Security (NGOWG), New York, NY, October 2010
"Women and Security"
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Encyclopedia Entry, The Encyclopedia of Political Science Set, by George T Kurian (Editor), James E Alt (Editor), Simone Chambers (Editor), Geoffrey Garrett (Editor), Margaret Levi (Editor), Paula D Mcclain (Editor), Sage/CQ, 1801 Pages, Published 2010
"A Better Peace? Including Women in Conflict Negotiations"
Doctoral Dissertation
A comparative project on the participation of high-level women negotiators in the conflict resolution processes in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Chiapas, Mexico. I compare how women become involved as negotiators; what work they do at the table; and how (if at all) the final accords address women's rights and concerns. For this research, I conducted open-ended interviews with government, former guerrilla, and civil society actors, in addition to utilizing archival and secondary sources. My findings indicate that a range of factors impact women's participation in negotiations, including: whether the goals of the talks are minimalist or maximalist; the path by which the women joined their negotiation teams; and that international norms and processes can have more impact on these negotiations, and on the content of the accords, than the gender identity of individual negotiators.
"Mothering the Fatherland: Nationalism and Gender in Eastern Europe"
Masters Thesis
A comparative study of the use of gender in the construction of nationalism in Romania and Yugoslavia in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Through an examination of nationalist movements in two case studies, I found that gender constructions are vital to the legitimation of nationalist movements. I examined nationalism and gender through two thematic lenses: the politics of tradition and the politics of reproduction, and used them to examine two countries in which there were leadership legitimation crises, Romania and the former Yugoslavia. As socialist legitimacy was eroded in the 1980s, potential leaders in both countries sought to legitimate themselves through nationalist ideology. These nationalist movements, which occurred during both the late socialist and post-socialist periods, were highly gendered in their rhetoric and discourse. Gender constructions were found to be vital in the demarcation of difference between national groups, and in the mobilisation of communities to achieve national projects. The symbolic and emotive elements of these gender constructions were used to create the perception of internal and external threats. Additionally, gender constructions were found to have long-term effects on ethnic relations, and, in the case of the former Yugoslavia, on the nature of violent conflict and prospects for peace.
"Sex, Violence, and Futbol: Maribel, FIFA, and the President of Harvard"
[link]
Article
Canon Magazine, Spring 2005, New School for Social Research
