Women in Security

Gender Based Analysis Plus (GBA+) at CSIS: What about the Plus?

Despite the longstanding nature of GBA+, there remains no concrete method that can be used to evaluate its implementation into job sectors across Canada, though despite this lack of enforcement, the concept of GBA+ has indeed seen significant improvements in certain workplaces, such as the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS).

Women in Security

Gender Perspectives on Disarmament

Increasingly volatile nuclear proliferation threats across the international spectrum present an obstacle to creating a harmonious world order. Two main factors needed to mitigate nuclear proliferation are action and policy-making. A recent example of action towards nuclear disarmament includes the global women’s Peace Movement spread across Europe, the US, Canada and Australia, comprised of women’s Read More…

Women in Security

Initiatives to help refugee women have room for improvement

Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in refugees fleeing their countries to seek a better life, whether as a result of war-related crises or due to unsafe conditions caused by natural disasters in their home countries, many exacerbated by the increasingly visible impacts of climate change. According to the UN, “Women represent almost half Read More…

Women in Security

Adapting Military Equipment to Account for Gender Differences

It was not until January 1stof 2016 that women were allowed to apply for combat positions in the United States military. According to Veterans Advocate Jennifer Silva, “This shift opened the opportunity for women to fill 220,000 military combat positions.” The original U.S. military draft was male-only, thus openly excluding women from military service since Read More…

Women in Security women in security

The Importance of Women’s Inclusion in Counterterrorism

Security-related fields across the international community continue to perpetrate gendered ideals which prohibit women from contributing, specifically in counterterrorism. The existing gender bias associates women in security with roles of peacekeeping, while inherently placing them on the periphery in the counterterrorism sector.  In 2014, the United Nations Secretary General announced that members should “consider the Read More…

Women in Security

Women of Terrorist Organizations- How Women are being recruited

The current atmosphere of international politics remains a strongly gendered environment in which women continue to be marginalized in both the job sector and within social spheres. The ongoing gendered viewpoint which places women in a position of vulnerability has, in part, contributed to women participating in or even conducting terrorist operations.  The threat of Read More…

Sarah Haddjeri Women in Security

Women as Both Victims and Perpetrators of Violence in War and Peace

Women are often associated with peace and reconciliation and men with war and violence. However, these stereotypes tend to overlook the role women play as perpetrators of violence and sexual abuses during wartime, since they are more commonly perceived as vulnerable civilians. Rebecca Solnit, in her work “Men Explain Things to Me”, highlighted that patriarchal Read More…