1. Security through the Gender Lens: NTS Training Programme Singapore, 21-24 August, 2007 Sumona DasGupta Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace (WISCOMP), New Delhi

2. Security Through the Gender Lens: Module Plan: Demystifying Gender Revisiting new issues of security Mapping the interface of gender and security

3. Demystifying 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?

4. Women and the status quo 3 different roles of men and women: Productive roles Reproductive roles Community roles

5. Gender roles and gender activities Roles Chef, tailor, farmer, doctor Activities Cooking, sewing, planting vegetables, caring for the family

6. Understanding 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.

7. Terms 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.

8. Feminist 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.

9. New 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.UNDP's Human Development Report Freedom from Fear and Freedom from want – twin pillars

10. Ford 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

11. Revisiting 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?

12. 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

13. Security from What ? Disruptions caused by globalization, terrorism, cross national crimes, drugs syndicates, proliferation of small arms

14. What does gender mean for 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.

15. Rethinking Conflict/Security 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?

17. How does Conflict Impact Individual 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

18. Do Gender Relations Change As a Result of the Conflict There are different aspects of gender relations: Gender roles Gender identities Gendered power structures Gender ideologies

19. Why do women’s rights 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.

20. Women'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

21. Milestones 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)

22. Milestones 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

23. Milestones 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

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

25. 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