USIP provides expertise in support of the U.S. Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Act, the world’s first whole-of-government law on WPS. The Institute is a trusted convener and thought leader on U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325 and the global WPS agenda.
Through over 50 projects worldwide, USIP works with security actors, policymakers, civil society organizations, academics, practitioners and international institutions to increase understanding of gender dynamics and build capacity to create effective solutions for peace, security and equality. Key areas of focus include U.S. government and civil society engagement on WPS, advancing women’s participation in peacebuilding to address multi-sectoral and emergent security challenges, and connecting research to policy and practice on conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence.
Research confirms that the security of a nation is directly tied to the security and status of its women. At the same time, violent conflict upends and polarizes societies, disrupting social structures and gender roles. An expanding evidence base indicates that peacebuilding and security programs and policies are more successful when they address the different impacts of conflict on men, women and gender and sexual minorities and ensure full participation of diverse women in the design and implementation of solutions.
The U.S. Civil Society Working Group on Women, Peace and Security (U.S. CSWG) is a non-partisan network of over 60 civil society organizations with expertise on the impacts of conflict on women and their participation in peacebuilding.
Since 2013, the Missing Peace Scholars Network has ensured that this research is communicated cogently to policymakers by producing annual special reports intended to produce meaningful change regarding acts of conflict-related sexual violence.
On March 8, 2022, International Women’s Day, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet shared a statement with USIP wherein she urged for more women negotiators, mediators and signatories to take part in major peace processes worldwide.
USIP’s Women Preventing Violent Extremism (WPVE) program aims to shape national policies and community approaches to countering violent extremism in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel.
A three-pronged approach to gender analysis of conflict that addresses: Women, Peace and Security, Peaceful Masculinities, and Intersecting Identities.
What factors facilitate or impede the meaningful participation of a diversity of women in peacebuilding at the local level in contexts of pervasive insecurity and natural resource competition?
USIP’s religion and inclusive societies team is working with local researchers, in partnership with the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy and the Network of Religious and Traditional Peacemakers, to document and analyze cases of religious women negotiating on the front lines.
