Question of “Inclusiveness” and Gender Identity: Evaluating the Status and Impact of Equal Representation of Women in the United Nations

Introduction

Twenty years after the signing of UNSCR 1325 on women’s peace and security, the question of implementing the goals therein still arises (Alexandre & Moke Mutondo, 2022). The agreed goals’ scope and effective implementation are still disputed today. The agenda’s future is uncertain. Men still dominate peace negotiations and decision-making positions in international institutions and most countries worldwide (Kirschner & Miller, 2019). Violence against women is still treated with a high level of ignorance. Equal participation of women in all forms of conflict and peace work is not taken seriously and is negated. With ten resolutions as part of the women, peace, and security agenda, over a hundred national action plans, and dozens of regional action plans later, the normative infrastructure for their implementation has been created, but the influence remains questionable.

As the first of ten resolutions on women, peace, and security, Resolution 1325 emerged after years of debate about women’s participation in peace processes (Kihara-Hunt, 2017). Despite some follow-up resolutions, indicators development, and national action plans, women remain severely underrepresented in peace negotiations and post-conflict political decision-making processes (Goetz & Jenkins, 2018, p. 118). The resolution is unique in that it states that armed conflicts affect women in different ways than men and confirms a need to increase the role of women in decision-making when it comes to conflict prevention and resolution. The resolution requires the Security Council to engage in gender mainstreaming throughout its work. It further prioritizes women’s rights by highlighting their impact on lasting peace and security – an impact assumed to be positive (Hudson, 2009, p. 44). Previous research on resolution 1325 deals largely with the resolution’s implementation and what obstacles stand in the way of implementation.

The resolutions link social and political transformation in the mainstream of international security policy. The way was paved for new paths and programs. Interdisciplinary research after World War II first began to recognize women as involved in the analysis of armed conflict and peace-building. Findings from feminist and critical research within international relations are groundbreaking for research on the WPS Agenda (Basu et al., 2020, p. 3). Discussions about the importance of gender in war and conflict processes and the connection to concrete implementation have been ongoing since then. The aim of Resolution 1325 was both to strengthen women’s participatory role in armed conflicts and to intensify and guarantee their protection from violence. The resolutions are intended to bring about progress in women’s policy in international security policy. Women are still underrepresented in peace processes. Women’s participation in peace processes remains one of the least well-implemented elements of the WPS agenda.

Different answers are given in the debate as justification for the weak and slow implementation of the resolutions of the women, peace, and security agenda. Celebrated by many as a milestone in the issue of gender equality in international security policy, clearly defining sexual violence as a weapon and emphasizing the role of women actors in crisis and post-crisis situations, Resolution 1325 ushered in a new era in security policy. The goal was, and it is, not only to persuade states to act but also to create a link between social (gender) change and political (conflict) transformation and to put the urgent questions of equality between women and men in international security policy at the forefront (Nordås & Rustad, 2013). There have been numerous attempts at explanations and debates as to why the firings from the resolutions have not been fully implemented to date. Despite its implementation problems, the agenda offers for the first time the opportunity for women to refer to United Nations resolutions and clear implementation strategies at the national level in their demands for equal participation in peace and security policy and work. Problems with the resolutions and their implementation are complex. On the one hand, a discrepancy can be seen in implementing the protection and participation aspects.