Why a Focus on Gender Increases National Security

https://www.lawfareblog.com/why-focus-gender-increases-national-security


Early in his presidency, President Biden made clear his commitment to promoting gender equity and equality. On International Women’s Day in March 2021, he issued Executive Order 14020, establishing the White House Gender Policy Council and calling for the development of a government-wide strategy for advancing gender equity and equality in the United States and around the world. Among other things, the order recognizes that gender equity and equality are not only just but also are “a strategic imperative” that advances political stability, fosters democracy and is essential to the “security of our Nation and of the world.” In November 2021, the Biden-Harris administration issued the first-ever national gender strategy, which sets forth an aspirational vision and a comprehensive agenda to advance gender equity and equality in domestic and foreign policy.

While the Biden-Harris administration’s strategy may be new, the connections between women’s advancement, peace, gender issues and national security are not. Academics, civil society advocates and governments around the world have focused on these issues for decades through the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 in 2000, and most recently through Sweden’s adoption in 2014 of a feminist foreign policy.

These earlier conventions and policies focused on preventing conflict, maintaining peace or rebuilding societies so that women will have the opportunity to fully enjoy their human rights and partake in the economic, political and social life of their communities or countries. But this theory has evolved, and what’s new and important here is the understanding that equality does not come from peace, but peace comes through equality. The security of a nation depends on greater gender equity and equality. If a society does not value half of its population, the chances are that society and its leaders will not value international agreements or the rule of law.

History

The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) is the international women’s rights treaty. It sets the standards in international law for achieving gender equality, both normatively and practically, in terms of setting out the concrete steps governments need to take to eliminate discrimination against women in their countries. CEDAW was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1979 and has achieved nearly universal endorsement. The United States is one of only a handful of countries that have not ratified CEDAW.

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