Gender, Conflict and Peacebuilding

War and conflict affect women, girls, men and boys in different ways, and yet a gender analysis is often absent from peacebuilding theories and processes. This course challenges participants to think critically about gender and its relevance to the development of lasting and sustainable peace.

This course examines the relationship between gender, violent conflict, and peacebuilding. Participants will consider how war and militarism are highly gendered phenomena that impact men and women differently, and relatedly, how peacebuilding processes account for gendered dynamics. Throughout the course, participants will consider questions such as: how do gender stereotypes influence the way that we think about war and peace? What is the relationship between masculinity, militarism, and violence? How has feminist peace activism contributed to peacebuilding and why should peacebuilding processes remain attuned to local women’s peace movements? What are the strengths and limitations of the design and implementation of the UN Security Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security? How does conflict open up potentially transformative spaces for gender relations, and how can peacebuilding processes foster rather than hinder the development of gender equality in post-conflict spaces? Ultimately, participants will gain an understanding of the gendered dimensions of violent conflict and peacebuilding as well as evaluate the respective policy frameworks that address these complexities.

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