Women, Peace and Security at 25: Scaling U.S Retreat and Global Consequences

This year marks 25 years since the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000), the landmark resolution that launched the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. Since then, the Security Council has passed nine additional resolutions, collectively affirming the international community's commitment to the equal and meaningful participation of women in securing and upholding peace. Over the past quarter century, the WPS agenda has shaped international and national policy commitments. More than 100 countries have adopted National Action Plans (NAPs) on Women, Peace and Security which serve to translate their international commitment to the agenda into national policies and programs. Beyond states, there has been a push to incorporate WPS and to a broader extent, gender perspectives, into existing work. NATO, for example, works to apply the perspectives of WPS and has developed its own Action Plan on WPS. Yet, despite these milestones, the agenda has faced persistent implementation gaps, insufficient political will, and now a sharp global backlash against gender equality.
The 25th anniversary comes at a moment of intensified global backlash against gender equality. In the United States, the current administration has seen budget cuts, rollbacks of existing legislation, and the complete defunding of the offices working to implement the U.S. NAP. These changes are part of the weakening commitment to gender equality at home and in foreign policy. Globally, donor retrenchment coupled with increasing political polarization, has eroded support for WPS initiatives, even as conflicts and humanitarian crises proliferate.
Through this panel discussion, we will try to: (1) examine the scale of U.S. rollbacks to the WPS agenda, including legislative rollbacks, foreign policy shifts, and reductions in budgetary allocations; (2) evaluate the global ripple effects of these cuts, both in terms of how other countries approach WPS commitments and in the tangible consequences for women living in conflict-affected areas worldwide.

Lunch will be provided!

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Co-hosted with: Gender Policy Working Group

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