2023 NWC Issues in National Security Lecture Series, Lecture 11 "What is Women, Peace and Security"

This lecture took place on March 21, 2023.

From Professor Saira Yamin: Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) is a global initiative to promote gender inclusive strategies in response to evolving national and transnational threats. The gendered innovations in policy formulation reflect the shift in the traditional understanding of state security in view of its relationship with community security. WPS is a peace and security approach that advances women’s critical roles in defining, understanding, and addressing complex security challenges alongside men, as equal stakeholders. In acknowledging the importance of women’s participation in advancing these objectives, the United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted its landmark resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security in October 2000. Together, there are 10 resolutions that form international policy on the role of women in conflict prevention and resolution, peace negotiations, peacekeeping, and peacebuilding; and the protection of women and girls from incidents of conflict related violence. Notably, the UN resolutions also highlight men’s important roles in enabling the inclusive agenda across the tiers of government, civil society and grassroots communities. The U.S. Naval War College prioritizes WPS in alignment with our mission and the policy framework shaped by (i) UNSCR1325 (2000), (ii) U.S. WPS Act (2017), (iii) U.S. National Strategy on Women, Peace, and Security (2019), and (iv) U.S. DoD's WPS Strategic Framework and Implementation Plan (SFIP 2020). This lecture on Issues in National Security brings the importance of women's meaningful participation in building peace and security into sharp focus.

Saira Yamin is The Ambassador Swanee Hunt Named Chair of Women, Peace, and Security at the U.S. Naval War College. Previously, she has held teaching appointments at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, Honolulu, the Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution, George Mason University, Virginia, and at the Department of Defense and Strategic Studies, Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad. Prior to embarking on her academic career, she worked in the South Asian development sector on poverty alleviation and gender, education and refugee issues. She serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs (Sage), and the Journal of International Peace and Stability, National University of Sciences and Technology, Islamabad. Professor Yamin’s research spans a wide range of issues related to international peace and conflict, global governance, democratic transitions, and gendered security. Her writings have been published by the United States Institute of Peace, Oxford University Press, Christian Science Monitor, Politico, Foreign Policy in Focus, The Friday Times (Lahore), Daily Times (Lahore), The News International (Islamabad), and Journal for the Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (New Delhi), among others. She is the author of a book titled Stability through Economic Cooperation in a Nuclear Environment (2005, Manohar, New Delhi). Research for the book was supported by a competitive grant from the Regional Center for Strategic Studies, Colombo, and the Nuclear Threat Initiative, Washington D.C. She has appeared as a security analyst on Al-Jazeera, BBC, Canada TV, Pakistan Television, Voice of America and Thinktech Hawaii. Her media experience includes French and English news reading for Radio Pakistan and as a DJ on FM 100, a popular radio station in Islamabad. Professor Yamin received her B.A. in Political Science and English Literature from the University of the Punjab, Pakistan. She earned her M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from George Mason University. She is the recipient of the Faculty Scholarship and Eleanor Roosevelt Student Scholarship awards conferred by the Carter Center for Peace and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University. She has received U.S. Federal Government awards for excellence as Mentor of the Year (2019) and for Team Excellence (2015). More recently, she received the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency’s World of Excellence Award (2012-2022).

The views presented by the faculty or other guest speakers do not reflect official positions of the Naval War College, DON or DOD.