The UN’s Women, Peace and Security agenda and gender equality advancement in the Asia-Pacific
Barbara’s dissertation explores the potential and impact of the UN’s Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda for gender equality for conflict-affected women and girls in the Asia-Pacific.
For the purpose of this interrogation, the WPS agenda is conceptualized as an emerging international norm. UNSCR 1325 and the subsequent resolutions provided a normative framework for advancing gender equality in peace and security. This international framework has been subsequently translated into policy and implementation practice through the National Action Plans on Women, Peace and Security (NAPs). As of November 2017, such plans have been released by 69 countries, including nine in the Asia-Pacific region.
Using a constructivist critical approach to international norm diffusion, this research traces the translation of the resolutions into the nine Asia-Pacific NAPs, with focus upon the Philippine and Australian NAPs. These two countries present vastly different case studies. The Philippines adopted a domestic, inward-looking policy, while Australia engaged with the WPS agenda through its outward-focused foreign and aid policies. Through interviewing government and civil society actors involved in these two NAPs, the research maps the opportunities and risks of different approaches to the WPS agenda.