National Security is a Feminist Issue: Twenty Years of Women, Peace and Security Initiatives

Decades of data show that when women do better, countries do better. Women offer
distinctive contributions to making and keeping peace. But after 20 years of domestic and international Women, Peace and Security (“WPS”) initiatives, has women’s participation in conflict prevention and peace stabilization efforts increased? Are countries’ national security measures and outcomes better?

Participants in this day-long public symposium will introduce attendees to WPS initiatives springing from the UN’s Resolution 1325 passed in 2000 and will discuss the results of two decades worth of efforts around the globe to address the under-valued and under-utilized contributions of women as active agents in peace and security. Panel one will focus on the successes and shortcomings of WPS initiatives in the United States; panel two will examine the same internationally.

The symposium will conclude with a keynote fireside chat with Michèle Flournoy, former Under Secretary for Policy at the U.S. Department of Defense and a leader in the U.S. national security space who has worked to promote gender equality and women’s participation in military and civilian national security positions at home and abroad. See below for more details.

University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, 3501 Sansom Street, Philadelphia

Panel 1 – Status-Check on WPS Initiatives in the United States

Amb. Melanne Verveer, first U.S. Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues and Executive Director of the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security

Jenna Ben-Yehuda, CEO and President of Truman National Security Project and founder of the Women’s Foreign Policy Network

Joan Johnson Freese, Professor of National Security Affairs at the U.S. Naval War College

Angelic Young, Director of Training for Law Enforcement at the Anti-Defamation League

Lyric Thompson, Director of Policy and Advocacy at the International Center for Research on Women

Moderator: Alexandra A.K. Meise, CERL, Senior Fellow, Adjunct Professor of International Human Rights Law, Georgetown University Law Center

Panel 2 – International Efforts to Promote WPS Initiatives – What Now?

Irene Khan, Director-General of the International Development Law Organization

Farahnaz Ispahani, Global Fellow at Wilson Center and Adviser to the Prime Minister of Pakistan

Funmi Balogun, UN Women Country Representative for South Sudan

Moderator: Rangita de Silva de Alwis, Associate Dean for International Affairs at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

CLE credit

This program (conference and keynote) has been approved for 3.5 ethics CLE credits for Pennsylvania lawyers. CLE credit may be available in other jurisdictions as well. Attendees seeking CLE credit should bring separate payment in the amount of $160.00 ($80.00 public interest/non-profit attorneys) cash or check made payable to The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania.

Watch the playbacks

Introduction by Alexandra A.K. Meise

Panel 1: Status-Check on WPS Initiatives in the United States

Panel 2: WPS Coming of Age: Global Efforts to Advance the Agenda

Keynote: Women Driving Change in National Security presented by Michele Flournoy, Former U.S. Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (2009-2012)