NEW BOOKS

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1. Hendrich Beatrice (ed.) (2024) Female Fighters in Armed Conflict: Listening to the own stories. Routledge, Oxford.

This collection (due for print publication in 2024 but now available online) provides analysis of women’s experiences as combatants in various national armies over the past 200 years. Particularly notable are chapters on women of colour in the German armed forces (Gashi & Hendrich pp146-168) and Boko Haram’s female fighters (Sumo Tayo pp191-210).

2. Tim Prenzler (ed.) (2023) Gender Inclusive Policing. Routledge

Drawing on case studies from across the globe, these essays present contemporary challenges and achievements of women working in policing and police leadership. Key chapters include an analysis of affirmative action recruitment in Australia (Prenzler & Drew) and an overview of female involvement in post-conflict policing as part of peacebuilding programmes (Howes).

3. Johnson, Melissa (2023) Building Peace, Rebuilding Patriarchy: The Failure of Gender Interventions in Timor-Leste. OUP, New York.
   

Following extensive fieldwork in East Timor, Johnson takes a dim view of the success of Asia's ‘youngest’ democracy in creating a free and equal society for its female citizens. Her thesis here rests on her belief that the country’s reconstruction cannot be fully understood without close analysis of Timorese kinship structures and class identities alongside gender (p.6).

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4. [N.B. Chpt only] Anaïs F. El-Amraoui & Stéfanie von Hlatky (2023) “Gendered War, Gendered Peace: How the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda Contributes to SDG 16”, in Sustainable Development Goal 16 and the Global Governance of Violence. Routledge.‍

The authors of this chapter focus their analysis through the framework of ‘Communities of Practice’ - this is to say, government agencies, organisations and civil society groups which work to implement both the SDGs and the WPS Agenda.

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KEY REPORTS‍
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1. Women in Cybersecurity (2023) The State of Inclusion of Women in Cybersecurity
   A comprehensive statistical analysis of factors contributing to women's exclusion from this rapidly growing sector.
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2. DCAF (2023) Bangladesh Armed Forces MOWIP Report
   ‍Bangladesh has become the latest country to publish a gender-sensitive analysis of its military forces using the 'Measuring Opportunities for Women in Peace Operations' (MOWIP) methodology created by the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance. Key recommendations include targeted recruitment campaigns, structural support for women with care responsibilities, and further investigation into reasons for opposition to mixed gender training.
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3. ‍ Global Gender Gap Report 2023 from the World Economic Forum
   According to the metrics used by the report, the top 9 countries (scoring 80+ for gender parity in 2023) were Iceland, Norway, Finland, New Zealand, Sweden, Germany, Nicaragua, Namibia and Lithuania.

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OPEN ACCESS ARTICLES

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1. Antonieta Rico (2023) "Women, Peace, and Security and Defense Objective 1: Assessing Meaningful Participation of Women in U.S. Army Combat Arms Units", in Women, Peace, and Security. 25.
   ‍Rico questions to what extent the WPS terms such as "meaningful participation" can be applied to roles within the context of the military, such as combat arms jobs. She makes a number of suggestions for US Army to improve its integration of female members of the force and remove barriers to entry.
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2. Megan A. Armstrong (2023) Why is the zombie apocalypse so terrible for women? Gender, militarism, and ontological insecurity at the end of the world, International Feminist Journal of Politics
   ‍The apparently flippant title of this article belies a fascinating and astute investigation of humanity's tendency to rely on particular forms of stereotypical masculine-coded heroism in times of existential threat (this is what Armstrong means when she refers to "ontological security"). Through the lens of popular culture - zombie movies - Armstrong is able to get to the heart of the seemingly innocuous but highly potent ways in which American society continues to justify and glorify a particular trope of militarised masculinity.
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3. ‍De Angeli, Elena Lea Bartolini (2023) “The Contribution of Women to Peace in the Middle East: The Experience of the Movement Women Wage Peace (WWP)”, in Interreligious Dialogue: Future Perspective and New Social Actors, 14(7), 820
   ‍This article presents in detail the origins and development of the Women Wage Peace movement of Israel. This wide-ranging grassroots organisation empowers women from across the dividing lines of conflict to come together in pursuit of peaceful solutions.
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4. Svallfors, Signe (2023) “Gender Dynamics During the Colombian Armed Conflict” , Social Politics, 0(0), pp. 1-23.
   ‍Through interviews with local stakeholders, Svallfors analyses the intense militarised masculinity which has been entrenched in Colombian society by decades of armed violence.
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5. Luc Demarconnay (2023) “Gendarmerie : comment les femmes ont-elles gagné leurs galons?”, in The Conversation
   ‍Demarconnay, a history fellow at the Sorbonne, discusses the development of women’s inclusion in gendarmerie police force in France.
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6. ‍Marie-Joelle Zahar (2023). Seeking Inclusion, Breeding Exclusion? The UN’s WPS Agenda and the Syrian Peace Talks, International Negotiation
   ‍The Syrian Women's Advisory Board was intended as a "pioneering mechanism for representation" but, as this article reveals, was ultimately yet another body which failed to properly include a range of Syrian women and their organisations. Zahar urges caution before replicating such a limited structure.
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7. ‍Audrey L. Comstock (2023). In the Shadow of Peace, in Global Governance: A Review of Multilateralism and International Organizations, 29(2), pp. 168-184.
   Comstock sets out the ongoing scourge of peacekeeper sexual violence and calls on the UN and troop contributing countries to improve perpetrator accountability through transparency and objective reporting.
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8. Egeland, K. & Taha, H. (2023) "Experts, activists, and girl bosses of the nuclear apocalypse: feminisms in security discourse" [Translation of original: "Expertinnen, Aktivistinnen und Girl Bosses der nuklearen Apokalypse: Feminismen im Sicherheitsdiskurs"], in Zeitschrift fuer Friedens und Konfliktforschung (2023).
   This piece is deeply critical of the increasing use of liberal feminist slogans and rhetoric in corporate security spheres. Such tactics, the authors argue, have facilitated the "overall political legitimation of the nuclear weapons enterprise" whilst simultaneously undermining the historically strong links between feminism and anti-nuclear campaigning.
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9. [N.B. Restricted Access] SL Blanton, D Peksen, RG Blanton (2023) "The Impact of Peacekeeping Missions on Women's Empowerment" in Political Research Quarterly
   New longitudinal analysis of peacekeeping missions between 1970 and 2013 reveals that the presence of peacekeeping units is linked to increased participation of women in civil society organisations, improved civil liberties and overall growth in women's empowerment.

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