A Critical Assessment of the Women-Peace-Security Agenda

• Elisa Piras (Center for Advanced Studies - Eurac Research)

In 2000 the adoption of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) seemed to pave the way to a Copernican revolution in the sector of security. After 24 years, the WPS Agenda has had mixed effects. On the one hand, it has furthered the active participation of women in security-related activities, introducing new indicators to develop gender-sensitive analyses of conflict, post-conflict and post-revolution contexts, as well as addressing the challenges of women’s inclusion and equal opportunities in the armed forces and especially in peacekeeping operations. On the other hand, aporias remain in the WPS conceptual framework and the implementation of the programme has proved problematic, generating resistance in conflict scenarios, national armed forces and the international community more generally.