Navigating Peace and Security: Women and Social Capital in Iraq
| Published date | 01 April 2019 |
| Author | Jacqueline Parry,Olga Aymerich |
| Date | 01 April 2019 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12480 |
Navigating Peace and Security: Women and
Social Capital in Iraq
Jacqueline Parry* and Olga Aymerich**
ABSTRACT
This article examines international, national and local interpretations of women’s engagement
in peace and security processes. In 2000, the international community formally recognized the
importance of women’s equal participation in maintaining and promoting peace and security
via UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325). National governments subsequently
enacted National Action Plans to pursue the goals of UNSCR 1325, including one established
in Iraq in 2014. Iraq’s National Action Plan prioritizes the reform of legal and political institu-
tions, and this article seeks to understand whether this approach resonates with Iraqi women.
Based on fieldwork conducted in northern Diyala, it examines how Iraqi women perceive,
access and exert influence over peace and security mechanisms, and how their approach com-
pares with the strategies identified by the National Action Plan and UNSCR 1325.
INTRODUCTION: WOMEN IN PEACE AND SECURITY IN IRAQ
Insecurity affects men and women differently. The type of risk, the needs of the individual or
group and the ability to participate in decision-making all differ according to socio-cultural gender
roles, and, as a result, women, men, girls and boys face different threats to their security and differ-
ent obstacles to accessing justice (Popovich, 2008). One obstacle to accessing or influencing the
institutions responsible for justice and security is located within the institutions themselves. In most
countries, unequal power relations result in the exclusion of women from and the dominance of
men within positions of authority. In turn, male-dominated institutions are unlikely to reflect the
interests and views of women and may in fact reproduce and reinforce their marginalized position
in society (Sørensen, 1998).
Recognizing this disparity, for two decades women’s organizations in the global North and South
advocated for the equal participation and involvement of women in peace and security processes
(Pratt & Richter-Devroe, 2011, 489-503). Their advocacy reached the agenda of the UN Security
Council, and, on 31 October 2000, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 (UNSCR
1325). UNSCR 1325 affirmed the importance of women’s equal participation and full involvement
in maintaining and promoting peace and security, as well as the need to increase their role in deci-
sion-making related to conflict prevention and resolution. To enact the commitments of UNSCR
1325, governments drew up National Action Plans that set out detailed road maps for government
and civil society. This article considers one such initiative: that of Iraq, whose National Action Plan
came into effect on 6 February 2014 and covers the period 2014 tol 2018.
1
* American University of Iraq
** International Organization for Migration, Iraq
doi: 10.1111/imig.12480
©2018 The Authors
International Migration ©2018 IOM
International Migration Vol. 57 (2) 2019
ISSN 0020-7985Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
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