What about Women Human Rights Defenders?

In this last episode, co-hosts Zarin, Genevieve, and Allison take a moment to reflect on the podcast series. The speakers discuss the importance of moving away from the usual formal discussions and instead towards more candid conversations with people who are affected and those directly trying to make change happen. A huge thank you to everyone for listening to this podcast, we hope you were inspired and learned something new along the way. 

One of the pillars of the WPS agenda is participation – but what are the prospects for peace when it’s not safe for women leaders to participate in the first place? In our last episode of the season, we speak with Deanne Uyangoda, Inna Michaeli, and Samira Hamidi, who talk about the many risks, threats, and reprisals faced by women human rights defenders in response to their courageous work. They outline the many different actors  – governments, armed groups, and community members – who are violently seeking to block women from challenging repression, authoritarianism, and militarism. Why is defending women’s free expression so urgent? More in our episode.

As the effects of the climate emergency become more stark throughout the world, more attention is being paid to the important links between climate and security. But from a feminist perspective, are these climate and security discussions focusing on the right things? Our guests Doug Weir and Lina Hjärtström talk about how militarism is impacting the environment, the kind of action that’s needed to prevent conflict in the face of the climate emergency, and why gender needs to be part of the discussion.

There’s a lot in the news about new technologies, cyber attacks, and the use and misuse of online platforms. But what do all of these things have to do with gender? In this episode, Anne-Marie Buzatu, Lucina DiMeco, Tara Hairston, and Verónica Ferrari speak about the gender-related risks and harms in a digital world, including online violence and repression.

In this episode, our guests delve into conversations about masculinity, militarism, armed conflict, and violence. Anthony Keedi and Jennifer Rodriguez Bruno offer a deep analysis of masculinity within conversations about gender equality, taking masculinity and men’s lived experiences into account. Tune in to expand your awareness about the social pressures as well as social, economic, and political structures that generate violent or militarised masculinities.

Episode 2 focuses on the gendered impacts of the international arms trade, and how arms proliferation undermines efforts to achieve the WPS Agenda. Aïcha Madi and Shobha Shrestha explain how current arms control instruments function practically in an effort to limit gender-based violence and discuss their limitations.

In this episode, we discuss the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Agenda and disarmament – two major areas of work for us at WILPF. What is the WPS agenda, what is meant by disarmament, and how do they relate to one another? Why should those who are working on women’s leadership care about curbing militarization, and what does gender have to do with disarmament and arms control? Cynthia Enloe, Maritza Chan Valverde, and Sylvie Ndongmo talk about the connections between these two areas, as well as the gaps and challenges to filling them in on this foundational episode in the series.

In this episode, co-hosts Zarin, Genevieve, and Allison discuss the motivation behind creating this podcast series and about WILPF’s history and approach as a feminist peace organization. They outline what listeners can expect in future episodes.