Between Contested Narratives and Transformative Actions: Digitalization Discourse and Practice in the Women, Peace and Security Agenda
By: AGNIESZKA FAL-DUTRA SANTOS (she/her) AND OUTI DONOVAN (she/her)
Digital information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been increasingly discussed – and indeed used – in peacebuilding work. Most initiatives around digitalization in peacebuilding have focused around bringing digital solutions to mediators and negotiators in peace processes – most of whom are still men. The impact of digitalization on women in the broader context of peacebuilding – and its potential to elevate or to further curb their participation – has been largely overlooked, whilst discussions about , gender are often marginalized .. The Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda – the United Nations’ main body of policies that guide the integration of a gender lens into peacemaking and peacebuilding work – has also remained mostly silent about digitalization. None of the ten resolutions on WPS mention digitalization or digital tools. However, this is not to say that digitalization has been completely absent from the policy discussions – and on-the-ground action – around women’s participation in peacebuilding.
In our article “Between contested narratives and transformative actions: digitalization discourse and practice in the Women, Peace and Security agenda”, we trace how UN member states talk and act about digitalization in the context of WPS. Our review of statements delivered during open Security Council sessions around WPS, over 100 National Action Plans on WPS, and the practice of the agenda’s implementation in three countries (Chad, Kenya and Switzerland) brought out three key messages about how digitalization enters the discourse and action around WPS – and what the way forward may be:
Digitalization brings with itself both threats and opportunities for women’s participation in peacebuilding – and both have been increasingly recognized by the member states.
The UN Security Council adopts resolution Resolution 2242 (2015), the eighth resolution on women, peace and security to date, during the High Level Review on the 15th anniversary of resolution 1325 held on 13 October 2015 at UN Headquarters in New York. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown
UN member states’ discourse around digitalization in the context of WPS has become increasingly nuanced. There has been a shift from mere mentions of specific technologies and tools – such as new mobile applications – to discussing the way, in which digital technologies created both threats and empowerment opportunities for women.
In the context of threats, the threats towards individual women – including in particular women peace activists – have been increasingly recognized, although there is still not enough knowledge or action to address them. In terms of the opportunities created by digital technologies, these have largely been characterized by a dose of techno-optimism: a tendency to view increased availability of digital technologies as a positive change in itself, without a critical reflection on whether women are able to access it and meaningfully use it. In particular, there seems to be little to no reflection about the political and social complexities behind the use of digital technologies – for example, when women might be prevented from the use of technologies by negative stereotypes that surround gender, lack of social acceptance of women’s participation in public life, unequal distribution of household chores, or a restrictive political climate that makes them suspicious and unwilling to engage online.
At the level of action, there is lack of a clear strategy or vision of what integrating digitalization into the WPS agenda could look like.
This is true both in the global discourse and in national efforts to translate the commitments into actions. Out of the 104 NAPs on WPS we analysed, 54 mention some keywords related to technology and digitalization, and 36 include an objective dedicated to digitalization. The nature of the objectives, however, ranges widely – from using technology to distribute the NAP and increase its visibility (for example, in Germany or Kenya) to increasing women’s access to digital technologies, as a step towards increasing their participation in peacebuilding and public life (in Chad).
Even more importantly – and perhaps worryingly – there is no clarity and strategic direction on how to implement the commitments related to digitalization at the national level. Our interviews have demonstrated that any action to increase women’s access to, use of, and safety around digital technologies is currently very scattered and piecemeal. This also means that there is no consistent political or financial support for this kind of work.
When it exists, action and strategizing around integrating digitalization into policy and action on WPS is spearheaded by civil society.
This is consistent with broader trends within the WPS agenda, wherein almost all major changes, transformations and progress have been led by bottom-up action of the civil society. In the case of digitalization, while the civil society action around it is also scattered and fragmented, there have been some efforts to come up with more strategic approaches – for example, in Kenya.
Overall, our research shows that there is still much to be done – and studies – when it comes to the integration of digitalization into the WPS agenda. More research to understand document good practices, map out potential strategic directions for the integration and support more consolidated action is needed. Similarly, more funding for civil society strategizing and organizing around the issue could also galvanize more concerted and strategic action around it.
Read the full article here: Between contested narratives and transformative actions
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Agnieszka Fal-Dutra Santos is a gender in peacebuilding expert, with 10 years of experience in strategic and program management, policy-oriented research, advocacy, capacity-building, and implementation and monitoring of peacebuilding and the Women, Peace and Security agenda in over 15 countries. Having worked with international peacebuilding organizations for nearly a decade, she is currently finalizing her doctoral studies at the Graduate Institute for Development and International Studies in Geneva (IHEID) and is leading a research project on gender-responsive recovery in Ukraine.
Outi Donovan is a Lecturer in International Relations at Griffith University, Queensland, Australia. Her research investigates peacebuilding and peace processes in conflict-affected societies. Among other themes, her work has explored the gendered dynamics of peacebuilding, interactions between local and UN-led peacebuilding processes, the responsibility to protect principle and pragmatic ethics. Her research has been published in International Affairs, Cooperation and Conflict and Journal of Global Security Studies, among other journals and her monograph The Contentious Politics of Statebuilding (Routledge, 2017).