Around the world, conflict and disasters adversely and disproportionately affect women and girls. Despite this, their participation in preventing and resolving conflict, as well as in post-conflict peacebuilding and recovery efforts, remains limited. Research has shown that peace negotiations are more likely to succeed, and result in lasting stability, when women participate.
The Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Act of 2017 (Public Law 115-68) informs a U.S. policy to ensure the meaningful participation of women in conflict prevention, management, and resolution processes and post-conflict relief and recovery efforts to promote more inclusive and democratic societies and long-term stability of countries and regions. The Department of Defense (DoD) is identified as one of the four U.S. government Departments and Agencies responsible for implementing the WPS Act and supporting United States Strategy on Women, Peace, and Security of 2019, together with the Department of State, USAID, and Department of Homeland Security.
DSCA has been working closely with our counterparts in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and Combatant Commands to address requirements in the U.S. Strategy for WPS, the Department of Defense WPS Strategic Framework and Implementation Plan (SFIP) and Section 1210E of the FY21 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), ‘Implementation of the U.S. WPS Act of 2017.’
Security Cooperation is a primary tool through which the DoD advances WPS objectives with partner nations and fulfills requirements set forth within the WPS Act, national WPS Strategy, and DoD SFIP. Section 1210E of the FY 2021 NDAA directs implementation of the WPS Act through security cooperation activities, in particular by identifying barriers to and increasing women’s participation in the security sector, addressing sexual harassment and abuse, and improving infrastructure to address the requirements of women serving in partner nation security sectors.
In 2021, DSCA stood up a WPS working group to comprehensively address the different legislative and policy requirements for the Agency, including areas for incorporating appropriate analysis and the participation of women in security cooperation activities, a key component of the Section 1210E of the FY21 NDAA. As part of the DSCA mission to “advance U.S. national security and foreign policy interests by building the capacity of foreign security forces,” DSCA continues to focus its WPS efforts on advancing the meaningful participation of women in partner nation defense and security sectors and ensuring partner nation defense and security sectors uphold the safety, security, and human rights or women and girls during conflict and crisis, as outlined in the DoD WPS SFIP objectives.
The Defense Security Cooperation University (DSCU) plays a key role in DSCA’s implementation of U.S WPS guidance through its components, the Defense Institute of International Legal Studies (DIILS) and the Institute of Security Governance (ISG). Recent efforts include:
- WPS Instruction of Resident Advisor (Ministry of Defense Advisor) classes; senior executive seminars; and Security Cooperation Officer-201 seminars.
- The inaugural Women in Defense resident course with international military students which focused on a range of topics and women's networking.
- One-week seminars on Women’s Integration into the Armed Forces, with coordination to see where discussion points from the course can lead back to bigger Institutional Capacity Building (ICB) projects in those countries.
- Planned iterations of Women in Defense and Security, a two-week resident course in U.S. Southern Command and U.S. Northern Command in May, and one focused on Women in U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Maritime countries focused on WPS-related issues for those areas of responsibility.
- Developing and evolving ISG programming through conducting curriculum reviews to ensure that WPS goals and objectives are included in all lectures, small group activities and tabletop exercises, developing new modules of instruction specifically related to WPS and participating in DoD Academic Forum/WPS Community of Interest/Practice.
- Work through partnerships, with entities, and in unique environments, alongside the DoD Regional Centers, the National Guard State Partnership Partner National Guard, Civil Affairs Command and U.S. Naval Forces Africa.