Expert discusses UN resolution on women’s participation

Birzeit University’s Institute of Women's Studies and Ibrahim Abu-Lughod Institute of International Studies, in cooperation with the Council for British Research in the Levant, organized a panel discussion on March 30, 2017 to discuss UN resolution 1325 on women and their participation in peace and security initiatives.

The panel was convened as part of a project on the development of research and education in political economy in the Palestinian territories that is being supported by the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Professor of anthropology and a member of the faculty at the Institute of Women's Studies Rema Hammami opened the session, introducing Marsha Henry, an associate professor at the Gender Institute and deputy director of the Center for Women, Peace and Security at the London School of Economics and Political Science. 

Professor Henry tackled the issues that the center focuses on, emphasizing particularly the effectiveness of UN resolution 3125 on women, security and peace. She described the importance of this resolution and its impact on women in the world, especially on women in conflict zones.

One of the reasons for the weak implementation of this resolution and its tangible ineffectiveness, Henry stated, is a lack of funding and the absence of women from political action, which obscures their influential voices. She noted that Britain has drawn up a national plan of action for women, security and peace based on the provisions of this resolution.

Henry's research interests focus on three main areas: gender and militarization, gender and development, and qualitative methodologies. Over the past 10 years, her research interests have been concentrated on documenting the social experiences of living and working in peacekeeping missions. Her recent research focuses on female peacekeepers from the Global South, masculinity, intersectionality, and peacekeeping and representations of sexual violence in conflict.