University of Essex

LW938-7-SP-CO:
Gender, Peace, Security and the Law

The details

Year: 2023/24

Department: Essex Law School

Campus: Colchester Campus

Term: Spring

Level: Postgraduate: Level 7

Status: Current

Start date: Monday 15 January 2024

End date: Friday 22 March 2024

Credits: 15

Last updated: 20 October 2023

Requisites for this module

Pre-requisites: (none)

Co-requisites: (none)

Pre and / or co-requisites: (none)

Prohibited modules: (none)

Key module (requisite for): (none)

Key module for

(none)

Module description

This module provides an in-depth overview of the legal and political frameworks developed at the international level governing gender, peace and security.

Such frameworks were developed particularly to address the relative invisibility of women and gender more broadly in articulations of threats to peace and security and with a view to promoting and extending the roles of women in the development and implementation of strategies to address such threats.

The module highlights the interface between feminist legal theory, international human rights law, international relations theory and additional legal frameworks relevant to key subject areas which are particularly relevant to gender, peace and security. These consist of: displacement, peacekeeping, terrorism, weapons and disarmament, investigations and commissions of inquiry, prosecutions and reparations.

In the exploration of each of these subject areas, particular emphasis is placed on exploring the specific gender dimensions – both in how the subject areas are framed but equally, in understanding the tensions within those framings and the legal and policy responses that have been developed to address them and the gaps that remain.

Module aims

The aim of the module is for students to obtain an in-depth overview of the legal and political frameworks developed at the international level governing gender, peace and security and to be able to critically assess those frameworks.

Module learning outcomes

(i) Students will have acquired a good understanding of critical feminist legal and political theory as it relates to peace and security.
(ii) Students will understand the foundational concepts and principles of ‘Women, Peace and Security’ particularly as articulated by the UN Security Council and addressed programmatically by a range of United Nations agencies.
(iii) Students will learn how to take a critical approach to the study of law and policy and in particular, to analyse the gender dimensions of the subject areas covered in the module. They will be able to form their own opinions as to the extent to which international law adequately addresses the gender dimensions of peace and security.
(iv) Students will learn how to develop and express (orally and in writing) complex arguments to substantiate the critical approaches they take to the subject areas explored within the module.

Module information

Indicative Module Outline

1. Feminist Legal Theory and Notions of Security
2. The Women, Peace and Security Agenda and Related Framings
3. Gender and Displacement
4. Gender and Peacekeeping
5. Gender, Weapons and Disarmament
6. Gender, Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism
7. Investigations and commissions of inquiry
8. Prosecutions
9. Reparations

Learning and teaching methods

This module will be taught via weekly 2-hour seminars. The module teaching team will upload all relevant teaching materials on Moodle. You will find reading lists, the textbook, weekly handouts or PPS notes on Moodle. The materials in question are designed both to help you navigate the material to be covered in the seminars and to equip you to analyse the required readings. You will be expected to have completed the required readings in advance of your seminars.

Bibliography

Cohn, C. (ed.) (2013) ‘Women and Wars: Towards a Conceptual Framework’, in Women and Wars. John Wiley and Sons Ltd.
Cockburn, C. (2004) ‘The Continuum of Violence: A Gender Perspective on War and Peace’, in Sites of violence: gender and conflict zones. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Engle, K. (2018) ‘A Genealogy of the Centrality of Sexual Violence to Gender and Conflict’, in F. Ní Aoláin et al. (eds) The Oxford handbook of gender and conflict. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Available at: https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/28341/chapter/215134545.
Women, Peace and Security - Key UN Security Council Resolutions (no date). Available at: https://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/peace-and-security/global-norms-and-standards#_WPS_resolutions.
Heathcote, G. (2018) ‘Security Council Resolution 2242 on Women, Peace and Security: Progressive Gains or Dangerous Development?’, Global Society, 32(4), pp. 374–394. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13600826.2018.1494140.
HAGEN, J.J. (2016) ‘Queering women, peace and security’, International Affairs, 92(2), pp. 313–332. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2346.12551.
‘Blog Post: In pursuing a new resolution on sexual violence Security Council significantly undermines women’s reproductive rights’ (no date). Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/wps/2019/04/25/in-pursuing-a-new-resolution-on-sexual-violence-security-council-significantly-undermines-womens-reproductive-rights/.
Chenoy, A.M. (2009) ‘The Gender and Human Security Debate’, IDS Bulletin, 40(2), pp. 44–49. Available at: https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/20.500.12413/8134/IDSB_40_2_10.1111-j.1759-5436.2009.00021.x.pdf;jsessionid=4D63FF61DE3E94822BD899F4E7E0C88B?sequence=1.
Bunch, C. (2004) ‘A feminist human rights lens’, Peace Review, 16(1), pp. 29–34. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/1040265042000210120.
Kapur, R. (2022) ‘“The First Feminist War in all of History”: Epistemic Shifts and Relinquishing the Mission to Rescue the ”Other Woman”’, AJIL Unbound, 116, pp. 270–274. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1017/aju.2022.45.
Khan, R. (no date) ‘Afghanistan and the Colonial Project of Feminism Dismantling the Binary Lens (2021) (LSE Blog Post).’ Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/medialse/2021/09/02/afghanistan-and-the-colonial-project-of-feminism-dismantling-the-binary-lens/.
Refugee Convention, [Article 1(A)(2)] (no date). Available at: https://www.unhcr.org/uk/3b66c2aa10.
Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, E. (2014) ‘Gender and Forced Migration’, in E. Fiddian-Qasmiyeh et al. (eds) The Oxford Handbook of Refugee and Forced Migration Studies. Oxford University Press, pp. 395–408. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199652433.013.0010.
Freedman, J. (2012) ‘Taking Gender Seriously in Asylum and Refugee Policies’, in K.R. Khory (ed.) Global Migration. New York: Palgrave Macmillan US, pp. 45–64. Available at: https://link-springer-com.uniessexlib.idm.oclc.org/chapter/10.1057/9781137007124_3.
‘“General recommendation No. 32 on the gender-related dimensions of refugee status, asylum, nationality and statelessness of women”, CEDAW/C/GC/32, 14 November 2014’ (no date). Available at: https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=CEDAW/C/GC/32&Lang=en.
Avgeri, M. (2021) ‘Assessing Transgender and Gender Nonconforming Asylum Claims: Towards a Transgender Studies Framework for Particular Social Group and Persecution’, Frontiers in Human Dynamics, 3. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3389/fhumd.2021.653583.
UNHCR (2012) ‘Guidelines on International Protection No. 9: Claims to Refugee Status based on Sexual Orientation and/or Gender Identity within the context of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention and/or its 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees.’ Available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/50348afc2.html.
IDMC (2019) ‘SEX MATTERS: A gender perspective on internal displacement.’ Available at: https://www.internal-displacement.org/publications/sex-matters-a-gender-perspective-on-internal-displacement.
Duncanson, C. (2009) ‘Forces for Good? Narratives of Military Masculinity in Peacekeeping Operations’, International Feminist Journal of Politics, 11(1), pp. 63–80. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14616740802567808.
Hudson, N.F. (2005) ‘En-Gendering UN Peacekeeping Operations’, International Journal: Canada’s Journal of Global Policy Analysis, 60(3), pp. 785–807. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177%2F002070200506000313.
Ferstman, C. (no date) ‘Criminalizing Sexual Exploitation and Abuse by Peacekeepers.’ Available at: https://www.usip.org/sites/default/files/SR335-Criminalizing%20Sexual%20Exploitation%20and%20Abuse%20by%20Peacekeepers.pdf.
UN Secretary-General (2017) ‘Special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and abuse: a new approach.’ Available at: https://reliefweb.int/report/world/special-measures-protection-sexual-exploitation-and-abuse-new-approach-report-secretary.
UN Secretary-General (2020) ‘“Special measures for protection from sexual exploitation and abuse”.’ Available at: https://conduct.unmissions.org/reports-secretary-general-special-measures-protection-sexual-exploitation-and-sexual-abuse.
‘Report of an independent review on sexual exploitation and abuse by international peacekeeping forces in the Central African Republic’ (2016). Available at: https://digitallibrary.un.org/record/840749?ln=en.
Scheinin, M. (2009) ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism.’ Available at: https://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/terrorism/rapporteur/docs/A-64-211.pdf.
NÍ AOLÁIN, F. (2016) ‘The “war on terror” and extremism: assessing the relevance of the Women, Peace and Security agenda’, International Affairs, 92(2), pp. 275–291. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2346.12552.
UNSC Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (no date) ‘Gender Dimensions of the Response to Returning Foreign Fighters: Research Perspectives.’ Available at: https://www.un.org/securitycouncil/ctc/sites/www.un.org.securitycouncil.ctc/files/files/documents/2021/Jan/feb_2019_cted_trends_report.pdf.
Otto, D. (2013) ‘Transnational Homo-Assemblages: Reading “Gender” in Counter-Terrorism Discourses’, Jindal Global Law Review, 4(2), pp. 79–97. Available at: https://completejusticepodcast.s3.ap-south-1.amazonaws.com/Dianne+Otto+-+Transnational+Homo-Assemblages+-+Reading+’Gender'+in+Counter-terrorism+Discourses.pdf.
Jasbir K. Puar (2004) ‘Abu Ghraib: Arguing Against Exceptionalism’, Feminist Studies, 30, pp. 522–534. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20458978?refreqid=excelsior%3A9aa4c2791670fe001d63fea121c9f4c6&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents.
Auchter, J. (2012) ‘Gendering Terror’, International Feminist Journal of Politics, 14(1), pp. 121–139. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14616742.2011.619780.
Jasbir K. Puar (2002) ‘Monster, Terrorist, Fag: The War on Terrorism and the Production of Docile Patriots’, Social Text, 20(3), pp. 117–148. Available at: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/31948#info_wrap.
McGinn, T. and Casey, S.E. (2016) ‘Why don’t humanitarian organizations provide safe abortion services?’, Conflict and Health, 10(1). Available at: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13031-016-0075-8.

The above list is indicative of the essential reading for the course.
The library makes provision for all reading list items, with digital provision where possible, and these resources are shared between students.
Further reading can be obtained from this module's reading list.

Assessment items, weightings and deadlines

Coursework / exam	Description	Deadline	Coursework weighting
Coursework	LW938-7-SP - Essay		100%

Exam format definitions

Remote, open book: Your exam will take place remotely via an online learning platform. You may refer to any physical or electronic materials during the exam.
In-person, open book: Your exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer to any physical materials such as paper study notes or a textbook during the exam. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
In-person, open book (restricted): The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may refer only to specific physical materials such as a named textbook during the exam. Permitted materials will be specified by your department. Electronic devices may not be used in the exam.
In-person, closed book: The exam will take place on campus under invigilation. You may not refer to any physical materials or electronic devices during the exam. There may be times when a paper dictionary, for example, may be permitted in an otherwise closed book exam. Any exceptions will be specified by your department.

Your department will provide further guidance before your exams.

Overall assessment

Coursework	Exam
100%	0%

Reassessment

Coursework	Exam
100%	0%

Module supervisor and teaching staff

Supervisor: Prof Carla Ferstman, email: cf16045@essex.ac.uk.

Teaching staff:

Contact details: Law Education Office, pgtlawqueries@essex.ac.uk

Availability

Available to incoming Essex Abroad / Exchange students: Yes

Available to Outside Option: No

Available to Audit: Yes

External examiner

No external examiner information available for this module.

Resources

Teaching materials: Available via Moodle

Lecture recording: Of 18 hours, 18 (100%) hours available to students:
0 hours not recorded due to service coverage or fault;
0 hours not recorded due to opt-out by lecturer(s), module, or event type.

Further information

Department website: Essex Law School

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The full Procedures, Rules and Regulations of the University governing how it operates are set out in the Charter, Statutes and Ordinances and in the University Regulations, Policy and Procedures.

Module Directory

LW938-7-SP-CO:Gender, Peace, Security and the Law