The relevance and reinvigoration of the Women, Peace and Security agenda

The author critiques the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda for its failure to move beyond rhetorical commitments to substantive protection and inclusion. While acknowledging its role in elevating conflict-related sexual violence, the paper argues that the agenda's focus on penetrative rape has occluded other gender-based harms, such as obstetric and structural violence. It further highlights the marginalization of women in formal peace negotiations and the failure to account for colonial causality. The author proposes a shift toward 'everyday peace'—focusing on the long-term, grassroots conditions of survival and tolerance—to ensure a more inclusive and sustainable peace that addresses the needs of all women, particularly those from marginalized ethnic and racial backgrounds.

• The WPS agenda has successfully established a UN Security Council platform and a framework for National Action Plans, but it has struggled to prevent conflict-related sexual violence or deliver meaningful accountability.
• The agenda's preoccupation with penetrative sexual violence as a primary focus has overshadowed other critical forms of gender-based harm, including structural, maternal, and obstetric violations.
• Women's inclusion in peace negotiations is often late and incidental, occurring after core issues have been settled by male actors, which renders their influence on the final bargain marginal.
• The WPS agenda fails to address the 'representativeness' of the women included in peacemaking, often ignoring those who experience historical discrimination and the colonial legacies that trigger conflict violence.
• There is a significant gap between high-level political rhetoric in New York and the actual protection of women on the ground, leading to fatigue among victim communities.
• The author advocates for a conceptual shift toward 'everyday peace,' which focuses on the basic norms of tolerance and survival among ordinary people and families rather than the singular 'moment' of a formal peace treaty.

APA

Aoláin, F. N. (2025). The relevance and reinvigoration of the Women, Peace and Security agenda. Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/43853fb5-6473-407c-b490-3633ec339f13/MPI Paper 3 Ni Aolain FINAL updated title.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Aoláin, Fionnuala Ní. The relevance and reinvigoration of the Women, Peace and Security agenda. Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2025. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/43853fb5-6473-407c-b490-3633ec339f13/MPI Paper 3 Ni Aolain FINAL updated title.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Aoláin |first1=Fionnuala Ní |title=The relevance and reinvigoration of the Women, Peace and Security agenda |publisher=Peace Research Institute Oslo |date=October 2025 |url=https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/43853fb5-6473-407c-b490-3633ec339f13/MPI Paper 3 Ni Aolain FINAL updated title.pdf?inline=true |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{aolin2025relevance, author = {Aoláin, Fionnuala Ní}, title = {{The relevance and reinvigoration of the Women, Peace and Security agenda}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2025}, month = oct, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/43853fb5-6473-407c-b490-3633ec339f13/MPI Paper 3 Ni Aolain FINAL updated title.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }