Sexual violence in conflict is not simply a gross violation of human rights—it is also a security challenge.

This book presents original research on gender and the power dynamics of diverse forms of violent extremism, and efforts to counter them. Based on focus group and interview research with some 250 participants in Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands and UK in 2015 and 2016, it offers insights from communities affected by radicalisation and violent extremism. It introduces the concept of gendered radicalisation, exploring how the multiple factors of paths to violent extremist groups – social, local, individual and global – can differ for both men and women, and why. The book also offers a critical analysis of gender and terrorism; a summary of current policy in the five countries of study and some of the core gendered assumptions prevalent in interventions to prevent violent extremism; a comparison of Jihadi extremism and the far right; and a chapter of recommendations. This book is of use to academics, policy-makers, students and the general reader interested in better understanding a phenomenon defining our times.

Violence constitutes a major form of oppressing women. Rooted in the practical experiences of rural Indian women, Countering Gender Violence explores those facets of social, cultural and economic life that otherwise appear to have little bearing on gender violence and hence are rarely examined./-//-/This book studies the phenomenon of violence which, while being meted out to individual women, is systematically rooted in the social pattern of gender relations. Addressing gender violence requires challenging the means by which gender roles and power relations are defined and articulated in society. The book focuses on ways through which these relations can be altered in favour of women. /-//-/The author concludes that strategies for countering gender violence must emerge from women’s collective and shared experience of both subordination and empowerment.

Based on original empirical research, this book explores retributive and gender justice, the potentials and limits of agency, and the correlation of transitional justice and social change through case studies of current dynamics in post-violence countries such Rwanda, South Africa, Cambodia, East Timor, Columbia, Chile and Germany.

The Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (CETS No. 210) is the first legally binding instrument to address violence against women and domestic violence in Europe. It contains a wide range of obligations aiming to prevent violence, protect its victims, prosecute the perpetrators, implement coordinated policies and promote international co-operation. It also envisages a monitoring mechanism. The convention recognizes violence against women as a violation of human rights and is a major step forward in achieving gender equality in law and in fact.

Women can make a unique and valuable contribution to countering terrorism and violent extremism. Their participation in the wider fight against terrorism and violent extremism is essential. This is why NATO continues to encourage its allies and partners to engage more systematically on the nexus between gender and counter terrorism. This book presents edited contributions presented at the NATO Advanced Research Workshop (ARW) Enhancing Women’s Roles in International Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism Efforts, held in Madrid, Spain, from 19 – 21 March 2018, organized by Hedayah and the Fundación para el Análisis y los Estudios Sociales (FAES). The workshop was aimed at building on existing good practice and recommendations from the fields of countering violent extremism (CVE) and women, peace and security (WPS), recognizing that while many women facilitate acts of terrorism, willingly support terrorist groups and perform terrorist acts, they can also play a key role in preventing the violent extremism. The fight against terrorism requires a whole-society approach in which women’s participation is essential. Contributors to this volume explore the extent to which terrorism and violent extremism are gendered activities. They also discuss the importance of women’s social and political participation in helping to counter acts of terror and violence. Evidence-based research is used to identify how women can be empowered to enhance the fight against terrorism, and to identify opportunities for substantive, meaningful roles across a wide spectrum of counter terrorism activities. Given current and emerging threats, the book focuses in particular on NATO countries & partners in the Middle East and North Africa, and will be of particular interest to all those involved with security and gender issues.

The nature of human security is changing globally: interstate conflict and even intrastate conflict may be diminishing worldwide, yet threats to individuals and communities persist. Large-scale violence by formal and informal armed forces intersects with interpersonal and domestic forms of violence in mutually reinforcing ways. Gender, Violence, and Human Security takes a critical look at notions of human security and violence through a feminist lens, drawing on both theoretical perspectives and empirical examinations through case studies from a variety of contexts around the globe. This fascinating volume goes beyond existing feminist international relations engagements with security studies to identify not only limitations of the human security approach, but also possible synergies between feminist and human security approaches. Noted scholars Aili Mari Tripp, Myra Marx Ferree, and Christina Ewig, along with their distinguished group of contributors, analyze specific case studies from around the globe, ranging from post-conflict security in Croatia to the relationship between state policy and gender-based crime in the United States. Shifting the focus of the term “human security” from its defensive emphasis to a more proactive notion of peace, the book ultimately calls for addressing the structural issues that give rise to violence. A hard-hitting critique of the ways in which global inequalities are often overlooked by human security theorists, Gender, Violence, and Human Security presents a much-needed intervention into the study of power relations throughout the world.