Sex and World Peace
Columbia University Press
Sex and World Peace
Columbia University Press
Sex and World Peace unsettles a variety of assumptions in political and security discourse, demonstrating that the security of women is a vital factor in the security of the state and its incidence of conflict and war.
The authors compare micro-level gender violence and macro-level state peacefulness in global settings, supporting their findings with detailed analyses and color maps. Harnessing an immense amount of data, they call attention to discrepancies between national laws protecting women and the enforcement of those laws, and they note the adverse effects on state security of abnormal sex ratios favoring males, the practice of polygamy, and inequitable realities in family law, among other gendered aggressions.
The authors find that the treatment of women informs human interaction at all levels of society. Their research challenges conventional definitions of security and democracy and shows that the treatment of gender, played out on the world stage, informs the true clash of civilizations. In terms of resolving these injustices, the authors examine top-down and bottom-up approaches to healing wounds of violence against women, as well as ways to rectify inequalities in family law and the lack of parity in decision-making councils. Emphasizing the importance of an R2PW, or state responsibility to protect women, they mount a solid campaign against women's systemic insecurity, which effectively unravels the security of all.
The authors compare micro-level gender violence and macro-level state peacefulness in global settings, supporting their findings with detailed analyses and color maps. Harnessing an immense amount of data, they call attention to discrepancies between national laws protecting women and the enforcement of those laws, and they note the adverse effects on state security of abnormal sex ratios favoring males, the practice of polygamy, and inequitable realities in family law, among other gendered aggressions.
The authors find that the treatment of women informs human interaction at all levels of society. Their research challenges conventional definitions of security and democracy and shows that the treatment of gender, played out on the world stage, informs the true clash of civilizations. In terms of resolving these injustices, the authors examine top-down and bottom-up approaches to healing wounds of violence against women, as well as ways to rectify inequalities in family law and the lack of parity in decision-making councils. Emphasizing the importance of an R2PW, or state responsibility to protect women, they mount a solid campaign against women's systemic insecurity, which effectively unravels the security of all.
Sex and World Peace should be on top of every introductory International Relations reading list.Sara E. Davies, International Affairs
[A] pioneering and readable book.... Highly recommended.Choice
This is an important, well written, and inf ormative book that will serve a wide audience of graduate and undergraduate students, academics, and policymakers, as well as the interested public.Helen M. Kinsella, Ethics and International Affairs
highly readable and provides a thought-provoking introduction to the reasons why equality between women and men within the family matters for the relations between states and, ultimately, world peace.Marijke Breuning, Peace and Conflict
A landmark book.Gloria Steinem, Ms.
Since violence against females is the normalizer of all other forms of violence, this book is vital, from family life to foreign policy.Gloria Steinem, T: The New York Times Style Magazine
List of Maps
Preface and Acknowledgments
1. Roots of National and International Relations
2. What Is There to See
3. When We Do See the Global Picture
4. The Heart of the Matter: The Security of Women and the Security of States
5. Wings of National and International Relations
6. Wings of National and International Relations
7. Taking Wing
Appendix A. Operationalizations for Data Analysis in Chapter 4
Appendix B. Data Analysis Results for Chapter 4
Notes
Contributors
Index
Preface and Acknowledgments
1. Roots of National and International Relations
2. What Is There to See
3. When We Do See the Global Picture
4. The Heart of the Matter: The Security of Women and the Security of States
5. Wings of National and International Relations
6. Wings of National and International Relations
7. Taking Wing
Appendix A. Operationalizations for Data Analysis in Chapter 4
Appendix B. Data Analysis Results for Chapter 4
Notes
Contributors
Index
Read the chapter, "Roots of National and International Relations":
Web Features:
Watch a discussion of the book at the Woodrow Wilson Center:
- Read Valerie M. Hudson's essay inForeign Policy.
- How the State Can Ensure Gender Equality.
- Mapping the places where the war on women is still being fought.
- Read an excerpt from chapter 1.
- Read an article on the book in the Daily Mail
- VIDEO: Gloria Steinem disscues Sex and World Peace (Go to minute 40).
Watch a discussion of the book at the Woodrow Wilson Center: