Gender, Peace and Security

EPLO works to strengthen the implementation of a gender-sensitive approach* in EU policy and practice to enable the EU to be more inclusive and effective in promoting peace. To this end it:

Acts as a conduit for gender expertise, gender-sensitive analysis and advice on gender, peace and security into all the EU institutions;
Channels and supports the contributions of women from conflict-affected countries into EU peace and security policies;
Promotes greater support of member states to the implementation of the EU gender, peace and security agenda.

In addition, EPLO also works to bring a gender perspective consistently into all its work.

*Integrating a “gender approach” requires acknowledging and acting on the following considerations when developing and implementing peace and security policies: 1) women and men, boys and girls understand and experience security and conflict differently; 2) conflict has a transformative (positive and negative) potential on traditionally-defined gender roles; 3) there is an imbalance between women’s and men’s representation and contributions to peacebuilding in formal, institutional processes and in decision-making positions in peace and security; 4) the links between gender-based violence in conflict and social models (including traditional models of masculinity and femininity) are insufficiently explored.

For more information about EPLO’s gender, peace and security work, please contact Marie Lena Groenewald.

Recent Activities

On 14 December 2022, EPLO organised a CSDN Member State Meeting in Stockholm on the “EU Approach to Women, Peace and Security: Lessons Identified and Way Forward”. The meeting report is available here.
On 9 December 2021, EPLO organised a Brown Bag Lunch event entitled ‘Second Karabakh War: One Year On – Gendered Elements of Rehabilitation and Recovery’ with Ekaterine Gamakharia, Sukhumi Fund, Pervana Mammadova, and Knarik Mkrtchyan, Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation.
On 7 September 2021, EPLO organised a Brown Bag Lunch event entitled ‘EU National Action Plans for Women, Peace and Security – Emphasizing Civil Society Engagement and Regional Collaboration?’ with Amy Herr, University of Bradford.
On 4 May 2021, EPLO organised a Brown Bag Lunch on ‘Maximising the role of business in fragile and conflict-affected environments: Women’s contributions to peace’ with Christina Bache, LSE Ideas.
On 10 February 2021, EPLO organised a Brown Bag Lunch event entitled ‘Working in the Pandemic: Lessons learned from an online dialogue programme on the Women, Peace and Security agenda’ with Bernardo Monzani, Agency for Peacebuilding.
On 26 November 2020, EPLO organised a Brown Bag Lunch event entitled ‘The role of young women and men in regional crisis resolution efforts: Lessons from the Lake Chad and Sahel regions’ with Rafiu Lawal, Building Blocks for Peace Foundation and Sa’adatu Shuaibu, ECOWAS Conflict Prevention Framework (ECPF).
On 10 October 2019, EPLO organised a Brown Bag Lunch event entitled ‘Colombian women on the frontline: the role of women human rights defenders working on peace’ with Claudia Mejia Duque and Katerin Jurado Diaz (Sisma Mujer) and Maria Eugenia Cruz Alcarcon (National Network of Women Human Rights Defenders).
On 25 September 2019, EPLO organised a Brown Bag Lunch event entitled Gendered effects of the conflicts in the South Caucasus region and women’s priorities for peace’ with Lara Aharonian, Shahla Ismayil and Ekaterine Gamakharia (partners of Kvinna till Kvinna).
On 29 March 2019, EPLO organised a CSDN Policy Meeting on “EU support to Women Mediators: Moving beyond Stereotypes”. The outcome document is available here. Interviews from participants are available here.
On 6 March 2019, EPLO organised a Brown Bag Lunch event entitled ‘Supporting local women-led organisations’ work on peace, security and P/CVE: Lessons learnt from the implementation of the Innovative Peace Fund in Libya’ with Sharazad Magrabi, Libyan Women Forum and Melinda Holmes, ICAN.
On 6 November 2018, EPLO organised a Brown Bag Lunch entitled ‘Peacebuilding and the road to EU integration for the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia – a women human rights defenders’ perspective’ with Irena Cvetkovic, Coalition Margins, and Sneshka Ilikj, Reactor – Research in Action.
On 25 September 2018, EPLO organised a CSDN Policy Meeting “Revising the EU’s Comprehensive Approach to Women Peace and Security: Expert working meeting”.
On 27 June 2018, EPLO organised a Brown Bag Lunch event entitled ‘Mainstreaming Human Rights and Gender in CSDP missions: the case of EUBAM Libya and EUPOL COPPS’, with the respective EU Missions’ Human Rights and Gender advisers.
On 27 February 2018, EPLO organised a Brown Bag Lunch event entitled ‘Training Central African Troops on International Humanitarian Law – Lessons learnt for CSDP‘
On 23 October 2017, EPLO organised a CSDN Policy Meeting ‘Preventing/countering violent extremism more effectively: experience from the ground’ with underscored the importance of identifying gendered assumptions and bias and grounding policy and programming in robust gender-inclusive analysis. The agenda and the outcome document are both available on the CSDN webpage.
On 27 September 2017, EPLO organised a Brown Bag Lunch event entitled ‘Human Rights and Gender in CSDP missions: Where does the EU stand‘.
On 28 June 2017, EPLO organised a Brown Bag Lunch event entitled ‘Human Rights and Gender Mainstreaming in CSDP missions: the cases of EUCAP Sahel Mali and EUCAP Sahel Niger‘, with the respective EU Mission’s Human Rights and Gender advisers.
On 26 April 2017, EPLO organised a Brown Bag Lunch event entitled ‘Shrinking space for civil society in the Western Balkans: a perspective from women’s rights organisations‘.
On 17 January 2017, EPLO organised a Brown Bag Lunch event entitled ‘the gender impact of EU missions in the Western Balkan: Insights from everyday practice’, with Dr. Kenneth McDonagh, an Academic Friend of EPLO

More Activities

On 8 November 2016, EPLO, together with KOFF/swisspeace, the Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA) and the European Women’s Lobby (EWL) organised an expert level workshop entitled ‘Implementing UNSCR 1325: New Opportunities and Emerging Challenges‘. A report of the workshop is available upon request.
On 14 July 2016, EPLO organised a Brown Bag Lunch event entitled ‘Integrating Gender into Conflict Analysis‘.
On 13 May 2016, EPLO organised a Brown Bag Lunch Event entitled ‘Practical examples of integrating human rights and gender into CSDP missions: the case of EUPOL COPPS and EUMM Georgia‘.
On 22 April 2016, EPLO organised a Brown Bag Lunch event entitled ‘Supporting peace and prosperity in the Balkans: a view from peacebuilding civil society organisations‘.

On 10 and 11 March 2016, EPLO organised a Training Seminar on Gender, Peace and Security Advocacy towards the EU in the framework of the Civil Society Dialogue Network (CSDN) project.
On 7 March 2016, EPLO co-organised a workshop on the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of National Action Plans on UNSCR 1325 in the framework of the Dutch presidency of the EU. The workshop, entitled ‘National Action Plans: Challenges and Opportunities’, was organised in co-operation with the Dutch Presidency of the EU, the EEAS, Wo=Men and Inclusive Security. You can find the summary report here.
On 3 November 2015, EPLO organised a Brown Bag Lunch event entitled ‘The EU enlargement process: views from women’s organisations in the Western Balkans‘.
On 5 November 2015, EPLO organised a Brown Bag lunch event entitled ‘Gender and the Role of Special Representatives: A conversation with Marriët Schuurman, Special Representative, Women, Peace and Security, Office of the Secretary General – NATO’.
On 2 June 2015, EPLO organised a Brown Bag lunch event entitled ‘Peacebuilding in Syria: The Role of Women’.
On 22 January 2015, EPLO, together with the EU Informal Task Force on UNSCR 1325, organised a CSDN Policy Meeting entitled ‘Masculinity and Violence: How Do Gender Identities Relate to Violent Conflict?‘. Click here to download the final agenda and here to download the report of the meeting.
On 21 January 2015, EPLO, together with the EU Informal Task Force on UNSCR 1325, organised a CSDN Policy Meeting entitled ‘Refreshing Indicators for the EU’s Women, Peace and Security Policy‘. Click here to download the final agenda, and here to download the meeting report.