ICA#2: LGBTQ+ & Women, Peace and Security (WPS)
Channel: 42 Degrees
Date: 2021-04-13

This is the second episode of the 42 Degrees' Igniting Conversation & Action Webinar Series that took place on 13 March 2021.

The aim of the eight Women, Peace and Security (WPS) United Nations Security Council resolutions, beginning with UNSCR 1325 in 2000, is to involve women in peacebuilding, reconstruction and gender mainstreaming efforts for gendered equality in international peace and security work. However, the resolutions make no mention of masculinity, femininity or the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) population. Throughout the WPS architecture the terms ‘gender’ and ‘women’ are often used interchangeably. 

Jamie and Lana will discuss the implementation of the Women, Peace and Security resolutions impact lesbian, bisexual and transgender women living in conflict-related environments. The resistance against LGBTQ+ inclusion and the opportunities for. How do we understand gender equality - and how is it different from the general aid sector views? Do you get sick of seeing gender exchanged for cis-hetero women all the time? What kind of 'vulnerabilities / experience do those experience who don't fit inside traditional notions of 'gender' / 'women' have? Can the humanitarian system say it is living to its principles of humanity and impartiality by not including people with diverse SOGIESC - in particular in WPS - women in all their diversity? Are we just being troublemakers - the lavender menace - or is this something that the aid systems really need to start taking action on? What kind of actions do we want to see? 

Our guest, Jamie J. Hagen is a Lecturer in international relations at Queen’s University Belfast where she is the founding co-director of the Centre for Gender in Politics. She is the Digital Media Editor for the International Feminist Journal of Politics; Chair-Elect for the ISA LGBTQA Caucus and Visiting Researcher with the Secrecy, Power and Ignorance research Network. In the past, she was also a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Women, Peace and Security at the London School for Economics and Politics. She has written for International Affairs about Queering Women, Peace and Security, and is a co-author with Megan Daigle and Henri Myrttinen of the chapter Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity or Expression (SOGIE) in Violent Conflict and Peacebuilding in the Routledge Handbook of Feminist Peace Research (March 2021).

Our host, Lana straddles management, strategist and practitioner roles, that are informed by 25 years of experience working on women’s rights, disability, indigenous and LGBTIQ+ inclusion and participation programs and projects. Lana’s focus within Edge Effect is on the Linking, Learning and Leading program, which houses the 42Degrees Library and Edge Effect’s training program. Lana is deeply passionate about participatory practices through the whole project cycle from co-design to co-delivery, with an emphasis on the inclusion, participation, belonging and leadership of crisis-affected communities in humanitarian and development settings. She is keeping her practice and research skills up by leading the Participatory Action Research components within Edge Effect.