Think & Resist: Conversations about Feminism and Peace explores how feminism can redefine security. Each episode features representatives from WILPF’s Women, Peace and Security and Disarmament teams moderating discussions with experts about different themes in international peace and security from a feminist lens. The conversations explore relevant policymaking and practice, identify opportunities and gaps, and recommend ways to advance change.
This podcast seeks to expand your awareness and understanding of how global security challenges and gender inequalities intersect, with a focus on the overlap between the WPS agenda and disarmament work.
At the intersection of the artistic and the political, Caesura is a podcast rooted in a celebration of women and our common work for peace, freedom, and equality.
Caesura means “pause”: a break, a time for listening and reflection. Join us as we dive into the words of Colombian poet Ángela Ramos and interview guests from all over the world, exploring topics ranging from feminism to trauma, intergenerational heritage to violence, pop culture to poetry and so much more.
The Arabic-language podcast series “Political is Personal” seeks to highlight the work done by both feminists and feminist organisations in the MENA region.
Together, we want to bring their challenges, strategies and priorities to a broader audience, shedding light on important issues relevant to feminist peace from a gender-sensitive perspective.
The production comes in line with WILPF’s vision to ensure the availability of Arabic feminist knowledge and to communicate feminist ideas and goals to a wide spectrum of Arab-speakers.
At WILPF we believe in the importance of gathering and coordinating efforts, but also in raising awareness and educating the largest possible number of people. It is by challenging our collective minds that we will find solutions to the problems we witness. As such, webinars are both essential tools and valuable time during which we can work together to build a better world. We encourage you to explore all of our past webinars and hope to count you among us for those to come!
This webinar features feminist activists and women human rights defenders’ sharing lived experiences of the impacts of the climate crisis on the African continent. Panelists share why the climate crisis is a feminist issue, and how it affects and compounds other challenges in their region.
Prior to being elected Vice-President, Melissa Torres was the WILPF US International Board Member from 2015 to 2018. Melissa joined WILPF in 2011 when she was selected as a Delegate to the Commission on the Status of Women as part of the WILPF US’ Practicum in Advocacy Programme at the United Nations, which she later led. She holds a PhD in Social Work and is a professor and Global Health Scholar at Baylor College of Medicine and research lead at BCM Anti-Human Trafficking Program. Of Mexican descent and a native of the US/Mexico border, Melissa is mostly concerned with the protection of displaced Latinxs in the Americas. Her work includes training, research, and service provision with the American Red Cross, the National Human Trafficking Training and Technical Assistance Centre, and refugee resettlement programs in the U.S. Some of her goals as Vice-President are to highlight intersectionality and increase diversity by fostering inclusive spaces for mentorship and leadership. She also contributes to WILPF’s emerging work on the topic of displacement and migration.
Jamila Afghani is the President of WILPF Afghanistan which she started in 2015. She is also an active member and founder of several organisations including the Noor Educational and Capacity Development Organisation (NECDO). Elected in 2018 as South Asia Regional Representative to WILPF’s International Board, WILPF benefits from Jamila’s work experience in education, migration, gender, including gender-based violence and democratic governance in post-conflict and transitional countries.
Sylvie Jacqueline NDONGMO is a human rights and peace leader with over 27 years experience including ten within WILPF. She has a multi-disciplinary background with a track record of multiple socio-economic development projects implemented to improve policies, practices and peace-oriented actions. Sylvie is the founder of WILPF Cameroon and was the Section’s president until 2022. She co-coordinated the African Working Group before her election as Africa Representative to WILPF’s International Board in 2018. A teacher by profession and an African Union Trainer in peace support operations, Sylvie has extensive experience advocating for the political and social rights of women in Africa and worldwide.
In response to the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and its targeted attacks on civil society members, WILPF Afghanistan issued several statements calling on the international community to stand in solidarity with Afghan people and ensure that their rights be upheld, including access to aid. The Section also published 100 Untold Stories of War and Peace, a compilation of true stories that highlight the effects of war and militarisation on the region.
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WILPF uses feminist analysis to argue that militarisation is a counter-productive and ill-conceived response to establishing security in the world. The more society becomes militarised, the more violence and injustice are likely to grow locally and worldwide.
Sixteen states are believed to have supplied weapons to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2020 with the US supplying 74 % of weapons, followed by Russia. Much of this equipment was left behind by the US military and is being used to inflate Taliban’s arsenal. WILPF is calling for better oversight on arms movement, for compensating affected Afghan people and for an end to all militarised systems.
Mobilising men and boys around feminist peace has been one way of deconstructing and redefining masculinities. WILPF shares a feminist analysis on the links between militarism, masculinities, peace and security. We explore opportunities for strengthening activists’ action to build equal partnerships among women and men for gender equality.
WILPF has been working on challenging the prevailing notion of masculinity based on men’s physical and social superiority to, and dominance of, women in Afghanistan. It recognizes that these notions are not representative of all Afghan men, contrary to the publicly prevailing notion.
In WILPF’s view, any process towards establishing peace that has not been partly designed by women remains deficient. Beyond bringing perspectives that encapsulate the views of half of the society and unlike the men only designed processes, women’s true and meaningful participation allows the situation to improve.
In Afghanistan, WILPF has been demanding that women occupy the front seats at the negotiating tables. The experience of the past 20 has shown that women’s presence produces more sustainable solutions when they are empowered and enabled to play a role.