26 August 2019
Gendered Analysis in a Counterterrorism Context: Where to Start?
By: Tannuja Rozario, Director of Research, Center for Progressive Security
In 2015, the United Nations (UN) Security Council addressed the connection between sustainable peace and women’s participation in terrorism prevention in Security Council Resolution 2242. This resolution urges the UN and Member States to ensure the participation of women and women’s civil society organizations when developing counterterrorism strategies. In addition, the resolution stresses the need for the international community’s increased commitment to integrate “gender analysis” on the impact of terrorism and counterterrorism into their broader security strategies.
Women and women’s civil society organizations have largely succeeded in building awareness within the international community surrounding the need for “gender analysis” to protect and secure human rights. Yet, the international community is left with a puzzling question: when it comes to security, what constitutes a gender analysis?
Here at the Center for Progressive Security (CPS), we strive to answer this very question.
As the Director of Research at CPS, I often find myself confused and lost as to how to undertake this project. I realized that developing an understanding of what gender analysis means in practice must start with an understanding of the various (gender-unaware) methods used to conduct research on the ground and the gendered impacts of these research methods. I realized that we cannot develop a gender analysis without gendered research methods.
Gendered research methods must be:
- Feminist. We must develop research methods that give equal voice to the experiences and diverse perspectives of all genders. Our sampling, unit of analysis and data collection should give space to these voices.
- Contextualized. Our research methods should reflect and address the context— cultural tradition, historical timeline and geographical location— to show how these specific factors impact women’s rights, LGBTQ+ rights and other genders.
- Our research methods must reflect the ways in which gender, race, class, nationality, age, citizenship and other categories of oppression intersect with each other.
- Inclusive. Our research must examine diverse subjects, across the sociopolitical spectrum: the United Nations, regional organizations, Member States, local communities, women civil society and civil society organizations more broadly. Inclusive research methods enable deeper and more accurate analyses. It allows us to explore root causes of persistent issues and create sustainable solutions. We cannot develop a gendered analysis without the voices of all stakeholders.
- Reframed. Our research questions and methods must not reinforce gender stereotypes and emphasize engagement at only local levels. And we must meaningfully engage the people impacted by our security strategies—not as victims or bystanders, but as active agents best placed to determine the path to their own success and safety.
A gendered research method enables us to develop a “gender analysis” of our research area without reinforcing patriarchal ideologies. Gendered research methods prioritize the sensitivity necessary to avoid the misrepresentations of perspectives and experiences that promulgate and result in security crises around the world. We must strive to contextualize our work to identify, understand and tackle the gendered drivers of violence, radicalization and grievances to attain justice.
