Civil Society, Care Labour, and the Women, Peace and Security Agenda: Making 1325 Work(Routledge Studies in Gender and Global Politics)

This book proposes that work on the Women, Peace and Security agenda undertaken by civil society actors can be interpreted as a form of care labour that nourishes and sustains the agenda – without which the agenda could not, in fact, succeed. The care labour of civil society is thus a condition of the Women, Peace and Security agenda’s success. United Nations Security Council resolution 1325 is the foundation of a diverse and pluralising policy framework known as the Women, Peace and Security agenda. Over the 20 years since the adoption of the foundational resolution, despite sustained resistance from some quarters and a general lack of adequate resourcing and political will, the agenda has continued to see many successes, and to achieve elements of political transformation large and small. This book explores how the supporting constituency of the agenda has ‘made 1325 work’. Based on new interviews with representatives of diverse civil society organisations working on WPS, the book offers a novel intervention into WPS scholarship, which has thus far paid relatively little attention to the labours of civil society actors working on WPS, particularly on an individual level. The authors consider the motivations, pressures and frustrations experienced by WPS civil society actors, as well as the goals and challenges. This book is based on original research and will be of interest to scholars, policymakers and practitioners working on WPS specifically, and those working in Political Science, International Relations, Development Studies, and on the global governance of peace and security. It will also be relevant for students in WPS-focused programs and of peace and security studies more broadly.

Table of Contents:
1. Care Labour and Social Reproduction in the WPS Agenda 2. Civil Society and the WPS Agenda 3. Care Labour as a Condition of the Agenda’s Success 4. Funding 5. Despair 6. Commitment 7. Making 1325 Work

About the Author :
Caitlin Hamilton is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Gender, Justice and Security at the University of Sydney, Australia. She is also Managing Editor of the Australian Journal of International Affairs. Anuradha Mundkur is an Adjunct Lecturer in the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at Flinders University, Australia.She is a member of the Australian Civil Society Coalition on Women, Peace and Security. Laura J. Shepherd is Australian Research Council Future Fellow and Professor of International Relations at Sydney University, Australia. She is also a Visiting Senior Fellow at the LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security in London, UK.

Review :
"Civil Society, Care Labour, and the Women, Peace and Security Agenda: Making 1325 Work addresses an urgent gap in the literature by placing centre stage the unpaid care work of those engaged in making change happen within the WPS framework in contexts of underfunding and austerity. This brings into focus a political economy lens to show us the importance and costs of this labour done under difficult circumstances by thousands of committed civil society actors in the public and the domestic spheres. By recognising the subsidy that this social reproductive labour provides to the global WPS regime, the authors chart an agenda for change within the WPS system." — Shirin Rai, Professor of Politics and International Studies and Director of the Warwick Interdisciplinary Research Centre for International Development, University of Warwick, UK "Caitlin Hamilton, Anuradha Mundkur and Laura J. Shepherd eloquently articulate and explore a question at the heart of the Women, Peace and Security agenda: how has it come so far, given its chronic underfunding? Through a brilliant analysis that recognizes and amplifies the perspectives of women peacebuilders, this book sheds light on peacebuilding as a form of care labor, and opens up exciting new directions for research and policy. It is an important contribution to the urgent call to adequately fund work of women peacebuilders!" — Agnieszka Fal-Dutra Santos, Program Coordinator and Peacebuilding Policy Specialist, Global Network of Women Peacebuilders