feminist foreign policy with Sanam Naraghi Anderlini

This time talking to the great Sanam Naraghi-Anderlini,
consultant to the United Nations on the subject of women and
conflict and co-founder and executive director of the
International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN.) She is also an
author specializing in gender, equality and non-violence. As a
field researcher and activist, she has worked extensively with
the United Nations training governments and NGOs worldwide in
peacemaking.

First, we spoke about the upcoming elections in the US and the
valuable importance of electoral law and democracy. But above
all, we talked about the need for more women in foreign policy
and in peace processes. Every day, women around the world are
leading movements to create enduring, peaceful societies. It’s
time to recognize the invaluable but often overlooked role that
women play in ending and preventing conflict.

Sanam Anderlini offers a comprehensive, cross-regional analysis
of women's peacebuilding initiatives around the world and
highlights the endemic problems that stunt progress. She
demonstrates how gender sensitivity in programming can be a key
component in the complex task of building sustainable peace and
provides specific examples of how to draw on women's untapped
potential. Sanam Naraghi-Anderlini helped draft the United
Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and
Security (WPS).

In view of the 20th anniversary of the seminal Resolution, it was
an honor to speak with Sanam as one of its main initiators and
monitors.

The resolution, adopted on October 31, 2000, represented the
first time that the Security Council had addressed the
disproportionate and unique impact of armed conflict on women and
girls. The resolution also recognized the critical role women
can, and do, play in peacebuilding.