A Security-Feminist Order: Women in Counter Extremism

Venue

The dialogues in the series will be held in hybrid mode, i.e. in-person on the ANU Campus, and virtually on zoom.

IN-PERSON: Regional Institutes Boardroom, HC Coombs Extension Building 8, 9 Fellows Road, ANU

ONLINE: Zoom. Please select the relevant ticket, in-person or online, according to your preferred attendance mode.

A Security-Feminist Order: Women in Counter Extremism

Women are increasingly being engaged in preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE), a development that has gained prominence in feminist debates, especially following United Nations Security Council Resolution 2242, which called for the integration of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda into P/CVE strategies. While feminist scholars debate whether this integration empowers women as peacebuilders or instrumentalises their rights in service of state security, little is known about how women experience this alignment in practice.

This seminar examines this question by asking: How do women engaged in P/CVE perceive and navigate the convergence of WPS and P/CVE agendas? The study focuses on the Philippines, where violent extremist movements coexist with established national policies on both WPS and P/CVE, making it an illustrative case for understanding the local translation of global mandates.

The analysis explores three interrelated dimensions of women’s engagement: discourses, examining how women’s roles are constructed in policy texts; resources, assessing the material investments that shape their participation; and agency, considering the ways women act to influence and determine outcomes within these structures. The study draws on a qualitative multiple-method design, including national and international policy documents, donor and government funding records, and 41 interviews with government officials, international and local NGO staff, and grassroots organisers, most of whom are women from conflict-affected areas.

The findings reveal that women experience the integration of WPS and P/CVE in complex and contradictory ways. While alignment positions them at the forefront of household and community initiatives aimed at preventing violent extremism, structural barriers, weak institutional frameworks, and limited funding constrain their influence in formal decision-making and programme implementation. This reveals the reifying of a security-feminist order, one where feminist ideals are incorporated into security governance by promoting inclusion without transforming patriarchal structures using empowerment discourse, resource distribution that maintains gendered hierarchies, and encouraging women’s participation within limited parameters. 

Speaker 

Dr. Queenie Tomaro is a visiting fellow of the ANU Philippines Institute and a faculty at the Department of Political Science, Mindanao State University - Iligan Institute of Technology. Her research are published in the Australian Journal of International Affairs, Politics & Gender, and the Journal of Policing, Intelligence, and Counter-terrorism. Her research interests include gender, peace, and security, and preventing/countering violent extremism.

The ANU Philippines Institute Research Seminar Series is a recurring seminar series that showcases the work of scholars working on political, social and cultural issues in the Philippines and the wider region, with the goal of encouraging greater exchange, collaboration and networking amongst the research community.

If you require accessibility accommodations or a visitor Personal Emergency Evacuation plan please contact the event organiser.

Photo credit: By Pixabay - https://washburnreview.org/43125/features/the-debate-between-woman-versus-female/