On March 19-20th the International Gender Policy Research Circle — a research circle on the UW-Madison campus supported by Global Studies and the International Institute — together with the Center for Research on Gender and Women and several UW area studies programs organized a workshop featuring cutting edge work engaging with the study of human security from a gendered perspective.
Human security moves beyond traditional notions of security to consider the effects on human well-being of conflicts of all kinds – not just violent conflict but also environmental degradation, economic decline and other phenomenon that put people and communities at risk. The workshop hosted over 80 US and international-based participants, from more than 13 institutions including other UW system campuses.
At the workshop, undergraduate students, graduate students and faculty debated the relationship between gender and human security and the relevance of the human security framework for advancing our understanding of the relationship between violence and women’s and men’s well-being.
Speakers included Narda Henríquez (Catholic University, Peru), Valerie Sperling (Clark University), V. Spike Peterson (University of Arizona) and Fionnuala D. Ní Aoláin (University of Minnesota Law School).