The Beating Heart of U.S. Women, Peace and Security is Bipartisanship
Shutdowns, polarization, progressive-left vs far-right. There is no end to the ways the American people have become fractured. It seems like the skills of dialogue, negotiation, collaboration, and working together to advance our shared commitments on creating a more peaceful and secure world is a thing of the past.
But the truth is that women on the Hill have outwitted the insidious polarization gripping the country by using a tool that everyone has forgotten is quintessentially American, and already in their back pocket: bipartisanship.
The Bipartisan Origins of the Women, Peace and Security Act
When President Trump signed the Women, Peace, and Security Act into law in 2017, the United States was the first country in the world to enshrine the tenets of Women, Peace and Security (WPS) into domestic law. This law was the result of the bipartisan group of Senate and House Members who first introduced WPS draft legislation in 2012. They intended to further strengthen and to cement the successful work done under the WPS National Action Plan created by Former President Obama in Executive Order 13595 in 2011.
And the common sense reason behind why Democrats and Republicans continue to work together to advance women’s rights, fight against sexual violence in conflict, and promote democracy, remains clear. The WPS principle that women must be at the table when it comes to security matters, peace negotiations, and conflict prevention is borne out by hard facts and saves lives globally.
It is this deeply rooted bipartisan support for WPS among Congressional leaders which solidified global U.S. leadership. The U.S. bipartisan Congressional Women, Peace and Security Caucus has played a critical role in this, and its Members have provided WPS funding, held timely hearings, and issued important WPS statements. Other countries are following suit. The Japanese Diet adopted the U.S. WPS Caucus model in 2022, and nations like the United Kingdom are considering adopting their own WPS legislation.
Women Peacebuilders and the Power of Dialogue
A hallmark of WPS is intrinsic to this bipartisan effort: talking and working together “across the aisle.” Women peacebuilders are known for their dialogue skills and their reach into vast networks across societies. This gives women decision-makers an edge: they have access to more nuanced information; they use their social networks to work together to solve problems.
Think of the Israeli and Palestinian women peacebuilders who yearn for peace and continue to hold track 2 peace dialogues. Or consider the fact that the international community lauds the Catholic and Protestant women in Northern Ireland who were instrumental in the peace negotiations leading to the Good Friday Agreement in 1998. Because they talked to each other, they were willing to face each other and say, “We don’t want to fight anymore. We have a vision for our country that is peaceful, prosperous and safe for our children.”
Dialogue, bipartisanship, and all-party committees are not unique to only a few places in the world. Instead, dialogue, working across networks with a shared commitment to peace and security is one of the crucial principles of any peaceful outcome — just reach back in memory and remember when the international community brought Hutu and Tutsi women together after the Rwandan genocide to sit in the same rooms and work on rebuilding their country and rewriting their constitution.
Why Women at the Table Strengthens National Security
To be clear, WPS is not DEI. Women, Peace and Security is about making sure that women have a seat at the decision-making table to avoid security blind spots. In a military context, WPS increases operational effectiveness, kinetic or otherwise. Women’s collaborative political work does not mean that all women have the same opinions or support a specific agenda or world view. Obviously, women are not a monolithic group, certainly not politically. WPS simply means women bring views and input that are critically missing in peace and security decision-making.
Not surprisingly, different administrations have shaped their WPS priorities according to their political views and beliefs, while the underlying principle remains preserved in U.S. laws. No matter the current challenges, Congress must ensure the adherence to these principles and the legislative WPS framework set forth in these laws, by continuing its bipartisan WPS support.
We should not underestimate the influence that American women have: women experts, diplomats, civil society leaders, politicians and private sector leaders, they all play powerful roles in designing and implementing our foreign policies, diplomacy, and humanitarian and development assistance in some of the most inhospitable and dangerous places around the world. These women are the reason for the bipartisan WPS support on Capitol Hill, including from Members who have served in those roles before being elected to Congress on both sides of the aisle.
The resilience of bipartisanship also suggests a path forward for all of us. Both sides can cheer and hope for peace in the Middle East and work together to end the suffering of the women and children of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and in Ukraine. And as these deals are brokered, the bipartisan WPS Caucus can work together to demonstrate American leadership by keeping our commitment to democracy and freedom by ensuring that women from civil society and women political leaders are at the negotiating table. Bipartisanship truly is the beating heart of Women, Peace and Security.
