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Women and Nation-Building

Cover: Women and Nation-Building

By: Cheryl Benard, Seth G. Jones, Olga Oliker, Cathryn Quantic Thurston, Brooke K. Stearns, Kristen Cordell

This study examines gender-specific impacts of conflict and post-conflict and the ways in which events in these contexts may affect women differently than they affect men. It analyzes the roles of women in the nation-building process and considers outcomes that might occur if current practices were modified. The recent nation-building activities in Afghanistan are used as a case study. Despite the difficulty of collecting data in conflict zones, the information available from Afghanistan provides several pragmatic points for consideration. Gender issues have been overtly on the table from the beginning of U.S. post-conflict involvement in Afghanistan, in part because of the Taliban’s equally overt prior emphasis on gender issues as a defining quality of its regime. Also, the issue of women’s inclusion is an official part of Afghanistan’s development agenda, so all the active agents in the nation-building enterprise have made conscious choices and decisions that can be reviewed and their underlying logic evaluated.

The monograph concludes with a broad set of analytic and policy recommendations. First, specific suggestions are made for improving the data-collection process. Then, three shifts in emphasis are recommended that could strengthen the prospects of stability and enhance the outcomes of nation-building programs: a more genuine emphasis on the broader concept of human security from the earliest phases of the nation-building effort; a focus on establishing governance based on principles of equity and consistent rule of law; and economic inclusion of women in the earliest stages of reconstruction activities.

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Paperback Cover Price: $31.50

Discounted Web Price: $25.20

Pages: 212

ISBN/EAN: 9780833043115

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Contents

Chapter One:
Introduction

Chapter Two:
The Security Dimension and Women

Chapter Three:
Planning and Implementing Programs for Women’s Health and Education: Building Indicators of Success

Chapter Four:
Governance and Women

Chapter Five:
Economic Participation and Women

Chapter Six:
A Case Study: The National Solidarity Program

Chapter Seven:
Recommendations

Appendix A:
Education and Health Indicators for Women and Girls

Appendix B:
Vital Governance Milestones for Afghan Women

Appendix C:
National Solidarity Program Case-Study Survey

The research described in this report was sponsored by the Government of Qatar and was conducted under the auspices of the Center for Middle East Public Policy within the RAND National Security Research Division (NSRD). NSRD conducts research and analysis for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff, the Unified Commands, the defense agencies, the Department of the Navy, the Marine Corps, the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Intelligence Community, allied foreign governments, and foundations.

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