Opinions & Insights

Blog pieces written by OSF and guest authors

Featured Articles

Where's the Money? Exploring the Budget Gaps in Women, Peace and Security Initiatives

This analysis looks at the crucial role of funding in shaping the national Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agendas. By examining nations with varying levels of financial commitment and exploring the concept of gender budgeting, this article aims to explore how targeted financial strategies could potentially affect policy-making and WPS implementation strategies.

August 28,2024

In the Shadows of Conflict: The Role of Sudanese Women in Building Peace and Stability

In light of the ongoing conflict in Sudan, Our Secure Future intern Luz Velazquez discusses the contributions made by Sudanese women in advocating for peace and the necessity of including their voices in the formal peace negotiations.

June 25,2024

Tech's Gender Blindspots: How to Create a Safer Digital Future

Technology has become an integral part of everyone’s daily lives. However, the digital ecosystem is not immune to the gender inequalities that persist in society.

May 24,2024

OSF Opinions & Insights

Filter Content

Showing 233 items for Opinion and Insights

Lexie Van Buskirk

May 08, 2017

Mitigating Modern Threats, Part II: A Gender Perspective on Social Media as a Weapon

In spite of the tangible threat that social media poses to peace and security worldwide, substantive discussions of women’s role in combatting this risk are scarce. Unfortunately, whether by exclusion or accidental omission, information relating to the use and effectiveness of social media in modern...

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon participates in discussion on autism and social media responsibility. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Lexie Van Buskirk

May 01, 2017

Mitigating Modern Threats, Part I: A Gender Perspective on Social Media as a Weapon

While the issue of online violence may sound quite abstract, the malicious use of social media can, and has, posed a tangible threat.

Lexie Van Buskirk

April 20, 2017

Women, Security, and Climate Change

Women are more likely to experience increased violence in the wake of disasters such as floods and earthquakes. They also take on the overwhelming, when droughts force their husbands and sons to leave home to find work.

Colombia's Indigenous Wayuu Struggle with Water Shortages, UN Photo - Gill Fickling,

April 18, 2017

Empowering Women in Fragile States Through Social Media

Women in conflict situations and fragile states are using social media tools in many ways.

April 07, 2017

Social Media and Peace Operations

Over the past several years, the meteoric rise of social media has been an integral part of uprisings and revolutions across the globe.

April 03, 2017

Security Equality—What Is It?

Just as “political equality” for women is about improving women’s political rights and increasing the participation of women in decision-making, security equality is about “the distribution of protection between men and women.”

Local militia provide security services in Somalia. UN Photo/Tobin Jones

March 27, 2017

Back to the Basics: A Simple Gender Analysis Tool

I’m often asked, “What is a good tool to use to do a quick gender analysis?” Here’s a simple gender analysis tool to keep in your back pocket.

International Women's Day in Juba, South Sudan. UN Photo/JC McIlwaine

March 22, 2017

Back to the Basics: How do I Apply a Gender Perspective to My Work?

If your boss hands you the latest brief on food security, police reform, or democratic elections, and then asks you to apply a gender perspective to the brief—here’s some help!

Applying a gender perspective to your work

March 03, 2017

Back to the Basics: Gender Blindness Negatively Impacts Security

“Gender blindness” refers to the lack of awareness about how men and women are differently affected by a situation due to their different roles, needs, status and priorities in their societies.

February 22, 2017

Women in Diplomacy Podcast: Women, Peace and Security at NATO with Amb. Marriët Schuurman

The Foreign Policy Project is an educational mentorship program for young women interested in careers in international relations. The project produces a podcast called “Women in Diplomacy.”

Women World Leaders Discuss Gender Equality in Politics, UN Photo/Rick Bajornas

February 14, 2017

Can Women Make the World More Peaceful?

Empowered women have the agency and ability to move a society rife with conflict toward sustainable peace.

Brigitte Tawk, Counsellor of the Permanent Mission of Lebanon to the UN, attends a meeting of the Security Council on post-conflict peacebuilding - Credit: UN Photo/JC McIlwaine

January 27, 2017

Why WPS Needs Young Feminists

I am a young feminist and I am here to tell you that you need us.

Young Girls attend peace building event for rural communities in Valle de Cauca, Colombia

January 23, 2017

Dear World, Move Us Toward Peace

Repeat after me... I am a woman, I am smart, I have opinions, I have feelings, I care, I make a difference, I matter, I am a woman and I am proud of who I am. -Nour, Algeria

January 16, 2017

“I am deliberate and afraid of nothing.” Audre Lorde

The Civil Rights Movement and the advancement of women’s rights are founded on the principle of equality and the respect for the dignity of all life.

Civil Rights Leaders lead March on Washington for Jobs and Freedoms, 1963 Photo by: Hulton Archives/Getty Images

December 12, 2016

Glass-Ladders and Glass-Cliffs

With the newly elected U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, women are beginning to form a critical mass of representation within the world’s highest offices.

December 12, 2016

Women and Bicycles

In the 1880’s women in America and England were considered "fast" if they rode bicycles. Their clothes changed from long skirts to split pants that some considered detrimental to the female sex. Bicycle riding was also thought to be a danger to fertility.

December 07, 2016

Five things you should know about grassroots women crisis responders

From Kenya, to Colombia, to Nepal, to Iraq, grassroots women are providing lifesaving humanitarian relief. Here is what you need to know.