The following is the third in the three-part series on what the Biden-Harris administration means for the Women, Peace and Security agenda. For part one, click here. For part two, click here.

Content Notice: This article contains references to sexual assault and domestic violence.

The social and economic fallout of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is negatively impacting women, with a rise in women’s unemployment in part due to their overrepresentation in industries hardest hit by the pandemic. Moreover, according to recent UN reporting, lockdown measures introduced to prevent the spread of the virus have contributed to an increase in global rates of domestic violence. The pandemic, alongside new and evolving climate threats, uninterrupted conflict, and mass displacement, have cast a light on the gendered consequences of humanitarian emergencies. The Biden administration has acknowledged the need to safeguard women in such contexts with their “Plan to Support Women During the Covid-19 Crisis.” Ensuring women’s rights are protected during humanitarian crises is also fundamental to the fourth pillar of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda, Relief and Recovery. In this third and final installment of our series examining how this administration may influence the implementation of WPS in the Indo-Pacific, we consider how Biden and Harris could advance WPS Relief and Recovery in the region.

Overview of the Relief and Recovery Pillar

The WPS Agenda, as laid out in United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000), recognizes the gendered impacts of conflict and affirms the importance of strengthening women’s participation in peace processes. The Agenda rests on four pillars: Participation, Prevention, Protection, and Relief and Recovery. This article focuses on the last pillar, which calls for integrating women’s needs into crisis response and recovery efforts.

This fourth WPS pillar is grounded in the understanding that instability stemming from conflict and climate change affects men and women differently. Conflicts and disasters often exacerbate gender-based violence, which encompasses domestic violence, sexual assault, and sexual exploitation. Gender-based violence, particularly sexual violence, is routinely perpetrated against women and girls during armed conflict. In addition, humanitarian crises have the ability to weaken societal structures that protect women and girls. Humanitarian emergencies may also impose significant barriers to women’s wellbeing by limiting opportunities for educational attainment and economic empowerment. The relief and recovery pillar aims to lessen the severity of the gendered effects of humanitarian emergencies by incorporating women’s needs and voices into response plans. The pillar also emphasizes that women’s involvement in post-crisis reconstruction contributes to sustainable peace and durable stability.

Biden-Harris on the WPS Relief and Recovery Pillar

Through their domestic policies, Biden and Harris have demonstrated their commitment to protecting women affected by conflict, displacement, and climate change. In Biden’s plan for supporting women during COVID-19, he pledges to expand government funding for gender-based violence crisis shelters in the US, including those serving displaced populations. He issued an executive order on Feb. 4, 2021 to upscale the number of asylum seekers admitted to the US. Women, children, individuals facing persecution as a consequence of their gender identity and/or sexual orientation, and survivors of gender-based violence will be prioritized for admission.

Other linkages between the Biden-Harris administration and the WPS relief and recovery pillar can be found in the new administration’s foreign policy plans. As part of Biden’s goal of restoring America as a global leader and force for good, he has promised to prioritize climate security in US foreign policy. There are several ways climate change, as a threat multiplier, is likely to increase the risks of conflict in regions that lack political stability: emboldening cross-border natural resource competition; initiating mass migrations due to deteriorating coasts, farmland, and clean water, as well as natural disasters such as floods and fires; and disrupting financial markets and food prices which lead ultimately to unemployment crises. Aside from the effects of climate change-induced conflict, women and girls in particular face other direct and indirect climate-related risks. In the Indo-Pacific, these risks include direct threats in the face of floods and fires due to conservative gender norms that dictate restrictive clothing, physical movement, and withholding of medical help; increased responsibilities for farming, gathering fuel, and collecting water in the face of drought—responsibilities which limit women’s economic opportunity; and rising pressures to give into forced and child marriages due to the declining economic fortunes of husbands, fathers, and brothers. Addressing climate-related instability in US foreign policy is therefore essential to mitigate the disproportionate harm it can cause to women and girls. The new administration is also eager to protect and empower women through international engagement and peacebuilding. Biden and Harris promise to amplify the voices of women leaders while working multilaterally to develop COVID-19 recovery plans.  They also vow to support the “Safe from the Start Act,” a bill that ensures all US humanitarian assistance addresses gender-based violence.

The Status of the WPS Relief and Recovery Pillar in the Indo-Pacific

Violent unrest and climate change have directly and indirectly impacted women and girls in the Indo-Pacific. Women and girls in regional conflict zones have been subjected to sexual violence at the hands of contesting armed groups. Climate- and conflict-related instability has generated mass displacement throughout the region. Various factors, including overcrowded facilities and limited law enforcement, worsen levels of gender-based violence in displaced settings. Over 60% of adolescent girls in Rohingya refugee settlements in Bangladesh reported hearing about or witnessing sexual violence. Moreover, instability often disrupts livelihoods, imposing additional barriers to women’s economic empowerment. Women living in unstable contexts may struggle to find employment or may be limited to working in low-paid and low-skilled informal sector roles. In Mindanao, Southern Philippines, which is the site of a protracted conflict, women’s labor force participation is 15% lower than other areas of the Philippines. In addition, 74% of women in Mindanao are employed in the informal sector (compared to 40% of women nationally).

COVID-19 and WPS Relief and Recovery: The US and the Indo-Pacific

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is exposing pre-existing gender inequalities. Women are losing their jobs more readily than men. The National Women’s Law Center reported that cumulatively there were 140,000 jobs lost in December; men gaining a net 16,000 jobs, and women losing 156,000. Rates of women’s unemployment were highest in the hospitality sector, where women are overrepresented. Other factors contributing to women’s unemployment include the uneven burden of increased childcare, with mothers in the US three times more likely than fathers to perform the majority of unpaid childcare during the pandemic. Women in the Indo-Pacific are also facing higher levels of unemployment than men. The UN warned of a “shadow pandemic” due to the sharp upward trend in global rates of domestic violence during lockdowns. The rise in domestic violence has been attributed to heightened stress, economic uncertainty, and growing social isolation. In the US, domestic violence reports increased by 10% from March through May 2020. Domestic violence hotlines in Singapore, Malaysia, India, and Fiji have also reported a significant increase in call volumes since the onset of the outbreak.

Next Steps on WPS Relief and Recovery in the Indo-Pacific

The Biden-Harris administration has introduced measures to accelerate the implementation of the WPS Relief and Recovery pillar both at home and abroad. Yet given the gendered challenges resulting from conflict, climate change, and displacement—and in light of the rise in women’s unemployment and domestic violence during the COVID-19 pandemic—it is essential that the new administration work with governments around the Indo-Pacific to develop relief and recovery plans that address women’s needs and seek to empower women in the long term. The new administration could also work with governments to ensure that women are given meaningful roles in the creation and implementation of relief and recovery. Women’s long-term empowerment and their inclusion in post-crisis reconstruction will also help cultivate stability and prosperity. The global nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on women provides the opportunity for the new administration to learn from approaches taken by governments across the Indo-Pacific. Biden and Harris could facilitate a cross-border exchange on best practices in managing the spike in women’s unemployment, the surge in gender-based violence, and methods for rectifying power structures that reproduce patriarchal values and gender disparity. You can read our full analysis and Relief and Recovery policy recommendations in our in-depth Issues & Insights article.

Jennifer Howe ([email protected]) is a resident Women, Peace and Security fellow at the Pacific Forum. She graduated from Durham University, UK with an MA in Politics and international Relations. Her publications include “Conflict and Coronavirus: How COVID-19 is Impacting Southeast Asia’s Conflicts,” in Issues & Insights and “The Impact of COVID-19 on Women in Hawaii and the Asia-Pacific” in COVID-19 Research & Perspectives.

Maryruth Belsey Priebe ([email protected]) is a WPS Research Advisor at the Pacific Forum. She is also a Harvard Extension School MA in International Relations student specializing in the nexus of WPS and climate security and has a manuscript under review entitled, “The News Media: A Catalyst for Women, Peace and Security in Qatar.”

PacNet commentaries and responses represent the views of the respective authors. Alternative viewpoints are always welcomed and encouraged. Click here to request a PacNet subscription.

The following is the first in the three-part series on what the Biden-Harris administration means for the Women, Peace and Security agenda. For part two, click here. For part three, click here.

Americans have elected their first-ever woman vice president, but will that usher in a renewed Pax Americana? If the histories of China’s Empress Wu Zetian and England’s Elizabeth I are to be believed, women leaders are no guarantee of dovish behavior. Yet there have been signals from US President Biden and Vice President Harris that women will be front and center in domestic and foreign policy—which may indicate an increase in talk of peace over aggression. In celebration of International Women’s Day—the annual March 8 call to accelerate women’s social, economic, cultural, and political equity—we explore what a Biden-Harris administration would mean for women’s issues in US foreign policy. In this three-part series, we will cover what the policy histories of Biden and Harris imply for their administration’s international policy, examine their “Agenda for Women” and vows to “ensure full implementation” of the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Agenda, and consider what a commitment to advancing gender equality will mean for the Indo-Pacific region.

Overview of WPS and the Participation Pillar

The United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security was adopted in 2000 and codifies the WPS agenda. It recognizes the gendered impact of conflict and calls for the meaningful inclusion of women across the peace and security continuum. The agenda rests on four pillars—Prevention, Participation, Protection, and Relief and Recovery. Participation concerns women’s full and equal participation in peacebuilding and decision-making. Prevention relates to preventing conflict and gender-based violence in fragile contexts. Protection advocates for protection of women and girls from gender-based violence amid conflict. Finally, Relief and Recovery demands that humanitarian efforts meet the unique needs of women and girls. This article is the first of a series in which we consider how the new administration will engage with the WPS pillars. Here, we consider how Biden and Harris will address the WPS Participation pillar.

Participation is a cardinal pillar of the WPS agenda and calls for strengthening women’s meaningful involvement at all levels of decision-making: in policymaking, peacebuilding, and security decisions. Research has shown that increasing gender equality in leadership structures is associated with political stability and durable peace. On average, women are less likely to support armed conflict. In policymaking, women are less likely to support the military over community welfare. In peacebuilding, women’s leadership improves conflict negotiation outcomes and rebuilding efforts. Studies show that women’s involvement in peacebuilding increases the probability that peace will last over 15 years by 35%. Women also have the potential to improve strategic decision-making within military structures by adding to diversity of thinking.

Biden-Harris on the WPS Participation Pillar

The domestic focus of Biden and Harris’ political careers makes it challenging to envisage how they will integrate WPS into their foreign policy. Nevertheless, by examining their domestic policies, we can find clues as to how they may advance women’s issues globally. The election of Kamala Harris as vice president and the record number of women set to fill Biden’s Cabinet are significant accomplishments for women’s participation. Not only is this Cabinet on track to contain the greatest number of women in US history, it would be the first to achieve gender parity. Biden has also hired an all-woman senior communications team, and Harris’ senior aides are all women, too.

Despite these positive steps, more work is needed to increase the number of women in high-ranking security positions. Aside from the indicators previously mentioned and statements on supporting women’s leadership globally, neither Biden nor Harris have specifically referred to supporting women as peacebuilders. Nevertheless, there is plenty to suggest that they will work to increase women’s participation in national security institutions. Biden appointed Avril Haines as the first woman director of national intelligence and Kathleen H. Hicks as the first woman deputy secretary of defense. Biden and Harris also signed a pledge organized by Leadership Council for Women in National Security (LCWINS), a nonpartisan organization dedicated to improving women’s inclusion in the US security sector to ensure at least 50% of national security Senate positions are filled by women.

The Status of the WPS Participation Pillar in the Indo-Pacific

Much remains to be done in the Indo-Pacific to improve women’s participation at all levels of governance and policymaking to fulfill the WPS Participation pillar mandate. Countries within East Asia and the Pacific have increased the representation of women in parliament from around 16 to 20% in the past 20 years. Still, this 4% increase is small compared to the 12% increase in the Middle East and North Africa, Central Europe and the Baltics, and the United States. The lowest levels of women’s representation in national parliaments can be seen in Vanuatu (2%) and Papua New Guinea (3%), with Japan (10%), Malaysia (15%), and Thailand (16%) not much further ahead. By contrast, the highest levels of women’s representation are in Australia (30%), Timor-Leste (38%), and New Zealand (41%). However, these levels are low compared to countries like Mexico (48.2%), Bolivia (53.1%), Cuba (53.2%), and Rwanda (61.3%). It is also important to note that seeing women in more-powerful upper house roles is a far better indicator of meaningful gender parity than what is often token women’s representation in lower houses—here, too, countries in the Indo-Pacific have a long way to go.

Opportunities for increasing women’s inclusion in peace initiatives also exist. The Philippines has led the way by appointing Miriam Coronel-Ferrer as the first woman in history to act as chief negotiator while signing a major peace deal with an armed insurgent group. She signed the final peace accord between the Philippine government and armed rebels (the Moro Islamic Liberation Front) in 2014. Yet, in most cases, peacebuilding efforts by grassroots women’s organizations in the Indo-Pacific continue to be overlooked by official actors, and women are largely excluded from formal peace processes.

In Indo-Pacific, men still vastly outnumber women in national security institutions, particularly in senior roles. There have been some positive steps, but the number of women serving in militaries around the region is almost negligible—women account for 5% or less of national armed forces—and major barriers to women’s entry into security institutions remain.

Next Steps on WPS Participation in the Indo-Pacific

Has Vice President Harris’ election encouraged Indo-Pacific women to strive for greater presence within public institutions? Harris’ election was widely celebrated in India, where her mother is from. A number of grassroots women’s organizations held talks to discuss Harris’ journey to office. It remains to be seen whether Harris’ election, alongside the new administration’s commitment to advancing gender equality, will influence women’s participation in countries across the Indo-Pacific.

Beyond setting an example for women and girls worldwide, Biden and Harris will likely continue to concentrate their efforts on domestic women’s issues given the health and economic crises triggered by the pandemic. No doubt this administration will be more progressive on WPS than even Obama was, especially given Harris’ groundbreaking appointment as the first woman vice president. When combined with the Department of Defense’s Strategic Framework and Implementation Plan, which aligns with the WPS Act of 2017 and the US Strategy on WPS, and US Indo-Pacific Command’s subsequent application of WPS principles to personnel composition, “policies, plans, doctrine, training, education, operations and exercises,” we should be optimistic about the future of WPS in the Indo-Pacific. Among elevated maritime security concerns, ongoing extremist violence, the continued North Korea nuclear threat, increasingly aggressive moves from China, cyberthreats, and the global recession and COVID-19 recovery challenges, there are numerous opportunities for women to provide positive leadership and influence on security matters. You can read our full Participation policy recommendations in our forthcoming in-depth Issues & Insights article, and follow the rest of our analysis of how Biden and Harris may impact the other WPS pillars in the Indo-Pacific in forthcoming parts two and three.

Maryruth Belsey Priebe ([email protected]) is a WPS Research Advisor at the Pacific Forum. She is also a Harvard Extension School MA in International Relations student specializing in the nexus of WPS and climate security and has a manuscript under review entitled, “The News Media: A Catalyst for Women, Peace and Security in Qatar.”

Jennifer Howe ([email protected]) is a resident Women, Peace and Security fellow at the Pacific Forum. She graduated from Durham University, UK with an MA in Politics and international Relations. Her publications include “Conflict and Coronavirus: How COVID-19 is Impacting Southeast Asia’s Conflicts,” in Issues & Insights and “The Impact of COVID-19 on Women in Hawaii and the Asia-Pacific” in COVID-19 Research & Perspectives.

PacNet commentaries and responses represent the views of the respective authors. Alternative viewpoints are always welcomed and encouraged. Click here to request a PacNet subscription.