In 2017, the United States Government passed the Women, Peace and Security Act (WPS Act) to improve the participation of women in peace and security processes, conflict prevention, peace building, and decision-making institutions. The majority of peace agreements signed from 1990 to today have included zero female signatories as peace negotiators continue overlook a strategy that could drastically reduce conflict and advance stability: include women. The participation of civil society groups, including women’s organizations, makes a peace agreement 64% less likely to fail and when women directly participate in peace processes, the resulting agreement is 35% more likely to last at least 15 years.
Reflecting this commitment, the McCain Institute has partnered with Our Secure Future to launch a program which will lead and organize a series of activities in Washington D.C. that advance the U.S. government’s work on the Women, Peace and Security Agenda. The outcomes of this partnership will be:
To date, the Women, Peace and Security Initiative has hosted conversations on the following topics: