The next U.S. administration should require women’s representation and meaningful participation in conflict resolution and postconflict processes, increase investment in efforts that promote women’s inclusion, reform U.S. diplomatic and security practices to incorporate the experiences of women in conflict-affected countries, improve staffing and coordination to deliver on government commitments, strengthen training on incorporating women in security efforts, and promote accountability. These steps will help the United States respond effectively to security threats around the world, improve the sustainability of peace agreements, and advance U.S. interests.

This publication focuses on the gender dimensions of intrastate conflicts (civil wars), organised around eight key themes of gender and warfare, sexual violence, formal and informal peace processes, post-conflict legal frameworks, work issues, rehabilitation of social services and community-driven development. For each theme, the authors examine the impact on gender roles of conflict situations, the development challenges involved, and the policy options available to help build more inclusive and gender balanced post-conflict societies.

Empowerment refers to increasing the spiritual, political, social or economic strength of individuals and communities. It often involves the empowered developing confidence in their capacities.The subject of empowerment of women has becoming a burning issue all over the world including India since last few decades. Many agencies of United Nations in their reports have emphasized that gender issue is to be given utmost priority. It is held that women now cannot be asked to wait for any more for equality.Inequalities between men and women and discrimination against women have also been age-old issues all over the world. Thus, women’s quest for equality with man is a universal phenomenon.The sex ratio in India has improved from 930 in 1971 to 940 as per 2011 census. The female literacy has also increased from 18.3% in 1961 to 74% in 2011, in addition to decrease in male-female literacy gap from 26.6% in 1981 to 16.7% in 2011.These indicators may show improvement, however, the pace is not desirable.The economic empowerment of women is a vital element of strong economic growth in any country. Empowering women enhances their ability to influence changes and to create a better society.Empowering Women through Education: “Education is one of the most important means of empowering women with the knowledge, skills and self-confidence necessary to participate fully in the development process”. In the political field, the reservation for women is a significant step forward towards their political empowerment. When thirty-three percent reservation for women in Parliament becomes a reality, women’s voice will be heard in the highest forum of democracy.into lime-light the constraints and benefits of empowering women at the integrated process of development and social change. All the articles have been covering a wide range of issues relating to women, particularly women living at grassroots level, downtrodden and helpless.The Article on ‘Efficacy of Entrepreneurial Training Self Help Group Women’ presents the entrepreneurial training given to SHG women to equip them with all the skills required for the establishment and smooth functioning of their micro-enterprises and their responses during pre-training, training and post-training phases.I hope that this book is highly useful to the students and researchers in women’s studies and related fields. I derived encouragement and support from my Husband Mr. P. Muthukumar, Daughter Er. M. Sangeetha and Son Er. M. Vignesh for finalizing these papers. My thanks are due to Mr. Janarthanan of MJP Publishers, Chennai, Tirunelveli and New Delhi, for his constant support and meticulous care in publishing this book.

This book defines the relationship between gender and international security, analyzing and critiquing international security theory and practice from a gendered perspective. Gender issues have an important place in the international security landscape, but have been neglected both in the theory and practice of international security. The passage and implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (on Security Council operations), the integration of gender concerns into peacekeeping, the management of refugees, post-conflict disarmament and reintegration and protection for non-combatants in times of war shows the increasing importance of gender sensitivity for actors on all fronts in global security. This book aims to improve the quality and quantity of conversations between feminist security studies and security studies more generally, in order to demonstrate the importance of gender analysis to the study of international security, and to expand the feminist research program in Security Studies. The chapters included in this book not only challenge the assumed irrelevance of gender, they argue that gender is not a subsection of security studies to be compartmentalized or briefly considered as a side issue. Rather, the contributors argue that gender is conceptually, empirically, and normatively essential to studying international security. They do so by critiquing and reconstructing key concepts of and theories in international security, by looking for the increasingly complex roles women play as security actors, and by looking at various contemporary security issues through gendered lenses. Together, these chapters make the case that accurate, rigorous, and ethical scholarship of international security cannot be produced without taking account of women’s presence in or the gendering of world politics. This book will be of interest to all students of critical security studies, gender studies and International Relations in general. Laura Sjoberg is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Florida. She has a Phd in International Relations and Gender Studies from the University of Southern California and is the author of Gender, Justice, and the Wars in Iraq (2006) and, with Caron Gentry, Mothers, Monsters, Whores: Women's Violence in Global Politics (2007)

The Women, Gender and Development Reader II is the definitive volume of literature dedicated to women in the development process. Now in a fully revised second edition, the editors expertly present the impacts of social, political and economic change by reviewing such topical issues as migration, persistent structural discrimination, the global recession, and climate change. Approached from a multidisciplinary perspective, the theoretical debates are vividly illustrated by an array of global case studies. This now classic book, has been designed as a comprehensive reader, presenting the best of the now vast body of literature. The book is divided into five parts, incorporating readings from the leading experts and authorities in each field. The result is a unique and extensive discussion, a guide to the evolution of the field, and a vital point of reference for those studying or with a keen interest in women in the development process.

This volume focuses on the efforts made by women (and those made on their behalf) to hold to account those who committed crimes against them during times of war and conflict.

"This book in its diversity of topics reflects the re-emergence of concern with women's issues in the last decade and the vigor and pioneering quality of scholarship in the area. Such extensive, albeit uneven, development says something about the state of our society as well, for organized scholarship is a form of problem solving, part of the process of working through issues that come to the attention of observers of and commentators on the social world. Be we can go further. By recognizing that the contemporary women's movement is not new, but is in keeping with a stream of feminism at least 150 years old, we can encourage the current rekindling of interest and consciousness to reflect contemporary events as well." -- xiii (foreword).

What roles can women from marginalized communities play in conflict, peace-making and democratization? Which factors lie behind their involvement in armed conflict? What are the consequences of women s inclusion and exclusion from peace-building activities? Drawing on case studies from Afghanistan, Myanmar, the Philippines and Rwanda, this publication analyzes the impact of women on intrastate conflict and peace-building."

Since the 1991-2002 civil conflict ended in Sierra Leone, the country has failed to translate the accomplishments of women's involvement in bringing the war to an end into meaningful political empowerment. This is in marked contrast to other post-conflict countries, which have increased the political participation of women in elected and appointed office, increased the representation of women in leadership positions, and enacted constitutional reforms promoting women's rights. Written by Sierra Leonean and Africanist scholars and experts from a broad range of disciplines, this unique volume analyses the historical and contextual factors influencing women's political, economic and social development in the country. In drawing on a diverse array of case studies – from health to education, refugees to international donors – the contradictions, successes and challenges of women's lives in a post-conflict environment are revealed, making this an essential book for anyone involved in women and development.