Dr Lenka Olejnikova1, Prof Laura Shepherd
1UNSW, Australia
Biography:
Dr Lenka Olejnikova is a scholar specializing in gender in peace and conflict research. Lenka completed her Ph.D. in International Relations at the UNSW in 2022, with a focus on gender, sexual violence, and research methods, and currently works as a Research Officer at Childlight, UNSW, and as a Senior Lecturer in social policy at Acknowledge Education.
Abstract:
The United Nations (UN), gender experts, and feminist activists have established a unique apparatus of international governance aimed at advancing gender equality. Within this framework, UN Women has emerged as a leading source of research on women’s participation in peace processes, producing evidence to inform policy and advocacy efforts. This paper examines how gender experts and technocrats strategically mobilise evidence to advocate for women’s participation in peace processes. By analysing key documents—such as the UN Security Council’s Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) resolutions, Annual Secretary-General’s Reports on WPS, National Action Plans, and reports from UN entities and other international organisations—we explore the pervasiveness of the claim that women’s participation enhances the durability of peace. Our analysis shows a significant imbalance between the political salience of this claim and the robustness of the supporting evidence. We argue that this imbalance exemplifies what Parkhurst (2017) terms the "politics of evidence" and is a result of contestation feminist expertise faces in international institutions. However, we argue that such use of evidence may ultimately undermine the integrity of feminist advocacy of promoting gender equality in peace processes. This paper aims to highlight the need for a better approach to leveraging feminist research in global governance and emphasise the importance of fostering dialogue between scholars and practitioners.