Breaking Up the Boys Club

Over the past few decades, Americans have grown steadily more conscious of the fact that men and women don't interact with their societies in the same way. "Gender mainstreaming" is the concept that the fact has policy implications. Evaluating the effects of any public policy for both men and women, the theory hold, is more likely to produce positive outcomes and healthy societies--including in the realm of security policy.

Last year, New America partnered with POLITICO Focus, CNAS, the LBJ School at the University of Texas, and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs to investigate the state of gender mainstreaming in America’s national security establishment. Our research illuminated a profound disconnect between how we as advocates and social science researchers think about gender differentiation in policymaking, and how actual policymakers do—and it made clear that our work is far from over.

To see the change we're calling for, we must revitalize the way we engage with policymakers. Join New America and the U.S. Civil Society Working Group on Women, Peace, and Security for a lively, interactive discussion about how to put our research into practice. We'll present our recently published toolkit, divulge some of the juicy details that didn't make it in, and engage participants in sharing best practices.

Participants:

Rebecca Heslin Haller 
Director of Audience Insights, POLITICO 
@BecsHaller

Heather Hurlburt 
Director, New Models of Policy Change, New America 
@natsecHeather 

Elizabeth Weingarten 
Director, Global Gender Parity Initiative, New America 
@elizabethw723 

Dr. Chantal de Jonge Oudraat 
President, Women In International Security (WIIS)