In today's episode, we dive into the world of women in power and gender equality with our special guest, Yasmina Benslimane. Yasmina is a feminist activist, consultant, and women empowerment coach known for her dedication to advancing gender equality and empowering women. She founded Politics4Her, a non-profit organization that advocates for greater political participation and leadership for women while promoting gender equality in governance and politics.

Yasmina's journey in empowering women is driven by her belief that everyone deserves a seat at the table and a voice in shaping the policies and decisions that affect their lives. Through Politics4Her, she promotes gender equality, intersectionality, and social justice to create a more equitable and inclusive world for all.

With a Bachelor's degree in Political Science and Communications from Saint Louis University in Madrid, Spain, as well as a Master's degree in International Law and the Settlement of Disputes from the University for Peace in Costa Rica and a Master's degree in Forced Migration and Refugee Protection from the University of London, Yasmina brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the conversation.

Throughout her eight-year professional career, Yasmina has worked with various human rights institutions, NGOs, and United Nations agencies in different countries. Her expertise extends to advocacy work, policy development, program implementation, and digital activism, making her a leading voice in women's empowerment.

In this thought-provoking episode, we tackle the barriers hindering women's progress in attaining positions of power and influence. We delve into gender stereotypes, biases, the male-dominated nature of leadership, limited opportunities, discouragement, gender-based violence, online harassment targeting women in politics and human rights defenders, forced marriages, and discriminatory laws. We also shed light on historical exclusion and successful movements challenging it, focusing on Afghanistan and Sudan, highlighting the impact of Western hegemony, gender apartheid, the international community's failures, and women mobilizing for education and resources. Additionally, we explore why women's empowerment differs between the global north and south, discussing the responsibility of the global north and strategies for ensuring the representation of diverse women, including amplifying their voices, education, youth engagement, and addressing intersectional issues.

Join us as we embark on this enlightening conversation with Yasmina Benslimane, uncovering the challenges and opportunities in pursuing gender equality and women's empowerment.

We explore the question of whether the United States is colonizing knowledge through international students. We are joined by two experts on the topic: Maria Carolina Sintura (Sintu) is a teacher and Ph.D. student in the English Department at UCSB. Her research brings together the Legal Humanities, Critical University Studies, Critical Race Theory, and Women of Color Feminisms as she studies the discourses constructed around the figure of international students and scholars at the U.S American University, and Rohini Roy is a 2023 MALD candidate at the Fletcher School with a focus on gender and intersectional analysis and human security. Currently, Rohini’s research focuses on developing queer methods for social research.

We discuss how the US has historically dominated the production and dissemination of knowledge and how this has had a disproportionate impact on people from developing countries. We also explore the ways in which international students are often forced to assimilate into US academic norms, which can lead to the loss of their own cultural and intellectual traditions.

Resources on the topic

Resources shared by Rohini Roy:

• Anumol, Dipali, and Rohini Roy. "The Racism of Being Tolerated: The Experience of Being Brown Women in ‘International Relations.’" Tufts Observer, 12 Dec. 2022, tuftsobserver.org/the-racism-of-being-tolerated-the-experience-of-being-brown-women-in-international-relations/.
• Tracking Epistemic Violence: Tracking Practices of Silencing. By Moya Bailey. Hypatia, vol. 35, no. 4, 2020, pp. 878–899. doi:10.1111/hypa.12813.
• Ahmed, Sara. Queer Phenomenology: Orientations, Objects, Others. Duke University Press, 2006.

Resources shared by Maria Carolina Sintura:

• Ferguson, Roderick A. “The University and Its Pedagogies of Minority Difference.” Chapter 6 in The Reorder of Things: The University and Its Pedagogies of Minority Difference, by Roderick A. Ferguson. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2012.
• Ferguson, Roderick A. 2012. The Reorder of Things: The University and Its Pedagogies of Minority Difference. Difference Incorporated. Minneapolis: University Of Minnesota Press. Chapter 5: Immigration and the Drama of Affirmation.
• Christian, Barbara. “Diminishing Returns: Can Black Feminism(s) Survive the Academy?” New Black Feminist Criticism, 1985-2000, edited by Gloria Bowles et al., University of Illinois Press, 2007, pp. 204–15.
• Hong, Grace Kyungwon. “The Future of Our Worlds: Black Feminism and the Politics of Post-Diaspora.” Social Text, no. 26, 2008, pp. 1–24. doi:10.1215/01642472-2008-004.

The Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda is a UN framework that promotes women's participation in all aspects of peace and security efforts. It is based on four pillars: participation, protection, prevention, and relief and recovery. Despite significant progress, there are still several challenges to its effective implementation, including a lack of political will, inadequate funding, limited participation of women, insufficient data, and gender-based violence. The WPS agenda is being implemented in various ways around the world, such as women's participation in peace negotiations, women's role in peacekeeping, gender-responsive peacebuilding, protection of women and girls, and the development of National Action Plans.

In this episode, I dive into a conversation with Maria Luisa Moreira* about the four pillars of the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda. How does is look today? What is happening in Ukraine? Why is it so necessary?

Listen to the episode and find the answer to many of these questions.

*Maria Luisa Moreira is an Advisor and Programme Manager at PCS, a Lisbon-based think tank, and the Secretary General of WIIS Portugal. She has an MSc in Women, Peace, and Security from the LSE and a BA in International Relations from the University of Essex. Maria Luisa won the first edition of the DGPDN Award in 2021 with an original policy position paper on the implementation of the WPS Agenda in the Portuguese MFA and MoD mandates. In 2022, she was a presenter at the NATO Committee on Gender Perspective Annual Conference and a guest speaker at the NATO Youth Summit. Maria Luisa was previously selected for the OSCE-UNODA Peace and Security Fellowship and has worked at the LSE Centre for Women, Peace and Security, the Council of the European Union in Brussels, and the British Embassy in Lisbon. Her current research projects address the future of the WPS Agenda within foreign policy and international diplomacy, and she was a guest speaker at the Portuguese Navy's International Women's Day conference in 2023, where she presented perspectives and guidelines for a feminist national defense policy.