More Women, Fewer Nukes?

Abstract

Women increasingly feature in nuclear diplomacy, both as participants and as subject matter. Research institutes report a steady increase in women's representation in large multilateral disarmament forums. Diplomats emphasize the importance of women in statements and working papers. The recent conversation on women in nuclear diplomacy forms part of a wider discourse on women in the nuclear weapons field. This article studies portrayals of women in the discourse. It identifies three narratives as prominent themes: women are missing, women are change-makers and women are victims. The narratives can generate support for political projects for gender equality and nuclear disarmament. However, they also create an ideal image of women as peaceful that bears negative connotations for perceptions of women's political agency. The article makes three contributions to feminist literature in International Relations. First, it brings the debate on the value of strategic essentialism to the nuclear case. Second, it proposes a new research agenda on women in the nuclear field to complexify the image of women as peaceful. Lastly, the article identifies tensions between feminisms in the nuclear field and suggests viewing these tensions as an indication that feminism is an ongoing conversation shaped by contention and solidarity. The practical significance of the article concerns the way in which the use of narratives about women can reinforce gender stereotypes. Practitioners might want to consider this implication when drawing on the narratives in their advocacy for women's inclusion and nuclear disarmament.