8 Items

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, on a screen, speaks via videoconference

AP/Michel Euler

Journal Article - International Organization

Does More Equality for Women Mean Less War? Rethinking Sex and Gender Inequality and Political Violence

| 2021

Recent world events, such as the rise of hypermasculine authoritarian leaders, have shown the importance of both sex and gender for understanding international politics. However, quantitative researchers of conflict have long relegated the study of sex and gender inequality as a cause of war to a specialized group of scholars, despite overwhelming evidence that the connections are profound and consequential. In this review essay, the authors demonstrate the tremendous progress made in this field by analyzing a wave of research that examines the relationships between sex and gender inequality and war.

U.S. Navy Master-at-Arms Third Class Danielle Hinchliff, right, of Coastal Riverine Squadron 2, helps carry a mock wounded person

AP/Gerry Broome

Journal Article - Journal of Conflict Resolution

At War and at Home: The Consequences of US Women Combat Casualties

| 2020

What are the consequences of women dying in combat? The authors study how women fighting on the frontlines of the military affects public attitudes toward (1) military conflict and (2) women’s equality. We demonstrate through a series of survey experiments that women dying in combat does not reduce public support for war. However, women’s combat deaths do shape perceptions of women’s equality

Dara Kay Cohen teaching

- Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center Newsletter

Spotlight: Dara Kay Cohen

| Fall/Winter 2018-2019

Dara Kay Cohen is a Ford Foundation Associate Professor of Public Policy at HKS. Her research spans international relations, including international security, civil war and the dynamics of violence, and gender and conflict. Her first book, Rape During Civil War, received several awards, including the 2017 Theodore J. Lowi First Book Award from the American Political Science Association. Cohen is also the recipient of the 2019 Emerging Scholar Award from the International Security Studies Section (ISSS) of the International Studies Association. Her current project is focused on the intersection of political violence, public opinion, and gender in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

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Announcement - International Security Program, Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School

Dara Kay Cohen and Former International Security Program Fellows to be Honored at 2019 International Studies Association Annual Meeting

| Nov. 14, 2018

Ford Foundation Associate Professor of Public Policy Dara Kay Cohen, an International Security Program (ISP) Faculty Affiliate, and three former ISP Fellows, Ahsan I. Butt, Rachel Elizabeth Whitlark, and Ketian Zhang, will receive International Security Studies Section awards at the Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association (ISA) in Toronto, Canada, in March 2019.

The New Marines: A 2017 Marine Corps ad shows Marine Capt. Erin Demchko, a deputy commander at Camp Courtney in Okinawa, Japan, who is part of the Marine Corps' expanding effort to recruit women.

- Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center Newsletter

Women in Combat

| Fall/Winter 2017-2018

On December 3, 2015, then Secretary of Defense Ash Carter made an announcement that would transform the U.S. military: all combat jobs in every branch of the military would be open to women. At a Harvard Kennedy School event this fall, Carter talked about his historic decision.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton delivers remarks at the Lower Mekong Initiative Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment Event in Siem Reap, Cambodia, July 13, 2012.

Analysis & Opinions - The New York Times

Women's Rights Are a National Security Issue

| December 26, 2016

"Over a decade's worth of research shows that women's advancement is critical to stability and to reducing political violence. Countries where women are empowered are vastly more secure, whether the issue is food security, countering violent extremism or resolving disputes with other nations peacefully."

Dara Kay Cohen wades a river to reach her interview location in the Bonthe District in the Southern Province of Sierra Leone.

Dara Kay Cohen Photo

- Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center Newsletter

Q&A with Dara Kay Cohen

| Spring 2013

Dara Kay Cohen is an assistant professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and a core faculty member of the International Security Program at the Belfer Center. Her current research examines variations in the use of sexual violence during recent conflicts and draws from fieldwork in Sierra Leone, East Timor, and El Salvador, where she interviewed more than 200 ex-combatants and noncombatants. Here, she answers questions related to her research on the causes of wartime rape. She recently co-authored a policy report for the United States Institute of Peace titled "Wartime Sexual Violence: Misconceptions, Implications, and Ways Forward."