The Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty – the first „feminist“ disarmament treaty?

From the very beginning, women have played a central role in the global anti-nuclear movement and have campaigned for the disarmament of nuclear weapons. For a long time, however, the importance of women and the gender factor in nuclear policy was ignored, the debate on the design of the global nuclear order focussed on the security of states and nuclear deterrence was framed as a necessary evil to ensure this. Against this backdrop, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) adopted in 2017 represents a historic milestone – as the first disarmament treaty, it recognises the particular consequences of nuclear radiation for women and girls and obliges the parties to the treaty to take gender-specific measures. Beatrice Fihn, the long-time director of the Global Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, therefore described the NPT as the first „feminist“ disarmament treaty. The lecture takes this statement as a starting point to take a closer look at both the role of women in the creation of the NPT and the significance of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons for women and other marginalised actors. To what extent does the NPT harbour actual potential for transformation in view of current global political challenges and crisis situations? What role does feminist foreign policy, to which more and more states have committed themselves in recent years, play in this context?

These topics will be explored and discussed at the event on the eve of International Women’s Day.

Dr Carmen Wunderlich has been Professor of Political Science with a focus on International Relations at the University of Freiburg since October 2023(https://www.politik.uni-freiburg.de/professuren/internationale-beziehungen/dr.-carmen-wunderlich). She is a regular Temporary Academic Councillor at the Institute of Political Science at the University of Duisburg-Essen (currently on leave) and an associated researcher at the Peace Research Center Prague (PRCP), the Institute for Development and Peace (INEF) and the Käte Hamburger Kolleg/Center for Global Cooperation Research CGCR) at the University of Duisburg-Essen. Carmen Wunderlich researches and teaches at the interface of international relations, peace and conflict research and international security. Her research focusses on the dynamic change of global norms and the practices of contesting global norms by state and non-state actors, especially in the field of nuclear arms control, non-proliferation and disarmament.

Moderator: Rita Bernhard, doctor of psychiatry and psychotherapy, IPPNW Bochum

An event organised by IPPNW Bochum at the Fritz Bauer Forum.