Gender equality was established as a political objective in peace and security with the passing of UNSCR 1325 on WPS. Despite being perhaps the most critical concept to understand the ways in which UNSCR 1325 can bring about structural and real-life changes in peace and security, gender equality remained underexplored in international WPS research. Bridging epistemic siloes between International Relations and Gender Studies, this book teases out the complexity of gender equality in operation with the WPS agenda in nested case studies: UN Security Council at the global level, Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Pacific Islands Forum at the regional level, and Governments of the Philippines and Australia at the national level. The interrogation is guided by feminist, grounded methodology and draws on expert insights of nearly 70 UN, government, international and local civil society representatives. This book ultimately exposes multiple paradoxes embedded in gender equality politics of the WPS agenda, shedding light on opportunities and challenges for a meaningful change in peace and security at the intersection of the global and the local

Foreword by: Cynthia Enloe