„My nuclear button is bigger than yours“

When North Korean leader Kim Jong-un threatened in early 2018 that there would always be a nuclear weapon button on his desk, US President Donald Trump teased angrily, "My button is bigger and more powerful and works!" What began as an involuntary parody of male dominance, soon became a geopolitical crisis which lead Trump to threat that he would "completely destroy" North Korea.

The Canadian defense and disarmament expert Ray Acheson from the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, analyses in her key note speech how nuclear threats, nuclear armament and certain forms of militant foreign policy correlate with male role models.

Afterwards, Ray Acheson, Kristina Lunz of the Center for Feminist Foreign Policy, Omid Nouripour, MdB (Alliance 90 / The Greens) and Dr. Ines Kappert, head of the Gunda-Werner Institute, show how traditional gender roles generally affect peace and security, and which undesirable developments - such as in armaments policy - are also due to the fact that women are still strongly underrepresented in national and international foreign and security policy institutions.

The experts focus on Sweden and Canada, who are advocating a new understanding of security and promote feminism as an integral part of their foreign policy.

What is feminist foreign and security policy? How would nuclear policy look like from a feminist perspective? What impulses does the feminist perspective give to stagnating disarmament discourse?

And what concrete steps should Germany take as a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council from 2019 to promote UN Resolution 1325 ("Women, Peace and Security")?

Discussion with:

•    Ray Acheson, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom
•    Kristina Lunz, Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy
•    Omid Nouripour, MdB, Bündnis 90/The Greens
•    Dr. Ines Kappert, Gunda-Werner-Institute

Moderation: Giorgio Franceschini, Head of department Foreign and Security Policy

Translation English-German will be provided.

Cooperation partner of the event:  International Campaign to Abolish Nucelar Weapons, ICAN Deutschland statt.

Contact:

Caroline Schroeder
Department Foreign and Security Policy
schroeder@boell.de