Book Review: The Gender Imperative-Human Security Vs. State Security by Reardon and Hans

The great irony of the state security framework, according to the contributors of The Gender Imperative, is that it is the cause of so much global insecurity, especially among women.

As someone who was only 14 on September 11, 2001, I have been raised with a very clear idea of what national security looks like. Over the past decade I have watched my country pass the Patriot Act, engage in two wars, use torture as an interrogation technique, and increase military spending during a budget crises that simultaneous cut environmental, health, and education funding.

This is entirely consistent with a state security framework, which above all else focuses on protecting the state (and presumably its citizens) from attack through military strength.

But do weapons and wars actually provide security? Betty Reardon stands with her sister contributors when she contends that “so long as war is maintained as a legitimate instrument of national security policy, and preparation for war consumes resources that could be directed toward other essential ongoing needs of human security, human security cannot be achieved.”

Human security, as she defines it, consists of the “expectation, perception and experience of human wellbeing,” as experienced through an environment that can sustain healthy human life, the fulfillment of basic needs, assurance of respect for personal and cultural identity, and protection from harm.

Many others have already detailed the deadly impact of war and militarism on women’s wellbeing, as the extensive endnotes throughout this book will attest. The contributors to this volume stand on that work as they use feminist, women’s, and gender perspectives to expose the state security system as a global failure. Each chapter introduces another community’s struggles to promote human security amidst insecurity. Particularly compelling is the account of Okinawa, where in the absence of war the mere presence of a military base has resulted in widespread insecurity and violence against women.

This is not a book to pick up lightly. The subject matter is grim, and the authors address it with thoroughness that is sometimes exhausting. But that exquisite attention to detail may be necessary. As the authors demonstrate, the status quo is deeply entrenched and the language of human security is easily co-opted. General Arjun Ray, for example, tried to implement human security through the Indian military in an effort called Operation Goodwill. The youth involved in this effort emerged with good educations and a strong desire to serve Ray in the military – a far cry from the demilitarization aims of a true human security framework.

Within the pages of the The Gender Imperative are some extraordinary heroines who go to great lengths to change their communities. I found myself cheering for some gutsy Russian mothers as they traveled to the front lines during battle to pull their sons out of war. But for large-scale change to really happen, there will have to be a global shift in security discourse. To that end, the book concludes with a series of queries intended to guide us, the readers, to continue the human security conversation and bring it to the public policy level. Toward that goal, The Gender Imperative is an invaluable resource.

Carolyn Klaasen is a first-year M.Div. candidate at Union Theological Seminary in New York City and a member of the Shomer Shalom Network for Jewish Nonviolence.