Smart Women, Smart Power

Episode Summary: “Countering China and Russia: The Hidden Advantages of Women, Peace, and Security”

Date: November 20, 2024
Host: Dr. Kathleen McInnes, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
Guests: Monica Herrera (Acting Director for International Humanitarian Policy and Senior Gender Advisor, DoD), Dr. Kylan Hunter (RAND Corporation)

Episode Overview

In this episode, Dr. Kathleen McInnes and her expert guests discuss the newly launched CSIS policy brief, “Countering Russia and China: The Hidden Advantages of Women, Peace, and Security.” The conversation explores how integrating the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda into U.S. defense strategy is not only a legal or moral imperative but represents a clear and underutilized strategic advantage—particularly in an era of rising strategic competition with China and Russia. Key themes include adversaries’ use of gendered narratives, the operational and deterrence benefits of gender analysis in military planning, the real-world impact of women’s participation at all levels of security, and actionable recommendations for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Women, Peace, and Security Framework

• Definition and U.S. Legal Foundation

  • Monica Herrera frames WPS as rooted in UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000), advancing “women’s meaningful participation across peace and security sectors to create more sustainable and lasting peace.” WPS is codified in U.S. law via the WPS Act of 2017 and enjoys broad bipartisan support.
  • [02:02, Monica Herrera]: “Our work really is rooted in the law and in our national strategy or our strategy and national action plan on Women Peace and Security.”

• DoD's Three Pillars of Implementation

  • Institutionalization (building internal capacity and advancing women across the force),
  • Operationalization (embedding gender analysis into military planning), and
  • Cooperation (working with global partners for mutual capacity-building).
  • [03:27, Monica Herrera]: “Institutionalization, operationalization, and cooperation are kind of taglines there.”

2. Gender and Strategic Competition: Countering China and Russia

• Adversaries’ Gendered Playbooks

  • Dr. McInnes and Dr. Hunter emphasize how Russia and China deliberately use regressive gender narratives in their own societies and information operations to consolidate power, promote division, and undermine democratic institutions abroad.
  • [07:02, Moderator]: “Gender is a core way to express who we are and think of who we are and how we relate to each other... they’re running these gendered playbooks against us.”

• Integrating Gender Analysis into Deterrence

  • The adversaries’ weaponization of gender norms is not matched by U.S. responses; thus, failing to leverage WPS is a missed strategic opportunity.
  • [07:57, Moderator]: “China and Russia have ceded over half of the popular human terrain to us. This is enormous strategic advantage... we can employ these tools more, more strategically and more intentionally and build joint force advantage.”

3. WPS as a Toolkit for Modern Security Challenges

• Beyond the Tactical: Women’s Participation as Strategic Advantage

  • Past U.S. military efforts often limited women’s involvement to “talking to women in Afghanistan” or humanitarian tasks, missing the broader strategic impact of full gender integration.
  • [10:03, Dr. Kylan Hunter]: “We’ve really conceptualized... women, peace and security at the very tactical level... but if we think about the strategic operating space... it’s who controls the narrative about what defense and security actually means.”

• Countering Disinformation & Authoritarian Narratives

  • WPS strengthens the resilience of democratic societies against adversarial influence and disinformation campaigns targeting social cohesion.
  • [12:00, Dr. Kylan Hunter]: “Bringing this toolkit to bear, it’s also essential for countering the disinformation campaigns... designed to bifurcate us rather than to bring us together.”

4. Practical and Empirical Advantages of Gender Inclusion

• Coalition Building & Community Resilience

  • Women’s networks reliably break down divisiveness (tribalism) and elevate critical security issues (food, water, healthcare, education, economic empowerment).
  • [14:01, Dr. Kylan Hunter]: “Women are able to elevate these issues to the key security concerns out there... tons of empirical data that these are actually the issues that drive war, not who has more nuclear weapons.”

• Operational Effectiveness and Civilian Harm Mitigation

  • Mixed-gender teams have been shown to solve problems better and minimize civilian casualties, not just “add diversity.”
  • [31:52, Dr. Kylan Hunter]: “Mixed gender teams... solved problems the best... when they sent them through tactical exercises... in simulated combat environments, they had fewer civilian casualties.”

• Strategic Offset in Europe & Indo-Pacific

  • WPS can serve as a “strategic offset” to adversaries’ quantitative military advantages.
  • [24:37, Moderator]: “Why couldn’t we think of women, peace and security as a strategic... Cold War style strategic offset of Russian quantitative advantage?”

• Civil Society and Wartime Resilience

  • Ukraine's resistance is cited as a contemporary example of civil society resilience, with post-2014 investments in women’s groups credited for strengthening national resolve.
  • [48:55, Moderator]: “One of the key reasons that Ukraine... has been able to resist is because of the work that was done after 2014 to invest in civil society groups and women's groups specifically. It created... backbone.”

5. Challenges and Recommendations for Change

• Overcoming Institutional Squeamishness

  • Existing military culture often conflates WPS with superficial diversity efforts and underestimates its strategic value.
  • [40:36, Dr. Kylan Hunter]: “Too often... commanders will just say, oh, look, well, I have like 20 women over here, so I'm done with WPS... but it’s so essential... to tie it to [mission] but also actually legitimately track and measure.”

• Integrating WPS into Core Mission and Evaluation

  • WPS initiatives must be clearly connected to the DoD’s operational and strategic priorities, with meaningful metrics for effectiveness and learning.
  • [39:13, Monica Herrera]: “First and foremost... we shouldn’t be doing any WPS that isn’t directly connected to our primary mission set... we should be able to clearly connect it to the priorities of our commanders.”

• Senior Leadership Buy-In

  • Practical recommendations include robust monitoring and evaluation, capturing the improvisational problem-solving of ground-level personnel, and leveraging empirical data showing the operational benefits of WPS approaches.
  • [43:31, Moderator]: “Overwhelmingly, military planners... chose the gender based options because they saw the strategic advantage within them.”

Memorable Quotes & Moments

• On Gender Analysis as National Security:
  • “Our adversaries are not defeating us with bigger guns... It's who controls the narrative about what defense and security actually means.” — Dr. Kylan Hunter, [10:46]
• On WPS as Strategic Offset:
  • “If we actually build whole of society... you minimize fog and friction on the day, God forbid that something happens.” — Moderator, [24:38]
• On Problem Solving:
  • “Mixed gender teams...may not have been like the fastest to do anything, but they actually solved problems the best.” — Dr. Kylan Hunter, [31:52]
• On Ukraine’s Advantage:
  • “One of the key reasons that Ukraine...has been able to resist is because of the work...to invest in civil society groups and women’s groups specifically.” — Moderator, [48:55]
• On Empirical Evidence:
  • “There is actually zero evidence...that there is some like magical power [in all-male groups]...the data don't lie.” — Dr. Kylan Hunter, [46:19]

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 02:02 — Monica Herrera on WPS Framework and Law
• 03:27 — DoD’s Three Pillars for WPS Implementation
• 07:02 — Gendered Playbooks of China and Russia
• 10:03 — The Need for Strategic vs. Tactical Use of WPS
• 14:01 — Women's Coalition Building and Strategic Impact
• 18:42 — Operational Benefits & Crisis-Conflict Pipeline
• 24:37 — WPS as Strategic Offset in Europe, Resilience in Crisis
• 31:52 — Mixed Gender Teams & Problem Solving
• 39:13 — Connecting WPS to Operational Priorities
• 43:31 — Evaluation, Metrics, and Buy-In for WPS
• 46:19 — Myth-Busting "All Male Group" Military Superiority
• 48:55 — Ukraine Case Study: WPS and National Resilience

Conclusion

The episode makes a compelling case that gender perspective and women’s participation are not “nice to haves,” but powerful—yet underused—tools to build operational effectiveness, societal resilience, informational advantage, and integrated deterrence. Ignoring WPS not only reduces effectiveness against adversaries like Russia and China, but fundamentally cedes ground in the ongoing contest over global security norms. The speakers call for the DoD and U.S. government at large to embed WPS at the heart of their strategic planning, operational execution, and future force design—a call backed by evidence, historical example, and the lived realities of modern conflict.