2024 WPS Symposium: Elective Panel 3B - Gender Perspectives in Strategic Plans & Military Operations

ELECTIVE PANEL 3B: GENDER PERSPECTIVES IN STRATEGIC PLANS & MILITARY OPERATIONS
Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing and Forced Labor
Ms. Carrie Compton, U.S. Naval Forces Europe, Africa, 6th Fleet
Illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing (IUUF) and Forced Labor pose a significant and growing problem not only in the fisheries sector, but for maritime security. Throughout the world, the fisheries sector contributes significantly to national, regional, and local economies, but even more profoundly, it directly affects food security and local livelihoods. The secondary and tertiary effects of IUUF and Forced Labor include the disruption of long-standing socio-cultural systems, “shaping individual and community behavior” which detrimentally affects all genders and can disrupt established power structures within the community and even lead to tensions and conflicts. IUUF has significant impacts on various aspects of society, including gender dynamics. Gender inequality and the marginalization of women are exacerbated in communities where IUUF is prevalent. This form of fishing not only threatens marine ecosystems but also disrupts the social fabric of fishing communities and affecting its livelihoods. The current problem that a majority of countries face is the lack of adequate capacities to suppress regional crimes, and the inability to cross permissible spatial limits due to international laws. Efforts should focus on strengthening legal frameworks and improving law enforcement to combat IUU fishing, which should include initiatives to enhance monitoring and surveillance of fishing activities, more comprehensive multilateral agreements, sharing of information, to ensure that laws and regulations are enforced effectively. By addressing IUU fishing, governments and international organizations can help restore balance to fishing communities, promote sustainable practices, and create a more equitable environment for all genders.
Women in Service: A National Security Imperative
Lieutenant Commander Breanna Strand, U.S. Navy, University of Texas at Austin
This research explores how women in the U.S. military have provided critical contributions that have directly contributed to our national security and strategic capabilities. The research explores historic cases such as female aviators superior mishap records during the Iraq / Afghanistan wars in the U.S. Army as well as more current issues such as women’s successful integration into the Navy’s submarine community. Women have and will continue to play a vital role in our war-fighting capabilities as a nation, and the disservice done to unit effectiveness, recruitment, and retention is significant when diversity is politicized and misrepresented as a system of quotas. This research attempts to reconsider this issue from fact-based analysis and conclusions on the critical and special role women play in our national security.
The U.S. Naval War College (NWC) hosted the 10th iteration of its Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Symposium onboard Naval Station Newport, May 2-3.
The symposium, themed “Advancing Gendered Security in a Complex World: Hard Power, Smart Power, Soft Power,” aimed to foster a shared understanding of the complex and dynamic global security environment through examination of women’s influence and experience as stakeholders and catalysts of change alongside men.