Are Women Really ‘Central to Global Peace’? The Tale of Sarah Douglas

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Contact: Mike Buchanan

Telephone: +44 7967 026163

Are Women Really ‘Central to Global Peace’? The Tale of Sarah Douglas

February 22, 2023 – UN Women recently made the claim that “women are central to global peace and security” (1). This claim was made just days after UN Women staffer Sarah Douglas was caught endorsing 153 Twitter posts that were openly anti-semitic, serving to escalate the partisanship surrounding the Israeli-Gaza conflict (2).

Ironically, Douglas’ title at UN Women is: Deputy Chief for Peace and Security.

The United Nations Security Council has adopted 10 resolutions applauding the contributions of women to global peace and security (3). But are these resolutions based on fact?

In War and Gender, professor Joshua Goldstein documents numerous examples of women who goad men into taking military action, as in the case of the White Feather campaign in England during World War I. (4) The murderous exploits of Mary Tudor, known as “Bloody Mary,” have been well documented.

History reveals that female leaders have been more likely than their male counterparts to take a country to war. These are three of many examples:

In the 1400s, Queen Isabella of Spain oversaw multiple military conquests.
In 1973, Golda Meir took Israel to war against the Arab Coalition.
In 2011, three women — Hillary Clinton, Susan Rice, and Samantha Power — pushed for the U.S. to launch military strikes against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi (5).

One analysis concludes simply, “Throughout history, queens were more likely to wage war than kings.” (6)

Three other reasons suggest why women may not be natural-born “peacemakers:”

Dishonesty: Peacekeepers must be seen as objective and honest. But in the Israeli-Gaza War, UN Women repeatedly claimed that 70% of the civilian casualties are “women and children.” In fact, male casualties far outnumbered female deaths: Men: 33.5%; women: 22.4%, and children: 42.6%. (7)

Mental Illness: Commentator Janice Fiamengo argues that feminist ideology does not engender harmonious relationships or constructive dialog; rather, it serves to promote bullying, scapegoating, and mental illness (8). Indeed, a 2021 Pew survey reported that 56% of American liberal women ages 18-29 have been diagnosed with a mental health condition (9).

Dehumanization: Peacemaker Nelson Mandela of South Africa once proclaimed, “When we dehumanize and demonize our opponents, we abandon the possibility of peacefully resolving our differences.” Unfortunately, UN Women has lapsed into a regrettable pattern of denigration and dehumanization, habitually portraying men as “oppressors” and “abusers” (10).

Meanwhile, over 15,000 persons have now signed a petition calling for the termination of Sarah Douglas (11).

Before Douglas lapses into tired gender rhetoric that insists, “if women ruled the world, there would be no wars,” she would do well to heed the sage advice of Nelson Mandela.

The Domestic Abuse and Violence International Alliance – DAVIA — consists of 125 member organizations from 34 countries in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America, and North America. DAVIA seeks to ensure that domestic violence and abuse polices are science-based, family-affirming, and gender-inclusive. https://endtodv.org/davia/

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