Disrupting the Saviour Politics in the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in the Global South: Grassroots Women Creating Gender Norms in Nepal and Sri Lanka

Abstract

Saviour politics permeates some understandings of global gender norms by those who construct the Global North as the origin of global gender norms, and less attention is given to how saviour politics functions within the Global South, wielded by some privileged women against grassroots women. We argue that grassroots Global South women, despite their marginalisation, are global gender norms actors and deserve greater decision-making power on the local and international stages. We show how the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) and the broader WPS agenda focus on global gender norms construction in Nepal and Sri Lanka. We rely on qualitative methods. We highlight work done by grassroots women from diverse castes, ethnicities, religious backgrounds, abilities, education and social locations that construct global gender norms. This article adds to the WPS, Global South-Global North relations and global gender norms building.