Refreshed Grounds for a Feminist Peace Studies

Abstract

Our study was premised on a collective curiosity to understand why peace studies classrooms are filled with mostly women students. We put this investigation into conversation with the substantive body of peace studies literature that correlates militarism and sexism. We learned the following: The experience of marginalization led many women to take peace studies courses; many women learners noted how empathy was affirmed in peace studies; socialization of men discouraged men from peace studies; there are both strengths and limitations of classrooms replete with women; and finally, there is a societal devaluation of peace studies. Ultimately, we argue that it is paramount to name the dynamic of women‐dominated peace studies classrooms and to infuse discussions on gender and intersectional feminism into a peace studies curriculum, and we affirm a broader call for re‐socialization in which people of a variety of gender identities and expressions are encouraged to comprehend the value of peace studies.