US military practice neither considers the gendered effects of kinetic actions in the planning and executing operations nor tracks and measures them. The Department of Defense’s implementation of the Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017 instead focuses on the role of women in preventing armed conflict and resolving it. The implementation of the Department of Defense’s new Civilian Harm Mitigation and Response Action Plan, however, provides an opportunity to close this gap in an operationally relevant way.

Keywords: Women, Peace, and Security (WPS), civilian harm and mitigation response (CHMR), gender, targeting, operational relevance

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Read the article: https://press.armywarcollege.edu/parameters/vol53/iss1/4/

Download the full episode transcript here: https://media.defense.gov/2023/Nov/15/2003341250/-1/-1/0/DP-4-03-PODCAST-TRANSCRIPT-PRESCOTT-GENDER-KINETIC.PDF

About the author:

Colonel Jody M. Prescott (retired) served as an active-duty judge advocate for 25 years and taught at the US Army Command and General Staff College and at the US Army Military Academy. He is now a lecturer at the University of Vermont, where he teaches courses on cybersecurity law and energy law. His most recent book is Empirical Assessment in IHL Education and Training (Anthem, 2021).

COL Prescott also spoke on this topic at the Women, Peace, & Security Ninth Annual Symposium hosted by the US Naval War College.

His portion begins at 42:30 at this link: https://youtu.be/NTw-UeR_ibA?t=2550