Advancing Women, Peace, and Security: A Look Back at the NATO 75th Anniversary Summit
This month, the Biden-Harris Administration hosted the NATO 75th Anniversary Summit, marking seventy-five years of the transatlantic Alliance, and convening leaders from 37 Allied and partner governments to advance efforts to strengthen international peace and security. Together, Allies and partners focused on Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) throughout the Summit, recognizing that the status of women and the stability of nations are inextricably linked—and therefore critical to NATO’s present and future effectiveness. At the Summit, the Biden-Harris Administration—together with Allies and partners, civil society, and the private sector—announced new deliverables and elevated women’s participation in peace and security processes on the agenda.
Updated NATO Policy on Women, Peace, and Security
To further the WPS agenda across NATO’s core tasks and missions, Allies formally endorsed an updated policy to build on NATO’s long-standing commitment to WPS. This 2024 policy addresses the gendered implications of rising security threats facing our Alliance, including climate change, rapid advances in digital technology, and conflict-related sexual violence, including in the context of Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. NATO’s revised policy aligns with the U.S. Women, Peace and Security Strategy and National Action Plan, which the Biden-Harris Administration released in October 2023. Our strategy, like the new NATO policy, reflects critical shifts in our global landscape, including an emphasis on threats to women leaders posed by technology-facilitated gender-based violence and gendered disinformation, which is strategically deployed by state and non-state actors to destabilize democracies.
Provision of Military Gear to Ukrainian Service Women
NATO’s new WPS policy underscores the need to address barriers to women’s inclusion, retention and advancement in national militaries and NATO forces. As Commander-in-Chief, President Biden recognizes that women’s full participation and leadership in the military is not only a moral imperative—it is a strategic imperative. As President, he has taken unprecedented action from the earliest days of his Administration to promote the safety, inclusion, health, and wellbeing of women in the United States military. At the Washington Summit, Allies set a new precedent in support for women’s participation in security through a $7.6 million initiative to provide women’s body armor, boots, and uniforms to the Ukrainian armed services through the Comprehensive Assistance Package (CAP), which will help support the approximately 6,000 women serving on the frontlines. This marked the first time Allies have directed resources through CAP to advance Women, Peace, and Security objectives.
Launch of Women LEAD:A $850 Million+ Partnership to Close the Gap in Women’s Leadership
To strengthen democracy and reaffirm the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to advancing women’s meaningful participation in peace and security processes, the United States government and a number of partners launched Women Leading Effective and Accountable Democracy in the Digital Age (Women LEAD). Women LEAD is a public-private partnership with more than 30 partners from governments, foundations, international organizations, and civil society to advance women’s civic and political participation and leadership. The White House Gender Policy Council, together with the Department of State and USAID, joined the National Democratic Institute and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace for a launch event featuring women leaders, civil society representatives, and philanthropic partners who committed more than $850 million in resources, including an $150 million commitment from the United States.
Elevation of Women, Peace and Security at the Washington Summit and NATO Public Forum
As the host of the Washington Summit, the Biden-Harris Administration held official events to elevate issues of strategic importance to the Alliance, including a roundtable and reception on Women, Peace, and Security, hosted at the State Department on Day One of the Summit. The roundtable, co-hosted by NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for Women, Peace and Security Irene Fellin and Ambassador-at-large for Global Women’s Issues Geeta Rao Gupta, convened Ally and partner Foreign and Defense Ministers and civil society experts to discuss implementation of NATO’s new WPS Policy, and featured remarks from Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who championed the 2017 National Women, Peace, and Security Act—the first national WPS law. Following the roundtable, Secretary Blinken hosted a reception among Allies, partners, and civil society champions of WPS, including remarks from Senator Shaheen and Iceland Minister of Foreign Affairs Thordis Gylfadottir.
Further elevating the importance of WPS to NATO’s core tasks, the Atlantic Council organized a high-level panel on “Women, Peace and Security: The Role of Women in Leadership,” at the NATO Public Forum—an annual program that aims to promote a better public understanding of NATO’s policies and goals—for the first time. The panel featured a conversation between Jennifer Klein, Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Gender Policy Council, Olha Stefanishyna, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister, and Irene Fellin, NATO Special Representative for Women, Peace, and Security.
Looking ahead to next year’s Summit and beyond, the Biden-Harris Administration is committed to working with NATO to ensure that WPS remains a significant focus, building on progress made at the 2024 Washington Summit. The work ahead includes fully implementing NATO’s 2024 WPS Policy; sustaining institutional support and dedicated resources for the NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative on Women, Peace, and Security; and ensuring WPS remains a priority at future NATO summits, through official side events, dedicated programing on the main stage at the NATO Public Forum, and integration throughout the range of security discussions taking place at future convenings. Finally, support for WPS across the Alliance includes the promotion of women in key leadership roles, both in national governments and at NATO.
