(Un)desirable women: The production of the ideal Women, Peace and Security agenda participant in Myanmar

Abstract International actors working to implement the UN’s Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda emphasize the importance of partnership with local women’s organizations and activists. Building on data from Myanmar, this study examines how and when women in conflict contexts are understood as ideal participants in – and vehicles for – the WPS agenda. Drawing on interviews with international donors, gender experts, and Myanmar women activists, the analysis demonstrates how both desirable and undesirable participant subject positions are produced through the discourses and funding choices of WPS donors. In particular, we identify and discuss three undesirable subject positions prominent in donor-driven discourses: the oppositional woman, the fearful woman, and the apolitical woman. We also find that how (un)desirability is framed depends on changing factors that include shifts in local political context and in the foreign policy goals of international donors – shifts that may be particularly dramatic and abrupt in conflict-affected contexts. Critically examining the production of these three undesirable subject positions, we discuss what kinds of local women can be recognized as desirable participants in the implementation of the WPS agenda and draw attention to persistent power relations that shape political space and inclusion in peacebuilding.