A woman should be able to take part in public life without first demonstrating that her presence will make everyone else safer. That seems a modest expectation. Yet when equality enters the language of national security, it becomes worth asking whether her freedom is being recognised in its own right, or valued for the work it might do.
ReliefWeb has listed a UN Women strategy bringing together counter-terrorism, the prevention of violent extremism, gender equality, peace and security. The reported title establishes that connection; it does not establish how the strategy handles the tensions within it. But the connection itself deserves thought, particularly where public policy reaches into family life.
There is a reasonable argument for bringing these concerns together. Decisions about security ought to take account of the people who must live with them. A policy can hardly claim to understand a community while treating some of its members as an afterthought.
The difficulty begins if listening becomes recruitment into a purpose someone else has already chosen. A woman may have something important to say about violence. She may also want to talk about work, education, an unsafe journey home, or the freedom to disagree with her relatives. Must those concerns acquire a security justification before they receive serious attention?
This is a temptation far beyond international policy. We defend time with our children because it makes us more productive at work. We recommend friendship because it improves health. Useful consequences become the argument, until we struggle to explain why anything deserves a place in life unless it delivers something else.
With equality, that habit carries particular risks. If freedom is justified by its usefulness, what happens when its exercise is inconvenient? Someone who is genuinely free may reject the role prepared for her, including the admirable role of helping everybody else build peace.
The practical test is whether participation leaves room for that refusal. In a public consultation, a workplace or a family discussion, being invited to speak means little if only helpful answers are welcome. Taking someone seriously includes allowing her to change the subject.