Event Background - Gender Dimension of Pakistan's Security
In recent years, the world has increasingly acknowledged the distinct impact of conflict and security on women. The need to enhance women’s participation in political processes, economic empowerment, humanitarian efforts, peace negotiations, and rehabilitation of conflict-affected populations is recognized in the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) agenda.
In a recent study for UN Women, Dr. Simbal Khan carried out a comprehensive analysis of the gender dimension of Pakistan’s security policies. She focused on drivers of violent extremism in women in Pakistan based on empirical studies. The report formulated evidence-based recommendations to meaningfully integrate a WPS agenda into the security frameworks in Pakistan.
On October 4, 2022, Dr. Khan presented her findings to the Hollings Center Young Professionals in International Relations series. This video provides her main lecture.
Speaker Biography
Simbal Khan is a leader and development professional with 20 years of experience. She works on governance, peace and security reform globally. She possesses an in-depth and contextual knowledge of governance, peace, and fragility issues in Pakistan. Her work experience includes long-term engagement with processes of conflict and security in the South-Central Asia region. She engaged in various high-level peace-building processes. This included initiatives focusing on the impact of conflict on Pak-Afghan border spaces. She has expertise in conflict and risk analysis, political economy analysis, project management, business development, proposal writing, and technical support to projects.
Dr. Khan recently worked as a technical consultant on several countering violent extremism (CVE) projects for different INGOs. She was the technical lead on a EU-funded Parliament support project, SUBAI, and senior governance advisor for Palladium, an international development company. She has also worked as the project lead for Peace and Development Unit at the Ministry of Planning and Development working to integrate development approaches, peace building and conflict mitigation in Pakistan. Dr. Khan attended multiple past Hollings Center programs.
