ISLAMABAD:The Research Society of International Law (RSIL) and the Conflict Law Centre (CLC) organised a roundtable discussion in Islamabad for women in the field of security.
Participants discussed the importance of women working on national security issues, personal experience working in the field and how to encourage more women to begin their careers in security.
“When we think about national security in Pakistan, the image that most likely comes to mind is men in uniform huddled around a table, However, as the women who participated in this roundtable know, this is only part of the picture, a part definitely maybe quite a large part, but not the whole,” said the participants.
The women who joined the roundtable discussion work on every aspect of national security, not just protection against foreign threats or our disputes with our neighbours, but all stressors which can shake the state from the virtual to the environmental.
They are academics, lawyers, policy analysts, and government officials who have made significant contributions through their research, by influencing policy, and by nurturing a new generation of thinkers through teaching.
Studies on gender and stress have discovered that during prolonged stress, men experience the “fight or flight” mechanism, while women typically tend towards a “friend and befriend” response; there is no better input to the national security field than a natural nurturing and diplomatic response.
The roundtable discussion, organised by Ayesha Malik, Deputy-Director at RSIL, and Team Lead of the Conflict Law Centre, featured inspiring women, including Dr Saadia Zahoor.