Download or read book The Relevance of Gender for Eliminating Weapons of Mass Destruction written by Carol Cohn and published by . This book was released on 2005* with total page 12 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When trying to think about how to solve the problems created by the existence of weapons of mass destruction, ideas about gender matter. Although the linkage between weapons of mass destruction and gender will be unfamiliar for many readers, this paper argues that ideas and expectations about gender are woven through the professional and political discourses that shape all aspects of how weapons of mass destruction are considered, desired and addressed. To address WMD challenges more effectively, it is essential to take into consideration how armament and disarmament policies and practices are influenced by ideas about masculinity. An understanding of how these limitations occur can play a crucial role in helping break some of the persistent barriers to achieving disarmament and non-proliferation. It is important to stress that this paper will focus on ideas about gender, rather than on men or women per se. A different paper will need to be written that would look at men's and women's relations to WMD. That paper would explore the implications of the fact that women have been largely absent from the scientific and political decisionmaking about WMD, in spite of the long and consistent history of women's organizations advocating for the total disarmament of biological, chemical and particularly nuclear weapons. It might also look at some of the different ways that men's and women's bodies are affected by the development and testing of these weapons. The present article, however, does not focus on women's or men's bodies, nor their political perspectives or activism; instead it will focus on how ideas about gender -- what is masculine or feminine, powerful or impotent -- affect our efforts towards halting the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and bringing about effective disarmament.