Gender in United Nations peacebuilding: A case study of Timor-Leste

Using successive United Nations peacebuilding missions in Timor-Leste as her focus, Dr Smith analysed how and why gender has come to be part of peacebuilding practice, and how gender policies are implemented on the ground in post-conflict settings. This examination demonstrated limitations in the way women's role in peacebuilding has been conceptualised and practiced by United Nations peace operations. The insights gathered in the Timor-Leste case study provide significant and timely lessons for how gender is understood and practiced in international peace operations, and what this means for women's empowerment and women's security in post-conflict settings