IWSAW held its very first Food 4 Thought session for the spring semester on 4 & 5 February, 2016 in Beirut and Byblos.

The informal discussion entitled “Do YOU trust the police?” brought together students, faculty and staff to discuss “what security means to every one of us?”

Our guest speaker, Kate Rougvie, gender and security specialist, visiting researcher at IWSAW and Rotary International Peace Fellow highlighted the importance of looking at security through a gender lens:  The ways in which men, women, boys and girls experience insecurity differently, the importance of responding to and preventing gender-based violence as a key action for security providers, and the benefits of increasing women’s representation and gender awareness within the police force. 

Both sessions, in Beirut and Byblos, created an intriguing and lively discussion where students explained their perceptions of the meaning of security, discussing experiences at the individual level and exploring how security threats affect males and females differently in their lives. On the whole, participants strongly supported women’s participation in the police and insightfully analyzed the stereotypes often associated with men and women in security discourses.

More details about the Food 4 Thought session are found in this LAU News article.