Effects of Reproductive Justice on Intrastate Peace

• In Event: Gendered Policy in the Home and the State

Abstract

According to rationalist and feminist IR research from the past two decades, there is an undeniable connection between the physical security of women and security of the state. However, missing from this scholarship is the importance of reproductive justice, which is foundational to the very physical security that is proven to promote peace. I argue that greater reproductive justice promotes the physical security of women through pro-natalist and pro-choice policies, which in turn create peaceful societal norms, development, and a balanced population, leading to greater intrastate peace. I test this theory by conducting a statistical regression between state-level reproductive justice policy and levels of intrastate conflict. My findings demonstrate that nations with higher levels of reproductive justice tend to be more peaceful. These findings are significant because they create a novel index for reproductive justice, fill a theoretical gap in security studies literature, and offer a new conceptual variable to the discourse.

Author

• Sarah Burke, University of California, Irvine