The Impact of Reproductive Justice on Intrastate Peace:
Removing Barriers to Women’s Representation in Legislatures

Many security scholars link the presence and participation of women in society —particularly in peacekeeping, peacebuilding, and governance — to greater levels of intrastate peace. However, these studies have yet to consider the effect of reproductive justice on peace, which is essential to enabling women’s presence and participation in the first place. Therefore, my dissertation addresses the following question: How does greater reproductive justice influence intrastate peace? I argue that greater reproductive justice promotes women’s physical, mental, and socioeconomic security, which allows them to overcome some of the many obstacles to running for government, making legislatures more gender-diverse, Legislatures are then more likely to promote intrastate peace, as female legislators tend to vote for demilitarization and greater social spending. I test this argument using case studies, interviews, and regression analysis, which I hypothesize will ultimately reveal a strong relationship between reproductive justice, women’s representation, and peace.