This chapter explores how feminism and anti-oppression approaches support and influence unarmed civilian protection (UCP), and how UCP in turn contributes to transformational change in order to address the structural violence underpinning the threats civilians face.

The chapter sets out how feminist peace theory thinks about war, its link to personal lives and experiences and why the inclusion of marginalized voices is important in defining key concepts in security, violence and rights. Through this inclusion of marginalized voices, new forms of knowledge are created. UCP specifically uses knowledge formed from experience to challenge the ‘gender myth of protection’ and remove forms of oppression.

There are many different perspectives in protection, some of which challenge the dominance of outsider-led policies. In UCP, nonviolence creates the possibility for protection to contribute to transforming situations by rehumanizing and connecting people. Placing the local at the heart of UCP ensures that the protection is contextually designed and driven. Bringing in more about how we value knowledge from experience, recognized within feminist thinking (Enloe, 2001), and how anti-oppression brings a new frame for thinking about the roots of violence (Crenshaw, 1991) affects our view of who is vulnerable, and why this matters in thinking about protection.

Feminism and anti-oppression are about putting people at the heart of any challenge or problem and recognizing that the struggles people face are both personal and caused by structures of power and privilege (Freire, 1970).