Women for Genuine Security
Women for Genuine Security (WGS) is the U.S.-based partner of the International Women’s Network Against Militarism. We promote genuine security based on justice and respect for others across difference, and an economy that meets people’s needs, especially women and children. We work transnationally toward the creation of a society free of militarism, violence, and all forms of sexual exploitation, and for the well-being and long-term sustainability of our communities.
WGS members and supporters include teachers, students, scholars, organizers, dancers, artists, poets, and people working in faith-based organizations. We are based in the Bay Area, with members in various parts of the continental United States.
We educate local communities, public officials, and elected representatives about the global impact of U.S. militarism, especially on the Asia-Pacific region. WGS has participated in campaigns against the construction of new U.S. military bases in Okinawa and Guam, the Visiting Forces Agreement with the Philippines’ government, and the increased militarization of the Asia-Pacific through the Pacific Pivot. We partner with several peace and justice organizations in the Bay Area, including Asia Pacific Islander People’s Solidarity, Korea Policy Institute, Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, and the New Priorities Campaign, which coordinates the annual Global Day of Action Against Military Spending.
We provide critical analysis of structural violence, environmental devastation, and abuse caused by the military in countries that host U.S. forces and bases. We seek to change public discourse surrounding ideas of security. We’ve written articles collaboratively and individually, published in Foreign Policy in Focus, The Nation on-line, and Peace Review and on our blog. The award-winning documentary, Living Along the Fenceline, directed by Lina Hoshino, features seven grassroots women activists who live alongside U.S. bases in Texas, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Phillippines, South Korea, and Okinawa. They challenge the assumption that military bases make them safe and advance alternative ideas of peace and security.
We’ve hosted two gatherings of the International Network of Women Against Militarism: in Washington D.C. (1998) and in San Francisco (2007).
Contact info@genuinesecurity.org