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1American Public University System, School of Public Health, Charles Town WV; 2University of Alaska Fairbanks, MBA Program Director, Fair- banks Alaska.
Email: s10map@aol.com & liz_ross@att.net
Conflict occurs globally everyday impacting lives, countries, and slowing economic productive growth and safe wellbeing. In 1945, the United Nations founded an international organization comprised of nations of the world with the purpose to promote peace, security, and economic development. Since WWII, women’s roles within
the U.S. and world society have transformed. This paper will examine women’s roles in logistics support for peace keeping missions, the possible barriers women encounter, as well as identifying current practices that hinder and/or promote the pool of female candidates.
operations in the peace keeping missions has been a long and winding road.
Since the inception of the United Nations, there have been issues about women and about the
equality between women and men in the operation. The primary task of the Charter of the United Nations
is to protect the rights and freedoms of every human
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being regardless of race, sex, language, or religion.
The Preamble to the Charter affirms the equal rights of men and women as well as faith in fundamental hu- man rights and the dignity and worth of the human person.
During 1961-1970 this was known as the De- velopment Decade for the United Nations. It was dur- ing this time that the status of women was not a major topic of concern (1999 UN Report). “Although the General Assembly mandated the Commission on the Status of Women in 1962 to prepare a report on wom- en's role in development, the focus of the Commission was mainly on the humanitarian aspects of develop- ment and on women's legal rights, rather than the mul- tifaceted aspects of women and development” (1999
UN Report, para. 11).
In the following decade (1971-1980), attention to the role of women intensified. The General Assem- bly included the integration of women as an objective in its International Development Strategy. Some re- searchers and practitioners made it a central topic of debate on development, especially after the publica- tion of Ester Boserup's pioneering book, Women's
Role in Economic Development. Women’s roles in the
stability operations literally became a field of study, advocacy, and somewhat of a practice in its own right throughout the 1970’s.
At the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995, the focal point became the transforming of the initiatives in order to achieve gen- der equality. Rather than equality in access to re- sources, the politics of gender relations and restructur- ing of institutions was the goal for program develop- ment. [Note: For a more elaborate discussion of the conceptual shifts in the women-and-development dis- course, and the alternative categorization of the two approaches, see Moser (1993) and Razavi and Miller (1995).]
The 1990’s brought yet another shift. There was a political rather than economic aspects of devel- opment became the focus of concern for the gender and development arena. Now women were to take the initiative as equal partners in a participatory and "bot- tom-up" process of development. In this approach, "Empowerment cannot be given, it must be self- generated. All that a gender-transformative policy can hope to do is to provide women with enabling re-
sources which will allow them to take greater control
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of their own lives, to determine what kinds of gender relations they would want to live within, and to devise the strategies and alliances to help them get there" (Kabeer, 1995, p. 97). So the idea was that transforma- tive change presupposes the empowerment of women (1999 U.N. General Assembly).
The decade leading up to the adoption of Reso- lution 1325 saw the passing of many broad-based thematic resolutions which addressed general issues related to international peace and security. The reso- lutions on thematic issues of peace and security were known as ‘TIPS’. TIPS included resolutions based on a role for various entities or individuals outside the UN’s state-based system, such as parties involved in armed conflict, negotiators of peace agreements, etc. Resolution 1325 is a TIPS resolution that calls upon various parties, including Member States, the Secre- tary-General, the Council and parties to armed conflict as applicable, to
1. Gender mainstream UN peacekeeping opera- tions;
2. Increase women’s representation and participa- tion in decision-making processes before, dur- ing, and after conflict; and
3. Consider women’s specific needs in conflict and post-conflict operations, including by har- monizing national laws with international hu- man rights standards.
The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, part of the United Nations office was proud to announce:
On 31 October 2000, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) unanimously adopted Resolution
1325 on women, peace and securi- ty. Resolution 1325 marks the first time the Security Council addressed the disproportionate and unique im- pact of armed conflict on women, recognized the under-valued and under-utilized contributions women make to conflict prevention, peace- keeping, conflict resolution and peace-building, and stressed the
importance of their equal and full
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participation as active agents in peace and security.
Resolution 1325’s adoption was a culmination of many years of efforts towards integrating women’s issues into peace building and conflict studies and all dimensions of the work of the United Nations.
In the year following the endorsement of Reso- lution 1325, the 2001 statistics for military women serving in the armed forces of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries indicated an average of 5.5%. Since then, the numbers have increased; however, not at a rate that will meet the efforts that are outlined by the organization. The organization is striving for the 50/50 balance by the year 2015.
In March of 2008 a conference was held in Ki- gali. Discussions were focused on how to increase women’s participation in peacekeeping missions, and how these missions can work to prevent and respond rapidly to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). The conference falls under a wider program, funded
by the UK Department for International Development
(DFID), to strengthen the work of the Rwanda De- fense Forces (RDF) in combating SGBV, with particu- lar focus on building the capacities of the Gender Based Violence Desk at Ministry of Defense head- quarters and at decentralized levels.
Since its launch in September 2007, the pro- gram has trained 2,594 officers and cadets at the train- ing academy, including 573 RDF officers preparing
for peacekeeping missions, ex-combatants, local de- fense forces, and opinion leaders on the prevention and response to SGBV.
It was noted during the conference that “Wom- en can improve the effectiveness of peacekeeping op- erations for the simple reason that they are not men” also according to Professor Gerard DeGroot of St. Andrew’s University, Scotland, research has shown that women exhibit unique levels of self-control in vi- olent situations that have important applications to peacekeeping.
In November 2006, 75 experts gather in New York and Washington to discuss “United Nations Re- form: Improving Peace Operations by Advancing the Role of Women.” This was convened by the Stanley
Foundation and Women in International Security,
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practitioners and policymakers from various United Nations agencies, national governments and militaries, academia, and civil society groups identified barriers
to women’s advancement and generated concrete ways to improve the recruitment and selection of women for peace operations as heads of mission, military person- nel, civilian police, and international and national
staff.
It was noted that to respond appropriately to the growing need for stabilization operations, experts at the meetings recognized the need to draw upon a wide variety of personnel with diverse skills and ex- pertise, including women, who can provide critical leadership in peace operations and post-conflict recon- struction.
In late 2006, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) disseminated a policy directive on Gender Equality in UN Peacekeeping Operations that reiterates the necessity of increasing women’s civilian and military roles in field missions. The DPKO also released a Global Action Plan on 1325 that includes
the increased participation of women in peacekeeping as a priority for the agency. At the same time, UN
member states are developing national action plans for
the implementation of Resolution 1325, which include increased recruitment of women for peace operations.
At the meetings experts convened in working groups to discuss the recruitment and retention of women in five categories of peacekeeping personnel: heads of mission, military personnel, civilian police, international civilian staff, and national civilian staff. Participants outlined the process for hiring personnel, the challenges and opportunities to promote women, and practical recommendations for various actors in the five categories.
Critics have pointed out the slow and ad hoc nature of these efforts. Despite repeated mandates and policy commitments—and these initial actions just described—little progress has been made to actually increase the number of women in peace operations.
Statistics illustrate the implementation gap:
• There are zero female heads of mission (out of 18 operations) and only one woman deputy (Afghanistan).
• Only 1 percent of military personnel are women (of 70,960 total troops).
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• Just 4 percent of police forces are women (of 8,482 total police).
• Approximately 30 percent of interna- tional civilian staff are women (of
4,568 total)—a number that decreases to 10 percent in management positions at the D-1 level or above.
• Women make up 22 percent of nation- ally recruited civilian staff (of 8,657 to- tal), but many are relegated to service and clerical posts at the lowest grades.
Other challenges to women’s recruitment and ap- pointment include:
• An opaque hiring process without a formal job description.
• Infrequent support by member states for women candidates, in part because they are required for national positions.
• A lack of political will to appoint women from existing rosters of candi-
dates despite the mandate for gender balance in leadership.
• A variety of competing opportunities for women with such experience.
• A reluctance by some women to accept an appointment in war-torn countries with shifting time commitments as re- sult of family concerns or obligations.
Aside from the challenges, it is clear that there is little advancement within the international peace- keeping environment to actively recruit women. It is evident, that there is a positive experience by utilizing women's participation, which can further enhance the various peacekeeping operations. In order to meet the
50-50 gender balance by 2015 strategies outlined in
2000 and each year thereafter should be followed.
“It is my hope that the Security Coun- cil, Member States, the United Nations system, the NGOs, civil society and
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others will take further decisive action to ensure the participation of women and girls and fully incorporate their concerns into all our efforts to promote peace and security.” (S/2002/1/1154 dated
16 Oct 2002)
The Committee on Women in the NATO Forc- es (CWINF) is the most powerful body of women in uniform. It should make itself known to the UN
DPKO decision makers and get involved in UN PKOs at top levels. Some suggestions are:
- Establish contact with Military Advisers to the respective countries’
Permanent Missions to the UN in New
York.
- Identify posts and suitable women candi- dates for UN PK Missions.
- Participate in the development of gender
training programmes.
(The UN DPKO Training Unit for UN PK training in this regard will use Canada and UK’s effort).
- Identify suitable female candidates to suc- ceed the current NATO liaison officer who serves on DPKO's staff.
- Identify funds and suitable candidates for the approved senior gender analysis post at DPKO.
The UN might be the mirror image of its MS, but it also has the responsibility to set an example to the international community it serves. The UN must encourage the following:
- Political will and awareness has to be de- veloped among top management to
promote gender mainstreaming.
- Competent women have to be included at the most senior levels of peace negotia- tions.
- Peace Agreements and Accords shall in- clude gender perspectives.
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- UN PK Mission mandates explicitly ad- dress gender equality.
- The UN has to develop an aggressive poli- cy to identify and recruit senior women for top appointments, especially for UN PK Missions.
- All UN PK Mission planning processes should include relevant gender issues.
- Gender mainstreaming in UN PK Missions must be institutionalised with the overall responsibility placed with the SRSG.
- The DPKO must ensure that all MS mili- tary environments have clarity regarding the UN's gender perspectives.
- The DPKO Training Unit must ensure that all training material includes gender awareness training.
- Monitor and evaluation frameworks for Missions have to include gender perspec- tives as an integral part.
- Accountability mechanisms have to ensure
that all personnel take responsibility for
gender mainstreaming as relevant to their particular work.
- Gender Units should be established in all major UN PK Missions.
- The UN should be cautious not to just "add numbers" to improve gender equality.
- Gender sensitivity training should be con- tinued in UN Departments and PK Mis- sions.
- Coordinate and compose gender policies with UN PK to learn from the experience of other countries in integrating women in militaries.
- More research, such as currently undertak- en by DPKO's Lessons Learned Unit [LLU], regarding the involvement of mili- tary women in PKOs should be initiated.
- The issue of military women and mentor- ship should be developed.
- Military women should create viable net-
works.
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- Women must involve men in all their activ-
ities to promote gender equality and "buy in".
"If we accept that in any society, gen- der equality is more than a goal in it- self; if we believe that the empower- ment of women is a vital means to meeting the challenge of sustainable development; if we argue that the par- ticipation of women is a requirement in building good governance; if we insist that the rights of women are a precon- dition for the effectiveness of humani- tarian assistance; if we are convinced of all these things in relation to all the societies we are trying to help in this world - then how can we fail to apply this conviction to our own society in
our own house?" (Kofi Annan 1998)
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