Three Point Nine Percent Female: A Review of the Barriers to Increasing Female Troops Participation on United Nations Peace Operations

Abstract

Since UNSCR 1325 (2000) urged member states to ensure increased representation of women at all levels, the UN has made marginal progress improving the gender balance of troops deployed on UNPO. Despite ambitious targets for increasing the percentage of female troops in these operations, as of January 2019 women made up only 3.9% of all troops deployed on UNPO, up from 1.8% in 2006. Attempts to assess the barriers to improving the gender balance of personnel tend to consider all types of military personnel, police and civilian staff involved in UNPO, rather than focusing on the specific challenges of meeting gender targets for troops. In order to fill the current policy and research gap, this paper considers the challenges to improving the gender balance of troops. Existing studies highlight four possible explanations for the failure to make quicker progress: (1) there are not enough female troops available to contribute to UNPO; (2) UN and UN member states policies and procedures discourage women’s inclusion; (3) the gendered predispositions of decision makers and societal norms portray women as needing protection rather than as protectors; and (4) there are few incentives offered to both female troops and UN member states. This paper will evaluate each of these explanations as well as solutions that have been proposed to overcome existing barriers to female troop participation in UNPO. It will conclude with a set of recommendations, calling on the UN and UN member states to: improve recruitment and retention of women in national armies; eliminate unnecessary policies discouraging women’s inclusion; directly challenge gendered predispositions that neglect to see women as protectors; and provide financial incentives for UN member states that contribute female troops. The paper concludes by addressing the implications of its research for Canada and analyzing current actions being taken to improve the gender balance of troops deployed on UNPO.