Originally published on the CGS blog on April 8, 2016.
As of February this year, less than 4% of all UN peacekeepers are women. Currently there are 105,314 troops, police and military personnel that encompass the UN peacekeeping force, and only 4,268 of that total are women. Why are there so few female peacekeepers?
Perhaps the most reasonable and logical explanation is,
Peacekeepers are soldiers from countries that commit troops to the UN mission, so it is ultimately the discretion of the member countries—and the percentage of women in national armies—that filter up to the mission.”
Women are not trained in military professions as frequently as men in most countries in the world. Therefore, each country is producing less qualified women than men; obviously, this affects the potential pool of troops. Another (somewhat sexist) possibility that has been argued is that women are simply not willing to work in the rough conditions faced by UN peacekeepers.
Regardless of the reason, it is clear that there is a problem. The UN must increase the number of women in their peacekeeping forces if they hope to succeed.
Female peacekeepers are necessary to help and empower women in war-torn countries. Female UN peacekeepers become role models to women in local environments. They inspire women and girls in heavily male-dominated societies to fight for their own rights and become stronger, more equal voices in their own communities. By having a majority male peacekeeping force, the UN sends a message that males are the more powerful sex, only furthering gender inequality throughout the world. The only way to send the message that women are equal is to make women equal.
Aside from the symbolic message that increasing the number of women in the UN sends, female peacekeepers also serve a very practical role that male peacekeepers cannot. Irena Dzisiewska, a lieutenant colonel in the British army said, “For a lot of women, or even men, who have suffered sexual violence, history has shown us they only want to speak to women.”
Major Shikha Mahrotra, an Indian officer with the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, said,
Women, children, the elderly—they will talk to us. With women they can open up easily. And being a women you can hear what they say, but also understand what they are not saying, which is sometimes more important.”
She believes that women have the ability to be inherently more empathetic than their male counterparts.
Fitting with this pattern, it has been found that female peacekeepers tend to be more effective than men in using persuasion and communication to come to agreements. Women are also inherently less aggressive; if they can avoid bloodshed they will—a very positive quality for a peacekeeper.
This is not to say that the UN should replace every male peacekeeper with a female version. Men and women each contribute a different skill set to the position. In order to maximize its effectiveness, the UN must make the effort to bring the sexes to a more equal balance.
Next month, CGS will host a Webinar focusing on female peacekeepers. Stay tuned to hear from some very influential women and learn more about women’s’ roles in peacekeeping!
