Stéfanie von Hlatky

Director, Centre for International and Defence Policy and Assistant Professor, Department of Political Studies, Queen's University

Abstract:

In the fifteen years since UN Security Council resolution 1325, international organizations have endeavored to implement its gender mainstreaming objectives - including increasing women’s participation across the spectrum of conflict management. International security and international organization scholars have studied changes in the proportion of women working in security and defense organizations over time. However, this body of scholarship has not explained how organizations have changed the design of their policies to account for Women, Peace and Security (WPS) resolutions and guidelines. Following the establishment of the resolution in 2000, NATO leadership tasked civilian and military individuals and institutions with implementing gender mainstreaming. This presentation draws on 102 guidelines from NATO’s six leading institutions and demonstrates that gender policies and programs have low visibility within NATO and that gender-related guidelines emphasize operational effectiveness without complementary training for day-to-day implementation. This explains why staff lack awareness of how to implement guidelines in policy and operational planning tasks.