Advancing the Meaningful Participation of Women in UN Peace Operations by Supporting Personnel with Caring Responsibilities

Monash GPS has launched the Early Outputs for its research project 'Advancing the Meaningful Participation of Women in UN Peace Operations by Supporting Personnel with Caring Responsibilities' (2023-26), funded by Global Affairs Canada as part of the Elsie Initiative for Women in Peace Operations. This project is the first of its kind to identify the causes and consequences of marginalising women with caring responsibilities from military and police organisations (security institutions) in troop and police contributing countries (T/PCCs) and UN peace operations. The objective of this project is to propose ways to reduce this marginalisation, thereby improving the meaningful participation of women, enhancing operational effectiveness and advancing gender equality.

These Early Outputs include :

These Early Outputs are designed to raise awareness of the importance of supporting uniformed personnel with caring responsibilities in Troop and Police Contributing Countries (T/PCCs) and UN Peace Operations. This is important for all personnel and can also advance the meaningful participation of women, given lack of support for caring responsibilities can be a key driver of women's underrepresentation. These Early Outputs highlight many examples of good practices globally, within security sector institutions and UN peace operations, to share examples of how uniformed personnel with caring responsibilities can be supported. The aim of the research is to help improve the recruitment, retention, promotion, training and deployment on peace operations of women in military and police organisations and, ultimately, increase the meaningful participation of uniformed women in UN peace operations.

The research is being conducted across 7 fieldwork sites: UN HQ, 3 T/PCCs (Indonesia, India and the United Kingdom) and 3 UN peace operations (UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilisation Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA), UN Organization Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) and UN Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS)).

The project is led by GPS Director, Dr Eleanor Gordon, with GPS Members (Lauren Lowe, Dr Richard Fosu and Professor Katrina Lee-Koo, University of Queensland and GPS Board Member) and GPS Affiliates (Dr Irine Gayatri, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Indonesia Consultant; and Llani Kennealy, Global Consultant). The team also includes Global Consultants (Joana Osei-Tutu, Acting Deputy Director of the Women, Youth, Peace and Security Institute, Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC); Jane Townsley, former President and Executive Director of the International Association of Women Police (IAWP); Anushka Chavan (India Consultant); Jennifer Grover (Founder and Director of A.C.T. for a Better Day, Ltd.) and partner organisations: Council for Strategic and Defence Research (CSDR), India; BRIN; and KAIPTC.