Can Women Make a Difference? Female Peacekeepers in Bosnia and Kosovo

Sion, Liora

doi:10.1080/14662040903375083

Cited by 8 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…Certainly, most of the feminist commentary on the proposition that women peacekeepers offer a solution to (gendered) insecurity and inequalities is scathing. Women’s specific contributions are contested both on the empirical level (Olsson et al, 2004; Sion, 2009) and, more vigorously, for their implications (Valenius, 2007; Jennings, 2011; Hudson, 2012). As feminists have long pointed out, and as previously mentioned, the association of women with peace damages their credibility as actors in matters of international politics and national security.…”

Section: Gender Mainstreaming In Peace and Security Contexts And Institutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regendering the military: Theorizing women’s military participation

2015

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Regendering the Military; theorising women's military participation. Abstract Abstract: This paper considers how, in the light of contemporary military transformations, feminist theorizing about women's military participation might be developed to take account of an emergent reality: the inclusion of increasing numbers of women in a range of roles within armed forces. A brief overview of established debates within feminist scholarship on women's military participation is provided, and we explore the trajectory of feminist strategies for change both within militaries and other institutions. The promise and limitations of UNSCR 1325 are discussed. The paper argues that existing feminist critiques often remain deterministic, and have too readily dismissed the possibilities for change created by women's participation, given the context of military transformations. Drawing on the idea of the regendered military, the paper presents a conceptual strategy for considering how feminist theorizing about the gender-military nexus can take seriously women's military participation whilst remaining alert to feminist political goals of gender equality, peace and justice.

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Section: Gender Mainstreaming In Peace and Security Contexts And Institutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Regendering the military: Theorizing women’s military participation

2015

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“…With the deployment of forces around the world during the past three decades, the study of multinational military formations has also developed significantly. The body of work in this field includes Rubinstein's (2003) exploration of the differing orientations to force and to peacekeeping that characterizes different militaries, the way different armed forces come to cooperate (Elron et al 1999), and the place of women in peacekeeping (Sion 2009). From a different direction, some anthropologists have charted out global military connections, such as Gill's (2004) study of the training of other countries' troops in American military schools, Grassiani's (2019) exploration of retired Israeli military officers establishing security firms in Kenya, and Uesugi's (2019) analysis of the struggle of former Gurkha soldiers to obtain British citizenship.…”

Section: Military Organization and Dynamicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anthropology of the Military

Tomforde¹,

Ben‐Ari²

2021

Handbook of Military Sciences

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The anthropology of militaries in industrial countries is a relatively young discipline, which has seen significant growth since the end of the Cold War and the advent of the “new wars.” The chapter focuses on the anthropological analysis of social and cultural concerns related to (and derived from) the armed forces, war, and the provision for national security. It charts the main clusters of issues anthropologists are engaged with and explains the unique contribution of this discipline through the following themes: militarization, fieldwork, military organization and units, gender, military families, veterans, and medical anthropology. This chapter concludes with a discussion of anthropology’s contribution to military education.

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“…For one thing, local women may feel more comfortable with them, especially in cases of SGBV where many may be reluctant to report to a male officer and barriers to justice may thus occur when women are absent (Pruitt, 2012; Vlachova and Biason, 2005). Research indicates that having female peacekeepers present may result in: calming dangerous situations, better behaviour among mission staff across the board – including reduced criticisms of male staff behaviour, greater mission effectiveness, enhanced legitimacy, fewer cases of HIV, fewer abandoned children fathered by male peacekeepers and fewer brothels around peacekeeping posts (DeGroot, 2001; Hudson, 2005; Mazurana, 2003; Simić, 2010; Sion, 2009; Stiehm, 1999).…”

Section: Gendering the Role-play Simulationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reflections on Possibilities and Challenges of Discussing Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in Role-Play Simulations

Pruitt

2014

Politics

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Addressing sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in international peace and security frameworks is crucial. Yet SGBV often remains silenced in the peace and security literature. Relatedly, SGBV tends to be marginalised in the classroom. This can perpetuate challenges to achieving peace by producing graduates and practitioners who are neither knowledgeable about, nor prepared to deal with, SGBV in practice. To explore possibilities for engaging with this challenging topic, this article reflects on a role-play simulation in a graduate course on International Peacekeeping. In doing so, it discusses prospects for educating students around SGBV and challenges to doing so effectively. Role-play simulations may be useful tools for engaging with such complex topics. At the same time, learning outcomes will improve if the role-play is introduced after discussing a broader range of relevant literature and debates around gender in general and SGBV in particular. Furthermore, even with prior discussion, educators may need to prompt reflection and discussion around gender if students do not initiate such conversations themselves. Actions like this may have positive outcomes for gender mainstreaming of the discipline insofar as they in better prepare students for future professional roles in peace and security. Tompkins (1995, p. 852) explains that stories of sexual violence need to be heard in order to secure deterrence. For that to occur, she says: 'People must hear the horrifying, think the unthinkable and speak the unspeakable.' Yet evidence indicates that getting these stories out is not enough to make real change -the disclosure of such knowledge must be followed by concrete actions, not just high-level rhetoric. Here I examine prospects for teaching about sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in the peace and security classroom, especially when studying peace operations. I use 'SGBV' rather than 'conflict-related sexual violence' or other more specific terms because I want students to think broadly about these types of violence both in the classroom and in practice. I aim for students in the peace and security classroom to understand the links between various types of SGBV that occur during conflict as well as in the 'post-conflict' or 'peace' time, as these all represent significant security concerns students may be faced with in their future professional roles. In doing so, I acknowledge that SGBV cannot be understood in isolation and must be studied in a context in which a range of violence and abuses occur (Eriksson Baaz and Stern, 2010). IntroductionGlobal institutions have highlighted the problem of SGBV in conflict and post-conflict settings, especially since 2000 when the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) passed Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 specifically calling for special measures for protecting women and girls from SGBV in conflict. Nevertheless, the UN's Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) ten-year impact study on UNSCR 1325 finds that only modest advances have been made in physically protecting ...

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Can Women Make a Difference? Female Peacekeepers in Bosnia and Kosovo

Cited by 8 publications

References 29 publications

Regendering the military: Theorizing women’s military participation

Regendering the military: Theorizing women’s military participation

Anthropology of the Military

Reflections on Possibilities and Challenges of Discussing Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in Role-Play Simulations

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