Equal Opportunity Peacekeeping: Women, Peace, and Security in Post-Conflict States

Recent developments such as Sweden's' Feminist Foreign Policy, the "Hillary Doctrine," and the integration of women into combat roles in the U.S. have propelled gender equality to the forefront of international politics. The UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, however, has been integrating gender equality into peacekeeping missions for nearly two decades as part of the women, peace and security agenda that has been most clearly articulated in UNSC Resolution 1325. To what extent have peacekeeping operations achieved gender equality in peacekeeping operations and been vehicles for promoting gender equality in post-conflict states? While there have been major improvements related to women's participation and protection, there is still much left to be desired. Sabrina Karim and Kyle Beardsley argue that gender power imbalances between the sexes and among genders place restrictions on the participation of women in peacekeeping missions. Specifically, discrimination, a relegation of women to safe spaces, and sexual exploitation, abuse, harassment, and violence (SEAHV) continue to threaten progress on gender equality. Using unique cross-national data on sex-disaggregated participation of peacekeepers and on the allegations of SEAHV, as well as original data from the UN Mission in Liberia, the authors examine the origins and consequences of these challenges. Karim and Beardsley also identify and examine how increasing the representation of women in peacekeeping forces, and even more importantly through enhancing a more holistic value for "equal opportunity," can enable peacekeeping operations to overcome the challenges posed by power imbalances and be more of an example of and vehicle for gender equality globally.

About the Author :
Sabrina Karim is an Assistant Professor in Government at Cornell University. Between 2016-2017, she was a Dartmouth Dickey Center Fellow in U.S. Foreign Policy and International Security. Her research interests include gender reforms in post-conflict security forces, the effect of security sector reforms on peace and order, the dynamics of peacekeeping missions, and the relationship between gender equality and violence. Kyle Beardsley is Associate Professor of Political Science at Duke University. He is author of The Mediation Dilemma. His research interests include third-party involvement in peace processes, the nature of intrastate rebellion, gender reforms in post-conflict security forces, and nuclear weapons.

Review :
"Intended for specialists and advanced students, this book is highly recommended for university libraries and specialized collections on international affairs and security studies. Highly recommended." -CHOICE "Very few studies have attempted to systematically explore the implementation of policies linking gender equality to peace processes and peace operations. Beardsley and Karim's book is a path-breaking study of gender equality in peacekeeping missions. Triangulating data from UN missions-both military and police-with very rich material based on interviews, field experiments and surveys from UNMIL in Liberia, this trailblazing book becomes an essential reading for all interested in gender, security and peacekeeping missions in the 21st century." -Theodora-Ismene Gizelis, Professor, Department of Government, University of Essex "Karim and Beardsley combine methodological rigor with personal narratives from peacekeepers and civilians, providing a rich analysis of how gender inequality affects peacekeeping. This is essential reading for anyone with an interest in gender and IR, and for everyone working with peacekeeping." -Lisa Hultman, Department of Peace and Conflict Research, Uppsala University "This book offers a different story of peacekeeping, shedding an innovative light on gender reforms and women's equal opportunities by combining original data with space for local voices. In addition, it emphasizes the need for a knowledge-based approach to successfully addressing sexual exploitation and abuse; a crime and a key challenge to effective peace operations. The book is highly recommended to all those working to strengthen peace operations and to students specializing in international politics." --Louise Olsson, author of Gender Equality and United Nations Peace Operations in Timor-Leste "Karim (Cornell) and Beardsley (Duke) have given us a theoretically informed, data-driven analysis of both gender (in)equality in peacekeeping units and the sexual exploitation, abuse, harassment, and violence (SEAHV) that often accompany their deployments. Intended for specialists and advanced students, this book is highly recommended for university libraries and specialized collections on international affairs and security studies." --CHOICE