Normalizing Women's Inclusion in Peacekeeping and Security: Bridging the Implementation Disparity through Collaborative Military Training
The Department of Defense (DoD) is taking steps to integrate Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) principles into its Joint Professional Military Education (JPME), aiming to improve readiness and mission success by ensuring future military leaders understand and apply gender perspectives in planning and operations.
Key components to achieve this inclusion include:
- Embedding WPS into Core Curriculum and Leadership Courses: Incorporate WPS principles as a foundational element in required JPME courses such as leadership, international security, operational planning, and command theory. This would involve emphasizing gender perspectives and the operational benefits of female engagement teams, drawing from lessons learned in Afghanistan, Iraq, and peacekeeping missions.
- Utilizing Gender Analysis and Case Studies in Operational Contexts: Develop practical training modules and case studies that demonstrate how integrating gender perspectives improves situational awareness, mission effectiveness, and mitigates security risks like sexual and gender-based violence. These could draw upon empirical data and lessons from UN peacekeeping operations where increasing female representation had a demonstrable civilizing effect and operational benefits.
- Leveraging Partnerships and Funds Dedicated to Women in Security: Collaborate with UN Women and initiatives like the Elsie Initiative Fund to incorporate best practices and resources, including leadership development and operational tools specifically focused on empowering women in uniform and advancing gender equality in all security operations.
- Institutionalizing WPS as a Strategic Framework: Adopt the DoD WPS Strategic Framework and Implementation Plan, signed in 2020, as a blueprint for all JPME programs to standardize and track progress in gender integration efforts across the military education system.
- Promoting Gender Diversity in Faculty and Enrollment: Enhance representation of women and gender experts among instructors and students in JPME programs to enrich perspectives and mentorship related to WPS, thereby normalizing gender integration within military leadership pathways.
Through these measures, JPME can produce military leaders who are not only aware of WPS principles but also skilled at applying them in complex and diverse security environments. This mainstreaming strengthens mission readiness and success by harnessing the full potential of all personnel and addressing the multifaceted challenges of modern military operations that include countering violent extremism, terrorism, cyber threats, and humanitarian crises.
The incorporation of WPS principles into JPME also benefits future forces, including US allies who attend JPME, by providing valuable threat assessment, strategy development, and force enhancement tools. However, despite presidential and congressional direction to implement WPS, there has been outright organizational resistance centered on outdated notions of whether and how gender is relevant to national security.
[1] "Mainstreaming Women, Peace, and Security in the Department of Defense" - Rand Corporation [2] "The Role of Gender in Military Operations: A Review of the Literature" - US Army War College [3] "The Elsie Initiative Fund" - UN Women [4] "Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017" - Congress.gov [5] "The Impact of Women's Participation in Peacekeeping Operations" - United Nations Peacekeeping [6] "The Department of Defense's 2020 Women, Peace, and Security Strategic Framework and Implementation Plan" - Department of Defense
- To ensure future military leaders are equipped with the right strategies for complex and diverse security environments, the Department of Defense (DoD) is mainstreaming Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) principles into its Joint Professional Military Education (JPME), drawing from various resources like the Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017 and the Department of Defense's 2020 WPS Strategic Framework and Implementation Plan.
- As part of this strategy, JPME will embed WPS into core curriculum and leadership courses, leveraging partnerships with UN Women, the Elsie Initiative Fund, and resources such as those found on Congress.gov and the United Nations Peacekeeping. This will emphasize gender perspectives and the operational benefits of female engagement teams, as showcased in case studies from Afghanistan, Iraq, and peacekeeping missions.
- By incorporating best practices and resources from these initiatives, JPME aims to instill leadership development and operational tools focused on empowering women in uniform and advancing gender equality in all security operations. This cooperative approach further enriches the education-and-self-development of military personnel, addressing outdated notions about gender's relevance to national security.
- In addition, collaboration with reputable organizations like the Rand Corporation, the US Army War College, and the United Nations Peacekeeping will further enhance the understanding of gender's impact on military operations. This research, along with empirical data and lessons from their respective publications, will contribute to practical training modules and case studies aimed at demonstrating how integrating gender perspectives improves mission effectiveness and national security.
