Gender parity paramount in peace support operations
Enhanced participation by women in AU security initiatives is essential to build inclusive and sustainable peace.
An African Union (AU) meeting on 22 June 2023 addressed implementing the African Standby Force and the Common African Defence and Security Policy. Discussions took place against a backdrop of peace support operations (PSOs) at a crossroads. Focuses included the complexities of ongoing conflicts, capacity limitations, logistical constraints, financial resource gaps and coordination between the AU and its regional mechanisms (RMs).
However, an oft-missing element from discussions is gender inclusivity. Continued lassitude towards the role of African women as guarantors of AU peace and security architecture will detrimentally affect ad hoc operations where women often bear the brunt of conflict and insecurity.
Over the past two decades, the AU and its regional economic communities (RECs) and RMs have undertaken 27 peace operations with varying demonstrations of commitment to gender parity. For example, the African Transitional Mission in Somalia (ATMIS) effectively and meaningfully employed gender officers and established focal points. Female military and police officers were praised for their contribution to safeguarding peace and security in Somalia.
However, most African peace operations have made little progress in ensuring gender parity across military, police and civilian components. Despite demonstrated value and effectiveness of women's inclusion in peace processes, their participation in PSOs remains numerically and substantively low.
Enduring knowledge gaps limit the recognition and enhancement of women's roles and experiences as agents of peace. For PSOs to fulfil their mandates and effectively respond to continental peace and security challenges, a gender perspective must be integrated in all spheres of peace operations.
Deploying women in tactical operations fosters an inclusive peace process
As recognised by the Peace and Security Council (PSC), gender parity should not be perceived as auxiliary. As the field remains a work in progress, it is important to improve and enhance women's participation in numbers and make structures amenable for women in these operations.
Women in PSOs
Over the years, evidence from operations has suggested that improved gender representation enhances effectiveness. Involving women fulfils equality and mandates inclusion, improves community engagement and intelligence gathering, enhances community perceptions of legitimacy, increases reporting of sexual violence and promotes situational understanding. Deploying women in tactical operations also offers strategic advantages and improves the identification and resolution of women-related issues, fostering an inclusive peace process.
A practical example of the potential value-add of women's participation in PSOs is the transfer of duties from ATMIS to the Somali Security Forces (SSF), expected to take place in 2024. Inclusion of women can lead to more balanced engagements with all community members.
The role of gender officers and focal points becomes crucial as they focus on capacity building, monitoring and reporting and community engagement to ensure gender considerations are integrated into the handover process. Including female military and police officers in ATMIS can have a multiplier effect and encourage the SSF to enhance and improve gender parity in the national security sector.
Gender parity frameworks
The AU's decade of women spanned 2010 to 2020 and the AU Strategy for Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment 2018 to 2028. The organisation's strong commitment to advancing gender parity in its operations and implementation shows in key policy initiatives established to facilitate gender mainstreaming in peace and security initiatives.
Most PSOs have no frameworks that explicitly provide quotas for women's participation
These include the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Malabo Protocol) and the AU Gender Policy and Action Plan. A special envoy on women, peace and security was also appointed.
RECs and RMs have also progressively adopted gender equality frameworks. The Economic Community of West African States has a gender policy and an action plan on gender mainstreaming. The East African Community has a gender policy and a regional action plan on women, peace and security. The Southern African Development Community has a gender and development protocol that promotes gender equality and women's empowerment in sectors including peace and security.
While these documents call for increased women's participation in maintaining peace and security, an exclusive focus on gender parity in PSOs is lacking. Most PSOs have no frameworks that explicitly provide quotas for women's participation. This is exacerbated by cultural and other stigmas that impede women's participation nationally, continentally and globally.
Gender parity progress
While most member states have yet to release data on women in decision-making roles in the armed forces and police, where provided, the percentage is clearly still low and inadequate against set goals. Liberia and the Democratic Republic of Congo have only 8.5% and 4% uniformed military women, respectively, the latter reporting that only 7% of senior assistant commissioners in the police force are women.
Despite having the highest numbers, Rwanda has only 21% women in its police force and 4.6% in the military. Ghana has 14.9% in the military, while representation in other countries varies from 1.9% to 20%. This raises concerns about the effectiveness and inclusivity of these operations.
States should prioritise training and capacity building to mainstream gender in security organisations
In Cameroon and Kenya, progress is evident, as women constitute around 13% and 14% of senior police officers, respectively. However, there is still far to go to achieve meaningful gender representation and inclusion in national security sectors, which, in turn, limits the participation of uniformed women in PSOs.
Way forward
Achieving gender parity in PSOs requires a comprehensive and multifaceted approach. The PSC must emphasise the urgency and highlight the transformative impact of women's inclusion in peace processes. This can be done through declarations and resolutions that underscore the importance of gender mainstreaming and the meaningful participation of women.
Comprehensive and practical actions that address all aspects, from recruitment and training to deployment and post-mission support, are crucial. The involvement of troop- or police-contributing countries and all AU member states is vital. While the AU motivates contributing countries to increase the deployment of women, the final decision ultimately rests with the countries. Hence the need for them to commit politically to gender equality.
Additionally, member states should prioritise training and capacity building to mainstream gender in security organisations and address the challenges of women in PSOs. These programmes should enhance women's skills and leadership abilities and promote gender-sensitive approaches to conflict management and resolution. To ensure accountability, the PSC should advocate regular reporting on the representation of women in PSOs, disaggregated by rank, sector and mission. This will facilitate better monitoring and evaluation of progress.
The PSC should work closely with the AU Commission and other stakeholders to secure dedicated resources. It should activate the AU Trust Fund for African Women to provide financial and technical support. In so doing, it can demonstrate its commitment to gender parity and contribute to building inclusive and sustainable peace in Africa.
Image: © ATMIS Photo
