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* Lindy Heinecken is currently a Professor of Sociology in the Department of Sociology and
Social Anthropology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa where she lectures in political
and industrial sociology. She was formerly a researcher and Deputy Director of the Centre for
Military Studies () at the South African Military Academy, where she worked for 17
years. The main focus of her research is in the domain of armed forces and society where she
has published widely on a range of issues including military unionism, the management of
diversity, gender integration, / in the military and more recently on the experiences
of South African military personnel on peace operations. She serves on numerous academic
boards, including the Council of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society,
the Board of the International Sociological Association’s () Armed Forces and Conict
Resolution Group, and the evaluation panel of the National Research Foundation (). She
serves on the editorial board of the journals Armed Forces and Society and Scientia Militaria:
South African Journal of Military Studies and is one of the pool of specialists conducting
research for the South African Army.
Are Women ‘Really’ Making a Unique Contribution
to Peacekeeping?
The Rhetoric and the Reality
Lindy Heinecken
Dept of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences,
Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, 7602, South Africa
Lindy@sun.ac.za
Abstract
This article examines the factors that inhibit the ability of female peacekeepers to
make a unique contribution to peacekeeping operations based on their gender. The
debates are examined in relation to the claims made about their ability to enhance
operational efectiveness and reach out to the local population as women, compared
to the actual experiences of South African peacekeepers’ deployed in the Democratic
Republic of Congo () and in Darfur/Sudan. The argument is made that factors
stemming from both the military and operational context afect the optimal utiliza-
tion of women in various ways. As most national armed forces tend to draw their
peacekeeping troops from the infantry, women come under tremendous performance
pressure when deployed and are obliged to assimilate masculine values in order to be
recognised as ‘good’ soldiers. It is argued that this, coupled with the hyper-masculine
journal of international peacekeeping 19 (2015) 227-248
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peacekeeping environment which is hostile to women, undermines their optimal uti-
lization, as well as their ability to infuse a more gendered approach in peacekeeping.
Keywords
peacekeeping – femininity – masculinities – military culture – gendered security risk –
gender mainstreaming – – Darfur/Sudan
Introduction
In recent years a number of United Nations Security Council ()
Resolutions have been passed to address the plight of women in combat zones.
The most signicant of these is the United Nations Security Council Resolution
1325, which in 2000 recognized for the rst time the diferent efects of war on
men and women. This resolution stressed the important contribution women
can make in the prevention and resolution of conicts as well as peacekeeping,
and called for gender mainstreaming to be incorporated in all peace opera-
tions. Associated with this was an appeal to increase the number of women in
peacekeeping operations, not just as something that is benecial, but essen-
tial. Through this it was hoped that a re-gendering of the soldier prole would
emerge, where traditional masculine qualities such as bravery, ambition and
steadfastness would be combined with feminine qualities, such as caring,
patience and empathy, which were considered essential in dealing with con-
ict situations where the mission focus shifted to the protection of civilian
populations.
Following this, numerous arguments have been put forward as to why it is
necessary to increase the number of women on peace missions. These included
Security Council (). Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, 2000, http://www
.un.org/events/res_1325e.pdf [June 21, 2013]. . Resolution 1820 on Women and Peace and
Security, 2008, http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/NOS/391/44/PDF/N0839144.pdf,
[June 21, 2013], . Resolution 1889 on Women, Peace and Security. //1888, 2009,
Resolution 1960 on Women, Peace and Security. //1960, 2010, Women. Progress of the
world’s women 2011–2012, 2012- In pursuit of justice. New York: Women.
Olivera Simiç, ‘Does the Presence of Women Really Matter? Towards Combating Male Sexual
Violence in Peacekeeping Operations’, International Peacekeeping, vol. 17, no. 4, 2010,
pp. 188–199.
Claire Duncanson, ‘Forces for Good? Narratives of Military Masculinity in Peacekeeping
Operations’, International Feminist Journal of Politics, vol. 11, no. 1, 2009, pp. 63–80.
‘’
journal of international peacekeeping 19 (2015) 227-248
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among others that women are more able to interact with the local population,
improve community relations, reduce the incidence of , build the capac-
ity of local women, break down traditional views that discriminate and
marginalise women, defuse potentially violent situations and improve commu-
nity security. Based on these assumptions, many troop contributing countries
() to peace missions have come under pressure to increase the number of
women in the police and military. In South Africa, for example, the recruit-
ment target for women was increased to 40 per cent, and the goal was set to
have 30 per cent women at decision-making levels. This has led to a rapid
increase in the number of women in uniform serving in the South African
National Defence Force (). Although these targets are still to be reached,
as at May 2015, out of a force strength of 66 252, a signicant 25% of uniformed
members in the South African military were women. Of these 16753 women,
19% served in the combat services and in terms of forces deployed on peace
missions women made up 14 per cent (429 a total of 3057).
By world standards this is quite noteworthy as on average only 3 per cent
of those deployed on peace missions around the world are female military
personnel. This makes South Africa a worthy and interesting case to investi-
gate in terms of how, or whether women are contributing to peacekeeping
missions in a unique way, other than men. Accordingly, this study sets out to
answer three separate but inter-related questions. Firstly, are women making
a unique contribution of peacekeeping operations based on the claims made
in the literature? Secondly, what factors stemming from the military and
Lindy Heinecken, ‘Building Capacity from Above and Below: Why Gender Matters in
Peacekeeping and Peacebuilding Contexts’, in Theo Neethling and Heidi Hudson (eds.), Post
Conlict Reconstruction and Development in Africa (Cape Town: Press, 2013), pp. 147–163.
Henry Carey, ‘Women and Peace and Security: The Politics of Implementing Gender
Sensitivity Norms in Peacekeeping’, International Peacekeeping, vol. 8, no. 2, 2001,
pp. 49–68; Nadine Puechguirbal, ‘Gender Training for Peacekeepers: Lessons from the
’, International Peacekeeping, vol. 10, no. 4, 2003, pp. 113–128.
Lindy Heinecken and Noelle van der Waag-Cowling, ‘The Politics of Race and Gender in
the South African Armed Forces: Issues, Challenges and Lessons’, Commonwealth &
Comparative Politics, vol. 47, no. 4, 2009, pp. 517–538.
Department of Defence (), Transformation Management and Budgeting Guidelines
for the 2012/15–2016/17 . Pretoria: Department of Defence, 2012.
Department of Defence (), South African National Defence Force Transformation Status,
Brieng to the Joint Standing Committee on Defence, Parliament: Cape Town, 21 May 2015.
United Nations, ‘Women in Peacekeeping’ http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/issues/
women/womeninpk.shtml [September 11, 2009].
Laura Sion, ‘Can Women Make a Diference? Female Peacekeepers in Bosnia and Kosovo’,
Commonwealth and Comparative Politics, vol. 47, no. 4, 2009, pp. 476–493
journal of international peacekeeping 19 (2015) 227-248
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operational environment facilitate or inhibit their potential contribution to
peacekeeping operations? And thirdly; to reect on what does this mean in
terms of infusing a more gendered approach to peacekeeping as aspired by
Resolution 1325.
Research Methodology
To interrogate these questions the broader debates in the existing literature
were studied. The issues raised formed the basis of the probes used in the focus
group interviews with both male and female peacekeepers. This research was
conducted among peacekeepers who served on missions in the and
Darfur/Sudan from 1 South African Infantry Battalion (1) in Bloemfontein
and 9 South African Infantry Battalion (9) in Cape Town. The interviews
were conducted during July, 2013 (1), and during August, 2014 ((). As
most South African peacekeepers deployed on peacekeeping missions come
from the infantry battalions, this was considered an appropriate sample to
interview. The members of these units were deployed either as part of the
United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(), which from 1 July 2010 changed to a Chapter mandate under
the Charter, or in Dafur/Sudan as part of the joint African Union/United
Nations Hybrid operation in Darfur (), which was a Chapter , but
was changed to a Chapter mandate in 2013.
In terms of the sample, soldiers who were available in the unit and who had
deployed to either the or Darfur/Sudan, or both, were asked to participate
in this study. The request was that the participants include platoon and section
commanders, diferent rank groups, and both male and female peacekeepers.
The sample prole consisted of 23 male and 51 female peacekeepers (total 74).
The data was collected through focus group interviews consisting of between
4–6 members that were segregated by rank and gender to allow for more free
and open discussion. The focus groups allowed for stimulating and rich debates
on their overall experiences on these missions, but were guided by a set of
open-ended questions that were used as probes. The content was analysed
United Nations (). : United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the
Democratic Republic of Congo, http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/ monusco/
mandate [July 31,2014].
United Nations (). : African Union/United Nations Organization Hybrid opera-
tion in Darfur, http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/unamid/ mandate/html
[July 31, 2014].
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according to various themes that emerged in the literature, as well as the issues
that surfaced during the discussions.
In terms of approval, this project was authorised by the Chief of the South
African Army and the General Ocer Commanding of Infantry Formation.
Ethical approval was granted by the Research Ethics Committee of Stellenbosch
University. Before the study commenced the purpose of the study was
explained and no soldier was compelled to take part in the study. Assurance
was given that their anonymity was guaranteed, and that no information could
be traced to any particular respondent.
Valuing Femininity in Peacekeeping, or Not?
The reasons for the inclusion of more women in peacekeeping operations is
not premised purely on feminist equal rights arguments, but on radical femi-
nist ideals that women are diferent based on certain female traits attributed to
biology or acquired through the process of social conditioning. While this is a
subject of heated debate, attributes commonly associated with women,
namely that they are less aggressive, and more compassionate and concilia-
tory, are typical traits associated with women and desired in peacekeepers.
Given this, the rst question this study sought to answer is to what extent are
female peacekeepers contributing to peace missions in a unique way?
Less Confrontational and Aggressive
Numerous studies indicate that despite the fact that women undergo the same
military training as men, they tend to be less confrontational and aggressive.
Evidence to support this is presented by Mobekk, with reference to female
police ocers who were shown to use less force and were better at defusing
potentially violent situations. Similarly, Mazurana and Piza-Lopez note that
female ocers are less likely to use force, or use their weapons inappropriately
Gerhard DeGroot, ‘A Few Good Women: Gender Stereotypes, the Military and
Peacekeeping’, International Peacekeeping, vol. 8, no. 2, 2001, pp. 23–38.
Sinisa Maleevic, The Sociology of War and Violence (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2010).
Simiç, ‘Does the Presence of Women Really Matter? p. 190.
Eirin Mobekk, ‘Gender Women and Security Sector Reform’, International Peacekeeping,
vol. 17, no. 2, 2010, pp. 278–291.
Dyan Mazurana and Euginia Piza-Lopez, Gender Mainstreaming in Peace Support
Operations: Moving beyond Rhetoric to Practice. London: International Alert.
journal of international peacekeeping 19 (2015) 227-248
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in conict situations. Studies on female peacekeepers also show that women
tend to lower the levels of tension at checkpoints. This may be due to women
being less confrontational, but because they are perceived as less of a threat
than male peacekeepers. Irrespective, the presence of women is claimed to
reduce levels of aggression and violence.
This claim was supported by South African peacekeepers and there was gen-
eral consensus that women are less confrontational and aggressive, especially
when interacting with the local population. They cited numerous examples
where they claim to have difused potential conict when confronting rebel
forces as explained by a female peacekeeper, ‘I could see he was looking at me as
a lady and I used this opportunity to talk to him and get information’. She main-
tained that she was able to subdue the tensions and this supports the assertion
that deploying mixed gender units brings about a diferent dynamic and often
shifts power balances in hostile encounters. However, there were also contrary
views. Many female peacekeepers claimed that they are expected to act as
aggressively as men, as reected in this comment: ‘If those rebels see you…. you
must walk like a man, you talk like a man … behave like a soldier, not a women and
must always be aggressive’. Thus, the evidence is contradictory and context
specic and depends upon the level of aggression shown towards the peace-
keepers and the pressure male peacekeepers place on female peacekeepers to
behave ‘like them’. Often women’s lack of aggression was seen as a sign of
weakness and they were pressurized to ‘man-up’, or face being ridiculed.
Compassion with Local Population
When it came to interaction with the local community, there was consensus
that female peacekeepers played an important role. Especially when dealing
with civilians, women and children, there was agreement that women identify
more closely with the problems facing the host society, and tend to be more
Kari Karamé, ‘Military Women in Peace Operations: Experiences of the Norwegian
Battalion in 1978–98’, International Peacekeeping, vol. 8, no. 2, 2001, pp. 85–96.
Louise Olsson, ‘Mainstreaming Gender in Multidimensional Peacekeeping: A Field
Experience’, International Peacekeeping, vol.7, no. 3, 2000, pp. 1–16.
Tsjeard Bouta and Georg Frerks, Women's Roles in Conlict Prevention, Conlict Resolution
and Post-conlict Reconstruction: Literature Review and Institutional Analysis (Netherlands:
The Hague: Netherlands Institute of International Relations, 2001).
Karen Davis and Brian Mckee, ‘Women in the Military: Facing a Warrior Framework’, in
Franklin Pinch, Alistar Macintyre, Phyllis Brown and Alan Akros (eds.), Challenge and
Change in the Military: Gender and Diversity Issues (Ottawa: Canadian Forces Leadership
Institute, Canadian Defence Force Academy, 2004).
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journal of international peacekeeping 19 (2015) 227-248
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compassionate and respectful towards the local population. While this may
be the case, this depends on the extent to which they are able to interact with
locals. Jennings in her research points out that often the ability to reach out
to the local population is limited due to language, race, ethnic, religious or cul-
tural diferences. Strict rules regarding peacekeeper-local interaction may limit
the opportunities for peacekeepers to make contact with local communities.
All the above resonate with the experiences of South African peacekeepers,
but was context specic.
In the , the female peacekeepers felt that they could reach out to women
and children more readily. This was because ‘Sousa’ (as the locals call the South
African contingent) tended to interact with the local community more than
other contingents because they are mostly black, and could understand
Swahili. This was not the case in Darfur/Sudan. Here, it was as if the local popu-
lation (especially the women) were afraid to speak to the peacekeepers,
whether men or women. They cited a case where a local woman came to speak
to a peacekeeper, and ‘the next day we heard that she had been killed’. They were
not sure if it was because she had spoken to them, or something else. There
seemed to be consensus that in Darfur/Sudan it was virtually impossible to
interact with the local population. Even so, most were in agreement that
women and children were far more inclined to engage with female peacekeep-
ers, as reected in this quote.
Most of the people in the villages are women and kids. It is much easier
for us to communicate to them. The men don’t have the softness to talk to
the women. I don’t know if it is their culture, but the women are not
allowed to talk to the men, so they are friendlier towards the women
peacekeepers. So you cannot just have men on these patrols when you go
to the villages. They are not going to talk to the men.
This supports the importance of deploying gender mixed units, not only
because it facilitates interaction with the local population, but because gender
really matters in some contexts. This is highlighted by the following quote:
‘Now you take a female soldier to talk to a man … then you have already lost the
Olsson, ‘Mainstreaming Gender in Multidimensional Peacekeeping’.
Sion, ‘Can Women Make a Diference?, p. 478.
Kathleen Jennings, Women's Participation in Peacekeeping Operations: Agents of
Change or Stranded Symbols? Norway: , 2011.
Letitia Anderson, Addressing Conlict-related Sexual Violence: An Analytical Inventory of
Peacekeeping Practice (New York: , 2010).
journal of international peacekeeping 19 (2015) 227-248
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psychological battle, especially in Sudan… they don’t recognise ladies as soldiers’.
Many stated that the men in the villages would not talk to the female peace-
keepers, as they consider women to be inferior, although sometimes they said
it is better to send a women. This, one male peacekeeper explained is ‘because
men soften to women more easily, so it depends on the situation’. Far more impor-
tant was the ability to communicate with the local population and this too has
a gender dimension. The translators are mostly men, so even where women
peacekeepers try to engage with the local women, the truth does not necessar-
ily prevail as there are issues of trust and power relations.
Another factor which inuences this interaction is the mandate of troops.
Ajunior explains:
There are people allocated who communicate with the locals, that’s not
part of our job, we are only there to protect those who go and communicate
with the locals, so your job is just to stay there, be ready [for anything].
This then leads to the question of how local communities perceive peacekeep-
ers, both male and female. Very few studies have been conducted on the per-
ceptions of local communities towards peacekeepers. One such study
surveyed local Congolese populations on their perceptions of diferent aspects
of the Peacekeeping Operation in the and found that most were posi-
tive towards the peacekeepers. However, it is not known whether male and
female peacekeepers are viewed diferently, or whether they are just all seen as
soldiers. How soldiers conduct themselves seems to be the decisive factor.
Peacekeeper Misconduct
Numerous studies suggest that female peacekeepers may act as a deterrent to
poor or illicit behaviour by male peacekeepers, and that they are able to limit
Jennings, Women’s Participation in Peacekeeping Operations.
Bureau d’etudes, de recherches et de consulting international (), Peacekeeping
Operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo: The Perception of the Population.
Peacekeeping Best Practices Section (), Dpko-pbpuwebmaster@un.org.
Andreas Mehler, ‘Positive, Ambiguous or Negative? Peacekeeping in the Local Security
Fabric’, Critical Currents Dag Hammerskjold Foundation Occasional Paper Series, 5, 2008,
pp. 41–63; Sharon Wiharta, ‘The Legitimacy of Peace Operations’, Yearbook 2009:
Armaments, Disarmament and International Security, http://www.sipri.org/yearbook/
2009/les/SIPRIYB0903.pdf [10 March 2015].
Heidi Hudson, ‘Mainstreaming Gender in Peacekeeping Operations: Can Africa Learn
from International Experience?’, African Security Review, vol.9, no.4, 2000, pp. 18–33; Anu
Pillay, Gender Peace and Peacekeeping; Lessons from Southern Africa (Pretoria: Institute for
Security Studies, 2006).
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journal of international peacekeeping 19 (2015) 227-248
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the incidences of sexual violence () and abuse by males. As DeGroot
states, ‘men behave better when in the presence of women from their own
culture’. A statement by reinforces this notion stating that ‘women’s
presence…makes male peacekeepers more reective and responsible’, but
some question this given their small numbers. According to Mazurana and
Piza-Lopez, ‘the presence of female peacekeepers does not appear to deter
some male peacekeepers from physically abusing local populations’, nor do
they act as a deterrent when it comes to . Similarly, Schoeman points out
that despite the presence of a large number of female South African peace-
keepers, reports of sexual abuse of locals by South African peacekeepers are
considerably higher than other nations.
The ndings of this study show similar mixed results. Female peacekeepers
report that when on patrols or interacting with the local population, they can
encourage restraint on the part of men, as reected in this comment: ‘We all
know a group of men together is not always healthy and if a woman is present, the
chances are that the conduct of male peacekeepers improves’. However, this is only
true when women are physically present, as there is no control when male
peacekeepers are of duty. What poses more of a deterrent, it seems is where
fellow female peacekeepers threaten to report their indiscretions to their wives
as a female peacekeeper explains: ‘They are afraid that the female peacekeepers
will report them to their girlfriends and wives back home, for misdemeanours’. The
problem here is that where women are expected to ‘police’ their male colleagues,
this can result in additional resentment and discrimination against them.
Ability to Address Sexual Violence
This links to the next claim, namely that local women are more likely to report
cases of sexual violence to female peacekeepers. Resolution 1888 notes
that ‘women and children afected by armed conict may feel more secure
Bouta and Frerks, Women’s Roles in Conlict Prevention.
DeGroot, ‘A Few Good Women’.
Elisabeth Rehn and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, ‘Executive Summary: Women, War, Peace’ in
Progress of the World’s Women (New York: ).
Mazurana and Piza-Lopez, Gender Mainstreaming in Peace Support Operations, p. 33.
Jennings, Women’s Participation in Peacekeeping Operations.
Maxi Schoeman, ‘Gender and Peacekeeping in Southern Africa’, Gender, Peace and Security
(Pretoria: Institute for Security Studies, 2010).
Simiç, ‘Does the Presence of Women Really Matter?
Doreen Carvajal, A Female Approach to Peacekeeping [Online] Available: http://video
.nytimes.com/ video/2010/03/05/world/africa/1247467273884/securing-the-peace-in-liberia
.html? ref=unitednations [June 21, 2013].
Resolution 1888 (2009:2).
journal of international peacekeeping 19 (2015) 227-248
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working with and reporting abuse to women in peacekeeping missions’. Once
more this depends on whether these female peacekeepers are able to interact
with the local population, as well as the level of trust aforded them. There
have been no studies that show a signicant increase in reporting of once
female peacekeepers are present. In fact, numerous studies indicate that
locals are more likely to see the ‘uniform’ than the gender of the peacekeeper.
In terms of the ndings of this study, what was surprising is that despite the
extremely high levels of rape in the and Darfur/Sudan, not a single
South African female peacekeeper mentioned having to deal with a case of
sexual violence. This relates to the critique above and is aptly explained by a
female ocer:
When they see us, they see us all as peacekeepers, it does not matter if
you are a man or woman. It is strange for them to see a lady peacekeeper,
so they don’t know how to place us. There is also the issue of trust. If they
report it to us and it is the rebels, then they don’t know if we are going to
report it to the rebels again. The rebels may then attack them again – so
they are scared.
Furthermore, the female peacekeepers explained that they are not trained to
deal with cases of sexual violence and because of this do not know how to
assist, or in some cases even where to refer the women for help as reected in
the following comment:
We are not told how to help those people who are raped, but I think in a
country like Sudan it’s really hard to help those people. They tell you, you
only have two options if someone tries to rape you. You do it or you die.
Upon enquiry, a female captain conrmed that she never received any gender
awareness training. That she has only ever received ‘pure’ military training.
Most of the female peacekeepers felt that they would like to assist because they
can see what is happening on the ground, but they are not mandated to deal
with this. When asked what they would do if confronted with such a case, they
typically replied that they would refer them to the medics or psychologists, or
the s that handle such issues – this was not their job. They saw their role
Karamé, ‘Military Women in Peace Operations’.
Sara Merger, ‘Rape of the Congo: Understanding Sexual Violence in the Conict in the
Democratic Republic of Congo’, Journal of Contemporary African Studies, vol. 28, no. 2,
2010, pp. 119–137.
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journal of international peacekeeping 19 (2015) 227-248
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more in terms of protecting women from sexual violence, than dealing with
victims of such violence.
Services to the Local Community
The same relates to the provision of services to the local community.
Peacekeepers are generally deployed to provide security and to protect the local
populations. Their tasks often include providing protection to local women
when fetching rewood, water and food, or when they are on their way to use
ablution facilities in camps. These are times when women are often at increased
risk of sexual violence. There have also been occasions when peacekeepers,
such as the all-female unit based in Liberia have provided self-defence classes
to local women to enable them to better protect themselves. In this regard,
South African peacekeepers were probed on whether female peacekeepers
were better placed to address the security concerns of local women.
Across the board this was refuted. Both male and female peacekeepers
stated that because men are traditionally seen as the protectors, local women
prefer to engage with men around issues of their security and protection.
A female peacekeeper stated:
It is a misconception that women enhance the security of local women.
Peacekeepers are there to protect them and men are seen as better at this.
They communicate their security needs to men. Men are the symbol of
protection.
The problem with this is that in countries like Darfur/Sudan, where women are
not permitted to speak to the male peacekeepers, that their specic security
concerns or contributions may not be heard. As peacekeepers are primarily
there to provide security, few report that they provide any other services to the
local population. Now and again when patrolling, the local women may
approach a female peacekeeper to assist with a problem, but as one female
peacekeeper said:
The women talk very little. If they communicate to the women peace-
keepers it is asking things such as if one does not have old clothes for
H. Patricia Hynes, ‘On the Battleeld of Women’s Bodies: An Overview of the Harm of War
to Women’, Women’s Studies International Forum, vol. 27, 2004, pp. 431–445.
Kristen Cordell, ‘Women in International Peacekeeping’, in D. Kraus, R. Enholm &
A. Bowen (eds.), .. Engagement in International Peacekeeping: From Aspiration to
Implementation (Washington, ..: Citizens for Global Solutions Education Fund, 2011).
journal of international peacekeeping 19 (2015) 227-248
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them, or water bottles or things that they can use. They won’t come to you
to discuss issues relating to their security unless you ask them. They will
only come to you to ask you to assist them with their daily needs, but
when it comes to their security, then they will rather speak to the men.
But even this they do cautiously because they don’t want to be seen
speaking to men.
Most peacekeepers felt that the locals saw them more in terms of assisting
them with their daily needs, than providing security. Food security was consid-
ered just as important as their physical protection, but it was dicult to pro-
vide either as a Sergeant Major who served in the explained:
When you come to the village, the village is not there … nobody is in the
village. During the day they are out in the elds or market and during
the night their houses are empty … because they get raped and pillaged.
Even their possessions are not in their houses, but hidden between the
banana plantations. This is typical of the villages … in the towns it is dif-
ferent. The villages are more damaged and traumatised than the cities.
So then they leave for the city and then walk 15 kilometres to where they
are cultivating food and then walk back – so they farm on the fringes of
the town.
Based on the preceding discussion, one cannot say that women peacekeepers
are making a unique contribution to peacekeeping operations on this aspect,
especially where they have neither the training, capacity, nor the mandate to
intervene in specic circumstances.
Gender Equality and Non-Discrimination
To a large extent, the ability to make a diference and change the attitudes of
the locals is inuenced by the cultural context. The claim is made that where
women are deployed together with men, that they are able to inuence deeply
entrenched patriarchal attitudes. As such, female peacekeepers are viewed
as role models able to break down traditional views of men as providers of
security and women as consumers, and are in a position to encourage local
women to join peace committees, the police or military. In this regard, there
seems to be some evidence to suggest that female peacekeepers do act as a
mobilising factor for local women, encouraging them to join their own police
Hudson, ‘Mainstreaming Gender in Peacekeeping Operations’.
Carey, ‘Women and Peace and Security’.
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journal of international peacekeeping 19 (2015) 227-248
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or military forces. For example, the presence of an Indian all-female unit in the
mission to Liberia () reportedly led to the Liberian national police
receiving three times the normal number of female applicants in the months
after the unit’s deployment. However, the ability to inuence gender norms
depends on the country in which one is deployed and whether women are suf-
ciently visual in terms of their numbers and the roles they full.
With reference to the experience of South African peacekeepers, most
were dubious whether they could inuence traditional norms, especially in a
country like Sudan. Here the interaction with the local population was not
only limited by language, but cultural constraints that often evoked hostility,
as one female rieman explained:
The ladies in Sudan, they don’t like our South African ladies because they
do not behave similarly, they don’t like women wearing trousers. They
think South African ladies do not respect their culture. The men don’t like
us talking to the ladies, I think they think we will corrupt them.
This being said, respondents did feel that the mere fact that local women can
see female soldiers patrolling alongside men was inspiring, as reected in the
following experience in the :
We went to the village and there were a lot of school girls walking together.
We took of our helmets and they saw that we were women. You should
have seen the excitement on their faces, so they wanted to talk to us. They
cannot speak to the male peacekeepers. It is not allowed. They showed us
their proudness.
This being said, where female peacekeepers are not represented in signicant
numbers and where their identity is concealed behind their helmets, it is
unlikely that they are able to have a signicant efect on local attitudes. Even
where local women may want to embrace equality and challenge patriarchy,
this may pose a threat to themselves. This necessitates that peacekeepers
have a solid grasp of gender dynamics of host nations and how their actions
can either protect or undermine local women’s insecurity and vulnerability.
When probing this, I found a general lack of gender awareness among those
interviewed.
Megan Bastick, Integrating Gender in Post-Conlict Security Sector Reform (Geneva: Geneva
Centre for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (), 2008).
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Community-Based Intelligence
The need for gender and cultural awareness is imperative for intelligence.
There are many claims that female peacekeepers are able to enhance the intel-
ligence of a mission, given that they are able to interact with local women
more informally. A frequently cited example is the case of the all-female
Ghanaian battalion that improved intelligence-gathering by developing good
relations with the local community (Cordell, 2011). Karamé also reports how
Norwegian female soldiers in Lebanon spent a lot of time socialising with local
women, which enhanced their ability to gather intelligence. Women and
children are generally seen as good informants, and female peacekeepers do
interact with them better than men, but the problem, as a female rieman
points out is that ‘we are expected to gather information, but as troops, we do not
get any specic intelligence training’. A senior female intelligence ocer who
served in the explained that men are often better at gaining information
from local women:
The people who gather the information are the normal troops [men],
because he is doing his ‘own thing’ and meets a girlfriend, that’s where he
gets his information. With a female you need to use your communication
skills. He does not need communication skills, he just gets a girlfriend.
The information that I got was from the troops, when they were doing
their rounds.
What this demonstrates is that women peacekeepers are only really able to
gather information from local communities where they have access, can speak
the language, are culturally accepted by the locals, and in specic instances
where gender matters. To conclude this section, what one sees is that there are
numerous factors that undermine the optimal use of women on peace mis-
sions. Much of this has to do with the masculine nature of the military and
peace missions themselves.
Masculinities and the Limits on Women’s Potential Capacity
Although peacekeeping operations require greater sensitivity and empathy
from peacekeepers, this runs counter to their training which remains steeped
Karamé, ‘Military Women in Peace Operations’.
Ibid.
Mobekk, ‘Gender Women and Security Sector Reform’.
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in the warrior ethos and hegemonic masculinities. The dichotomy is that femi-
nine traits are generally not valued by the military. Soldiers whether male or
female, in fact ‘must demonstrate an absence of emotion and a willingness to
use violence … they must according to Whitworth ‘kill the women in them’.
In fact, all things ‘feminine’ are generally disparaged by the military. Military
training in national armies, continue to prepare soldiers (and peacekeepers)
for combat emergencies and high intensity warghting. This has become
even more evident in recent years, where many of the peace missions in Africa
take place under Chapter of the Charter. Peacekeeping has in many
respects become as tough, dangerous and challenging as war.
In the following section, it is explained how the embodiment of hegemonic
militarised masculinities, as well as the hyper-masculine peacekeeping envi-
ronment undermines the ability of women to make a diference and function
as equals in peace operations.
The Masculine ‘Warrior’ Peacekeeper
In terms of the peacekeeper prole ‘the foundation for efective peacekeeping
is general purpose combat training and this has become even more so given
the complex and dangerous peace missions of the post-Cold War era’. This
means that typically peacekeeping troops are drawn from the infantry which
requires soldiers to be not only physically and mentally strong, but able to
serve for lengthy periods in the eld and engage with enemy re if required.
This is a masculine environment, steeped in the warrior ethos which is con-
structed around ideas of physical strength, bravery, and aggression and where
attributes such as sensitivity and empathy are generally discouraged. In
many countries the infantry corps remains closed to women, which explains
why their numbers in peacekeeping remain low. In South Africa women are
permitted to serve in the infantry, but still do not constitute a critical mass and
Sandra Whitworth, Men, Militarism and Peacekeeping (London: Lynne Rienner
Publishers, 2004).
Helena Carreiras, ‘Gendered Culture in Peacekeeping Operations’, International
Peacekeeping, vol. 17, no. 4, 2010, pp. 471–485.
Christopher Dandeker, and James Gow, ‘Military Culture and Strategic Peacekeeping’,
Small Wars and Insurgencies, vol. 10, no. 2, 1999, pp. 58–70.
Duncanson, ‘Forces for Good?’.
Sandra Whitworth, Men, Militarism and Peacekeeping (London: Lynne Rienner
Publishers, 2004), p. 152.
Duncanson, ‘Forces for Good?’.
Cynthia Enloe, The Morning After: Sexual Politics at the End of the Cold Ear (Berkeley, :
University of California Press, 1993).
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tend to come under enormous performance pressure. This is aptly reected in
the comment made by a young female corporal:
We receive exactly the same training. If they run, then we must also run.
If they pick up heavy stuf, we are told to also pick it up. Sometimes they
tell you to do things and you can see, he can do it, but I can’t, it is impos-
sible. There are some things that are very dicult for women to do. It is
not impossible. For example, like carrying the sandbags, but we cannot
do it at the pace that the men do it, so we are always behind. Sometimes
as a lady, you do not have the same strength. But sometimes you look
behind and you see guys behind you and then you think … hey … I am
better than some of those guys. There are ladies that are stronger and
faster than some of the guys. [But] they are always saying the infantry is
not a place for women, but we are doing the same training as them.
In this regard, a Regimental Sergeant Major commented that while he was not
opposed to women in the infantry, the problem lies with recruitment – ‘if we
have to accommodate women in the infantry, then at least send me strong women’.
But, even where women did cope with the training, their minority status meant
that they continue to experience all the negative efects of tokenism linked to
performance pressure, social isolation and role encapsulation as reected in
the following comment made by a female Corporal:
Us women are always in the minority. There are generally only a few
women in the section. They [men] break down my morale seriously. They
do not give the women any credit … they always just think we are slowing
them down. They will not give the women credit, and when she achieves,
they all talk about it. They say things like do you think you are special.
Then I think, how can you say I am special when I am doing the same
things as you. Sometimes I feel it is like a crime being a lady in this organ-
isation. Some of us, we are even thinking of quitting. It is like it is a sin
being a lady in this organisation. We are still soldiers, but we are women.
The has approached gender integration from a classical equal rights,
gender-neutral perspective. This has meant that little consideration is given to
gender diference which can undermine the ability of women to function as
equals. This is aptly reected in the comment of one young female troop:
Janice Yoder, ‘Rethinking Tokenism: Looking Beyond Numbers’, Gender and Society, vol. 5,
no. 2, 1991, pp. 178–92.
‘’
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The ap-jackets don’t t us, the trousers don’t t us, nothing in this organ-
isation is designed for women. The boots I wear are two sizes too big.
I wear size 3 and there are no army boots that are size 3, so I have to wear
extra socks and it is so dicult to walk in these big boots. You just don’t
have a choice, you must just cope. Because your boots don’t t your feet,
they become swollen and your toenails become blue. They say it is a
man’s world. We challenge this but … eish [expression of exasperation]…
nothing happens.
Most found the infantry a hostile environment and the majority interviewed
stated that they did not want to serve in the infantry. One stated that “I hate this
beret with all my heart … I was sent here”. Many were placed in the infantry to
bolster the number of women for deployment on peacekeeping operations, or
because there were no other available posts. Those that liked the infantry did
so because they considered it more manly, or soldierly, or because they wanted
to show the men that ‘women can do it’. What the voices of the women reect
is that they have no choice but to conform and assimilate masculine values,
norms and practices to be judged as capable soldiers. They have to assume
what many term a ‘militarized masculinity’, understood as the ability to ‘dem-
onstrate an absence of emotion and a willingness to use violence’—they must
excise all that is perceived to be feminine.
Male soldiers cited many incidents where they felt that women lacked both
the aggressiveness and bravery to serve on peacekeeping missions. A male
peacekeeper related a story of a female platoon commander whose section
came under re. He stated that ‘she had so much fright in her face. Was it not
that she had an experienced sergeant who was able to give her the support and
take control, then I don’t know. When we arrived back at base, she could not talk,
she was so afraid’. In another incident, they came into contact with the
Janjaweed in Sudan, ‘The lady just left her weapon and her post and ran to the
Headquarters. All the women are like this – there are only a few that are able to
cope’. Another stated that, ‘under training they are normally good, but when we
get the contact, things change … they get too confused, lose focus and don’t act
immediately under command’. Related to this is the emotional stress that the
atrocities of war place on seen to place on women.
Now on patrols you come across a woman who has been raped, killed and
had her breasts cut of by the rebels – the women can’t handle this – it is
Whitworth, Men, Militarism and Peacekeeping.
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dicult even for us. So I will say there is a place for women in the military,
but not in the frontline.
What these comments indicate is that many of the male peacekeepers consid-
ered women physically, psychologically and emotionally less capable of serving
on peacekeeping missions in infantry type roles. What needs to be mentioned
here is that most of the South African female peacekeeping troops on the
ground are young women, often on their rst deployment. They serve alongside
older, more experienced ‘hardened’ male soldiers, who see these ‘young girls’ as
a liability, especially in hyper-masculine peacekeeping contexts.
Hyper-Masculine Peacekeeping Context
Hyper-masculinity is characterised by excessive violence, weapon use, domi-
nance over women, disregard of women’s rights and sexual violence Even
where national armed forces, like the espouse gender equality the
peacekeeping environment remains hostile to women. Diferent forms of gen-
der and sexual harassment serve to exclude, suppress or threaten women.
Virtually all the women in leadership positions explained how their authority
was denigrated by the local national and rebel forces. This undermines and
belittles women, as explained by a female Captain who served as an intelli-
gence ocer in the :
They are not interested in my work, or how capable I am. They would
rather speak to my Lieutenant. They simply ignore you. An ocer from
came to me and told me straight, I will respect you for your
rank, but that’s all that I will do. This is because I am a woman. It has
nothing to do with how ecient I am. What he was actually saying is
that he will not deal with me. In Africa, women are just not respected
and there is nothing you can do about it’. She went on to explain how,
this same person immediately saw her as someone to have sex with.
‘There is this ugly practice in our environment, that when you greet a
woman and shake her hand, they tickle the inside of your palm. This is
an invitation to have sex. Nearly all the Congolese men did this when
greeting me.
Merle E. Hamburger, Matthew Hogben, Stephanie McGowan, Lori J. Dawson, ‘Assessing
Hyper-gender Ideologies: Development and Initial Validation of a Gender-neutral
Measure of Adherence to Extreme Gender-Role Beliefs’, Journal of Research in Personality,
vol. 30, no. 2, 1996, pp. 157–178.
‘’
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Based on this it is clear that women in positions of authority are often under-
mined and the threat of sexual harassment and abuse is omnipresent. This was
aptly described by a male peacekeeper in relation to their interaction with the
rebels:
Those rebels … they are naughty those rebels. When the ladies are with
us, the rebels will just make funny moves towards the women. They say
things like, this woman, if I can have this woman … I want this lady …
they say stuf like that. They don’t look at her as if she is a soldier doing a
job. They want that woman for sex. The rebels always do that. So we lie to
the rebels. We tell them, this woman … jo, jo, jo … she is strong … this
weapon, she can shoot you, she can kill you. They must know our women
are dangerous, but we ourselves, we know in our heart it is not like this,
but we can’t tell the rebels this.
Women peacekeepers are often told to conceal their identity, not only to pro-
tect themselves from possible sexual harassment or abuse, but to avoid hostil-
ity, as explained by a female rieman:
The rebels, especially in Sudan, don’t like it that South Africa has female
soldiers. Now our own male soldiers don’t want us with them, because
they know the rebels don’t like it, that we have women peacekeepers – so
now we cannot show that we are women. They tell us to tuck in our hair
under our steel helmet so that the rebels can’t see that we are women. We
have masks for the dust, so they can’t see you are a woman unless you
remove your steel helmet.
Some male peacekeepers reported that in Dafur/Sudan, they were targeted by
the Janjaweed because they knew South Africa had female peacekeepers.
When asked why, they stated that it was because the rebels considered it disre-
spectful to their culture to have female soldiers. They explained that this
undermined their (the rebels) status as men. The consequence of this is that
female peacekeepers were seen to pose a ‘gendered’ security risk, by not only
weakening the capacity of sections and platoons, but making them more vul-
nerable to attack. By concealing their identity, or excluding them from certain
interactions was a way to partially overcome this. Female peacekeepers
This is a typical South African slang word used to emphasize something, or show
surprise.
journal of international peacekeeping 19 (2015) 227-248
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explained how they were often told to remain in the armoured vehicles and
were made to feel that their presence was a liability, as reected in the follow-
ing quote by a female peacekeeper:
I think our guys feel that we are a security risk – rape and so on …. so they
hide us in the Mamba in order for the rebels not to see us. This means
that you as a woman are also maybe putting that section’s life in danger
because those rebels won’t be happy with the fact that there are women.
This exclusion was justied not only in terms of the ‘gendered’ security risk
women posed, but due to the political implications if they were not able to
protect ‘their’ female peacekeepers, as reected in the following quote made
by a male Regimental Sergeant Major:
Can you imagine women coming back in body bags? As a man, you must
be prepared to die and this is accepted by society, but not women coming
back in body bags. Then the next question will be …why could you not
protect the women. It is natural for men to be in the war, we are making
an amendment to allow women … but at what costs … it is at the cost of
everyone.
What the preceding section shows is how multiple masculinities, patriarchy
and sexism undermines the optimum utilization of women on peace opera-
tions and ability to function as equals. These are the realities on the ground,
which cut through the rhetoric associated with women in peacekeeping
operations.
Conclusions
A number of important deductions can be made based on the existing litera-
ture and the ndings of this study. First, is that although it is recognized that
women have the ability to make a unique contribution to peacekeeping this
The Mamba is a South African armoured vehicle used during peacekeeping missions.
Orna Sasson-Levy, ‘Feminism and Military Gender Practices: Israeli Women Solider in
Masculine Roles’, Sociological Inquiry, vol. 73, no. 3, 2003, pp. 440–465; Sabine Koeszegi,
Eva Zedlacher, and Rene Hudribusch, ‘The War Against the Female Soldier? The Efects of
Masculine Culture on Workplace Aggression’, Armed Forces and Society, vol. 40, no. 2, 2014,
pp. 226–251.
‘’
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cannot be generalised, and is context-specic. A range of factors including lan-
guage, culture and race, as well as the legitimacy of the peacekeeping forces
inuence their optimal utilization. As Jennings states ‘one cannot assume
that the simple act of being a women will transcend the economic, cultural,
linguistic and possibly religious, racial or other ethnic diferences’ that inu-
ence attitudes. Given their small numbers and where the identity of women
are concealed behind their helmets, their value and inuence remain limited.
Nonetheless, in general the evidence provided does show that deploying
gender-mixed sections and platoons is benecial to operational success.
The second is that female peacekeepers are often not equipped with the
necessary skills to make a diference ‘as women’, given the training they
receive. They receive the same training as men and are deployed in the same
roles. They are not given specialist training in terms of how to interact with
the local population, gather intelligence or deal with cases of sexual violence.
In fact, most knew very little if anything about the gender dynamics in these
communities and in some cases there was a general lack of cultural awareness.
This inuenced their ability to identify what the specic security needs of
women were, how to protect them, or where to refer them to if they have to
deal with a case of sexual violence. What this means is that the ability of
female peacekeepers to make a diference is limited by their training, which is
often gender-neutral and where they are expected to act and perform func-
tions ‘just like men’.
The third key issue is how masculinities afect the ability of women to func-
tion as equals. This study has shown how masculinity is embedded in each and
every layer of the military: in the training, the culture, the uniform and the
technology. Where female peacekeepers are drawn from the infantry, they have
to conform to, and assimilate masculine values. Both in terms of their training
and on deployment, the hegemony of the warrior model makes it dicult for
women to function as equals. Female peacekeepers are ‘othered’ due to their
physical inferiority, the perceived inability of women to cope with the psycho-
logical stresses of operations and unsuitability to serve in combat-type roles.
This makes it exceedingly dicult for women to infuse a gender perspective
where their performance and contribution are evaluated according to mascu-
line norms and values.
This relates to the fourth key nding namely that women are perceived to
pose a ‘gendered’ security risk, especially in hyper-masculine contexts where
women are seen as sexual objects and where they threaten existing gender
power relations. Where women serve in positions of authority they are often
Jennings, Women's Participation in Peacekeeping Operations, p. 9.
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not respected and diferent forms of gender and sexual harassment are used to
denigrate them. The threat of rape serves to further erode women’s agency,
especially where they are excluded or hidden by male peacekeepers due to the
threat or hostility their presence may pose. In this regard, both the threat of
rape and the potential political consequences this may pose are used to justify
the restrictions on the utilization of women in peacekeeping. In this way, not
only are old stereotypes replicated, but they are used to undermine the pros-
pect of an equal partnership between men and women in peacekeeping.
In reality what this means is that it becomes virtually impossible to imbue
alternative ways of dealing with and resolving conict where the ‘feminine’ is
not valued, is suppressed, or where it is seen as a threat, or liability. The only
way to ‘re-gender’ the military is to stop privileging masculinity over femininity
and this is not likely where peacekeeping remains steeped in the warrior ethos,
and the hyper-masculine operational context remains hostile to women. This
necessitates a closer introspection in terms of how women are trained,
deployed and supported on peacekeeping operations if the ideals advocated in
gender mainstreaming and Resolution 1325 are to be realised.
Hayley Lopes, Militarized Masculinity in Peacekeeping Operations: An Obstacle to
Gender Mainstreaming, http://peacebuild.ca/Lopes%20website%20ready.pdf [August 1,
2014].
Annica Kronsell, ‘Gendered Practices in Institutions of Hegemonic Masculinity’,
International Feminist Journal of Politics, vol. 7, no. 2, 2005, pp. 280–298.
