Deploying Feminism : The Role of Gender in NATO Military Operations

Résumé

A detailed account, based on fieldwork and interviews, of how Women, Peace and Security norms are militarized and put at the service of operational effectiveness.

International organizations and governments want to increase women’s participation in military operations and peacebuilding. Gender equality is increasingly seen as the antidote to conflict, a key factor in achieving stability. While feminist activism inspired the emergence of these norms on gender and conflict, they were institutionalized through the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, with the military at the forefront of those changes.

In Deploying Feminism, Stéfanie von Hlatky tells the story of how the military has been delegated authority to advance gender equality as part of their activities, while simultaneously tackling increasingly complex threats. Drawing upon fieldwork and interviews, she illustrates how NATO, the world’s foremost alliance, has even embedded these ideas in the planning and execution of its missions. For troops deployed on NATO missions, this often means seeking out women in their operating area to improve intelligence gathering activities. While this helps the mission, does it help women and conflict-affected communities? Because of the military’s focus on operational effectiveness above all else, von Hlatky argues that there is a distortion of WPS norms, as gender equality concerns fade into the background.

Looking at NATO’s ongoing operations in Iraq, Kosovo, and the Baltics, Deploying Feminism details the process by which Women, Peace and Security norms are militarized and put at the service of operational effectiveness. Further, it shows why an adjustment is necessary for gender equality to become a true planning priority.

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Auteure

Stéfanie von Hlatky est professeure agrégée au Département d’études politiques de l’Université Queen’s, Directrice du Centre for International and Defence Policy (CIDP) et co-directrice du Réseau d’analyse stratégique. Elle a obtenu son doctorat en science politique à l’Université de Montréal (2010), où elle a été directrice du Centre d’études sur la paix et la sécurité internationale (CEPSI). Avant de se joindre à Queen’s, elle travaillé à la Georgetown University, au Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, au Dartmouth College, à l’ETH Zurich et elle a été titulaire de la Fulbright Visiting Research Chair au Centre for Public Diplomacy de la University of Southern California.