Gender training and peacekeeping: does the reality match the rhetoric?

© 2016 Dr. Lisa CarsonThis thesis documents and analyses an element of peacekeeping training, namely Gender Training. The development of Gender Training began in 1998 in part due to peacekeepers ‘dreadful record on women’ over the previous two decades (Mackay 2005, p.266). Calls for the training were reinforced in 2000 when the United Nations (UN) Security Council adopted Resolution 1325 on ‘Women, Peace & Security’. Gender Training is a component of peacekeeping training that is intended to be included in three key stages of training which are Pre-Deployment, In-Mission and On-Going. According to the UN, the aim of the training is to ‘reduc[e] both harmful forms of behavior by peacekeeping personnel and unintended negative effects of mission policies’ (DPKO, 2004, p.45). Despite the rhetoric surrounding Gender Training and the time that has passed since the training was first implemented, there is very little research about how the training is carried out in practice. In order to fill this gap in the literature, this thesis critically investigates whether the reality of Gender Training matches the rhetoric. In order to do this in a valid and credible way, this thesis uses two case studies, which involve documentary research and analysis, observation and confidential interviewing with staff who work directly in the area of peacekeeping training. This thesis adds to feminist IR literature by providing a critical feminist analysis of how Gender Training is conducted. In addition, this thesis reveals how the concept of ‘gender’ appears to have hindered the implementation of Gender Training. Based on interview findings, this thesis shows how ‘gender’ appears to be defined and understood in a rather limited and depoliticised way that can be seen to undermine the intended aims and goals of Gender Training. The findings of this thesis are significant to peacekeeping training as well as wider discussions and debates about the evolution of the term and definition of ‘gender’ and how it is used and understood in policy and practice