No ordinary women: How Canada can increase the number of women serving in UN peace operations

Ever since the passage of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325, the international body has committed itself to strengthening the role of women in all aspects of conflict resolution. However, female participation in peacekeeping has stagnated, and only a small percentage of military members deployed on UN peace operations are women. This research examines women's participation in peacekeeping from a public policy perspective and presents a number of policy options that would allow Canada to increase the proportion of uniformed female personnel deployed on modern peacekeeping operations. The research found that the main factors associated with the low percentage of female peacekeepers include: the small numbers of women within the armed forces who can be deployed as peacekeepers; a culture within the military that is hostile towards women, and; the fact that Canada has not fully recommitted itself to UN peacekeeping.