Celebrated for the first time by the UN on 8 March, 1977, International Women’s Day serves as a way to mark women’s contributions all around the globe. One area where women’s contributions are particularly worthy of celebration is in United Nations peacekeeping missions. Since the deployment of the first peacekeeping mission in 1948 to 1989, the end of the Cold War, only twenty women served in peacekeeping missions. Since 2000, with the passing of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, women’s participation in peacekeeping has become a central tenant of mandates and operations. So, what is the current state of women’s participation in peacekeeping operations today? To what extent have peacekeeping missions realized gender equality in operations and been vehicles for promoting gender equality in post-conflict states?
Political Science