News & Analysis Insights & Analysis

Advancing Women’s Participation in Security Institutions and Peace Operations: Gains, Gaps, and What to Do Next

  • Agathe Christien

(The views expressed are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations, UN Women, or the Elsie Initiative Fund (EIF) for Uniformed Women in Peace Operations) 

This month marks the 25th anniversary of United Nations Security Council resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security (WPS), which called for advancing women’s participation, ensuring prevention and protection, and supporting relief and recovery across peace and security. As the world takes stock, I want to share what I’ve witnessed through my work with more than ten military and police institutions—from Senegal and Togo to Ghana and Uruguay—as they turn the WPS agenda into daily practice.

What Has Worked

Senior leadership commitment: In hierarchical security institutions, when leaders are committed, things move quickly. Consistent advocacy and trust-building with the chain of command have been decisive in turning policy statements into concrete action to advance women’s participation.
 
Role models: Nominating women in leadership and non-traditional roles has widened the pathway for other women. Senegal Police and the Gendarmerie[1] nominated their first women commanders to command Formed Police Units (FPUs) deployed to UN peace operations. The Gendarmerie subsequently appointed its first woman legion commander. Women in the police units also moved into non-traditional roles—such as drivers and auto mechanics. These visible trailblazers are motivating more women to take up operational posts and aim for leadership, which in turn is creating momentum for change.

Recruitment and human resource planning: To grow the pipeline of women, the Ghana Armed Forces reached 21,470 high-school and tertiary students—including 15,281 young women—through regional sensitization tours about military careers. Women’s share of recruits rose from 16 percent to 26 percent between 2021 and 2024. The Togo Armed Forces ran similar outreach in schools and universities in 2023—meeting communities where they are rather than relying only on journées portes ouvertes (Open Days)—which helped debunk stereotypes about women in uniform and strengthened civilian–military relations.

Evidence-based project design: More than 20 security institutions have applied the Measuring Opportunities for Women in Peacekeeping (MOWIP) methodology to rigorously identify opportunities and obstacles to women’s meaningful participation within their national services and in UN peace operations. Recurrent barriers include adverse social norms, household constraints, a limited pool of eligible women, and inadequate gender-sensitive infrastructure. Findings from these assessments have expanded the evidence base, raised institutional awareness of gender issues, and informed the design of targeted projects that directly address these barriers.

Exam prep training: Targeted preparation for UN and national examinations has boosted women’s pass rates and confidence. In 2025, the Senegal Gendarmerie ran a women-only pre-Assessment for Mission Service/Selection Assistance and Assessment Team (AMS/SAAT), which included training for 50 female gendarmes one week before the exams on manual driving, firearms, information technology, and report writing. Of these 50 women, 38 were selected to sit the exams and 29 passed—a 76 percent success rate versus 59 percent in 2022 (19 women). The 2025 prep both increased the number of candidates and raised success rates, expanding the pool of women eligible for deployment as Individual Police Officers (IPOs) to UN peace operations.

Gender-sensitive infrastructure: Appropriate accommodation, ablutions, and childcare address household constraints that limit women’s ability to join, progress, train, and deploy. These are operational enablers, not add-ons. In Senegal, for example, the Gendarmerie opened its first daycare, enabling women to maintain continuity in their careers and better balance operational commitments with family responsibilities.

Innovative pilots: Household responsibilities weigh heavily on uniformed women and single fathers. To address these constraints, the Uruguay Armed Forces are piloting education and transport benefits for their children. With Elsie Initiative Fund (EIF) support, the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) will pilot gender-sensitive equipment and relocatable ablution units for women peacekeepers deployed to remote areas and on long-duration patrols.

Financial incentives: The EIF provides financial incentives to countries for the deployment of Gender-Strong Units (GSUs) to UN peace operations: a military contingent or formed police unit that has a substantial number of women across ranks and roles, including in senior leadership and technical positions. The financial incentives are provided in the form of a premium that can be reinvested in measures such as gender-responsive equipment and gender-sensitive infrastructure facilities. These measures enable more women to train, remain, and deploy— creating a reinforcing cycle of progress.

The results were visible: The Senegal Gendarmerie increased the share of women from 14 percent in 2023 to 22 percent in a formed police unit deployed to the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), including one platoon commander, one liaison officer, four section chiefs, and one auto-electrician. Similarly, the number of women of Ghana’s military contingent to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) increased from 18 percent to 19 percent during the first GSU rotation, and to 20 percent in the next rotation, over two consecutive years, including 15 officers.
 
Beyond the numbers, GSUs have opened up more diversified roles. The Senegal Police deployed the first midwife in a MONUSCO GSU. Women also moved from gender-stereotypical roles, such as cooks, to operational positions joining escorts and patrols: “In my previous deployments, I was only working in the kitchen as a cook. In MONUSCO, as an FPU member, I joined escorts, patrols, and public-order trainings, served as a gender focal point on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA) prevention, and coached evening sports. I had much more responsibility.” — Senegal National Police FPU member

What Hasn’t Worked Well

Policy implementation gaps: While the development of gender policies is a key milestone for some of these institutions, implementation has lagged without dedicated funding, strong monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems, and continuity across leadership changes.

Limited sustainability planning: Too much activity is short-term and donor-dependent, with ad hoc approaches to increasing and retaining women in forces and in deployments. Pre-deployment prep, assessments, and refreshers should sit in routine HR cycles. To foster sustainability, training should include training of trainers, gender modules should be embedded across police/military schools, and policies should be anchored in standard operating procedures, budgets, and HR systems so gains survive leadership and funding cycles.
 
Volatile socio-political contexts: Elections, unrest, regime changes, and coups have affected several security institutions. Priorities can shift overnight, and leadership turnover can undo progress. A conflict-sensitive lens is needed: conduct and update risk assessments, monitor mitigation measures, and keep programming flexible so gains are protected while continuing to advance women’s participation where feasible.

Entrenched norms: Some men still view gender equality initiatives as zero-sum (“decreasing the number of men”) or equate gender with “women only.” We need to engage men as allies, nominate and train them as gender focal points or gender advisors so that gender issues are no longer considered a women’s area.

Time horizons: Change is slow in security institutions. In many contexts, women only recently entered non-medical roles. Progression to senior ranks is measured in decades, not years. Recent recruitment will take time to show up in leadership in national security institutions and in UN peacekeeping.

What To Do Next

  • Engage men and tackle adverse norms at all levels. Start in entry-level training at police and military schools; continue through the chain of command to senior leadership.
  • Be realistic and think long-term. Expect non-linear progress and plan for leadership turnover and personnel rotations.
  • Resource and monitor policy implementation. Pair every policy with an M&E system, a dedicated budget, and adequate human resources.
  • Keep funding innovations—and measure them. Test context-specific solutions (gender-sensitive equipment, family benefits) and track results rigorously.

As we mark 25 years of UNSCR 1325, sustaining progress requires multi-year financing, security-institution specific pilots, and a clear learning agenda that measures outcomes, captures lessons, and uses evidence to scale or course-correct.

Agathe Christien is a Project Coordination Specialist with the Elsie Initiative Fund for Uniformed Women in UN Peace Operations, a UN Multi-Partner Trust Fund hosted by UN Women. In this role, she collaborates with national security institutions, UN Women country offices, and UN peace operations on projects that advance women’s participation in security institutions and peacekeeping deployments. Prior to joining UN Women, she worked with the World Bank on gender and social inclusion, and served as the 2019-2020 Hillary Rodham Clinton research fellow at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security.

[1] The National Gendarmerie is a paramilitary police force operating under the Ministry of Armed Forces. Its mandate includes maintaining public order, enforcing national laws, and contributing to the protection of national security.

Explore More

All News & Analysis