Towards Equal Opportunity for Women in the Defence Sector

Advancing equal opportunities for women in defence is of paramount importance for keeping, building, and sustaining peace. Representation and diversity allow Member States to leverage broadened skillsets and improves operational effectiveness as well as community trust. The need for diverse perspective and skills in the defence sector is more critical than ever. Through security sector reform, governments can work towards the full, equal, safe and meaningful participation of women in security and defence institutions. Security Council resolutions emphasize the importance of women’s participation in national security sectors and calls on Member States to implement reforms that address and remove legal and institutional barriers to women’s participation in the security and defence sectors. Additionally, this year world leaders adopted the Pact for the Future, which underscored that women’s equal participation is crucial to achieving and sustaining peace, security and development. To take stock of the status of women in defence the United Nations developed the first-ever United Nations Report on Equal Opportunity for Women in the Defence Sector, further to the recommendation of Secretary-General Guterres in his latest Report on strengthening security sector reform. This report puts forward a set of recommendations – based on Member States’ legislation, policies and practices – on measures countries could consider adopting to enhance the full, equal, and meaningful participation of women in defence.