Informed by over 150 surveys and 14 interviews with military personnel, NATO elites, and force generators, this book provides a necessary challenge to the policies, processes, and assumptions that are often taken for granted in military organizational cultures of NATO and its member states.
NATOs buy-in to gender-sensitive policies and programming at the policy level was only formalized in 2007 with the NATO/EAPC Policy for the Implementation of the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda. The policy reiterates the importance of womens participation across NATO, its member states and partners in order to enhance operational effectiveness.
Determining what factors influence womens deployment and participation in the military is essential to meet NATO and member states ongoing commitments to gender equality and gender mainstreaming. This book exposes hidden resistances that hinder womens deployment on NATO operations through critical appraisal of NATOs gender architecture and policies, and comparing the perspectives of force generators and policy makers with the experiences of military personnel.
Meaghan Shoemaker (she/her/elle) is a collaborative scholar and policy practitioner whose work connects research, practice, and global engagement. Her international research and advisory work focus on organizational transformation and defence policy, with a commitment to human rights and intersectionality. She is a Research Fellow at the Queens University Centre for International and Defence Policy (CIDP) and Special Advisor on Gender and Diversity for the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research (CIMVHR). Dr. Shoemaker has led human rights policy development for the Canadian Armed Forces, and facilitated Canadas multilateral engagement in venues including the United Nations, Group of Twenty, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation on issues related to gender equality and intersectionality. As part of her wide-ranging expertise in security, she has also supported local capacity building and microfinancing programs for women entrepreneurs in Rwanda. Across academic, industry, government, and civil society contexts, her work is grounded in consultation, partnership, and the belief that meaningful change emerges through collective action.
