More Women Peacekeepers Needed in Africa

Only 2.3 percent of the 88,661 military peacekeepers around the world are women; a number that has increased by only 0.2% in the past two years, despite the efforts of a 5-year campaign on the part of U.N Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to lift the percentage of female peacekeepers to 10% in military units and 20% in police units.

The U.N Secretariat and the U.N Security Council have issued a number of resolutions and statements emphasizing the importance of having women peacekeepers, particularly in areas in which sexual violence against women is rampant. Yet still, the number of women in military peacekeeping contingents has hardly budged, and military officials working on peacekeeping missions insist that the goal of 10% is "completely unrealistic."

However, huge progress has been made in police units; women make up 8% of the 13,221 U.N police, and that number is growing. The first all-female police unit was deployed in Liberia in 2007, and according to a Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) gender affairs associate, it made a huge difference in encouraging Liberian women to come forward about incidents of sexual violence. Afterwords, the number of women in the National Police Force in Liberia jumped from 13% to 15%. Meanwhile, Nigeria has send another all-female unit to Liberia, and hundreds of female police officers from Rwanda, Ghana, Gambia, Tanzania, Namibia, Zimbabwe, and Bangladesh have signed up for work in Darfur.

Why is there such resistance on the part of the military to work towards an increased number of women troops? Two percent is a paltry, insulting number, and apparently military officials have failed to acknowledge that purporting to aid female victims of sexual violence with mostly male troops is far more "unrealistic" than increasing the number of female troops. The military's resistance on this issue means that the women who have suffered from rape and torture as a result of war are far less likely to receive the help, support, and encouragement they need, and more likely to keep silent before a sea of male faces.

Perhaps the example of the female police units in Liberia and Darfur, who are making a positive impact and encouraging the enrollment of female police officers across Asia and Africa, will force the Western militaries to acknowledge the importance of increasing the numbers of women in their ranks. Or perhaps preserving the old boy's club will prove more important than considering the needs of women around the world.

Photo credit: U.S Army Africa