In addition to overall proportions of men and women participating in civilian crisis management it is also important to dig deeper into gender equality.
The UN Security Council Resolution 1325 Women, Peace and Security (WPS) is a landmark resolution that addresses the impact of armed conflict on women and girls and highlights the importance of women’s participation in peace and security efforts. The resolution was adopted in October 2000 and is thus marking its 25th anniversary this year. Finland is an active promoter of the WPS agenda and is currently implementing its fourth National Action Plan, to which CMC Finland also contributes.
CMC Finland emphasises the importance of a gender perspective in civilian crisis management. In practice, this has translated to mainstreaming gender perspectives into all trainings, raising awareness of WPS themes in the field of civilian crisis management and seconding Finnish 1325 experts to various missions, for instance. Increasing the number of women deployed to civilian crisis management positions has also been a key objective of Finland’s 1325 National Action Plans. CMC Finland’s goal is that women’s participation in civilian crisis management positions seconded by Finland would be at least 40 %. This is also one of the main objectives set in the EU’s Civilian CSDP Compact, and Finland is one of the few countries reaching this goal already. However, it is important to understand that gender parity should not be just about an overall 50-50 (or 40-40) divide between men’s and women’s participation. The ultimate goal should be that both men and women are represented at all levels and in all kinds of tasks and positions.
To further advance gender balance throughout CMC Finland’s secondments, an in-depth study was conducted to look at women and men’s deployments to acquire a better understanding of how deployments to different positions differ between men and women. In this process a categorisation of different civilian crisis management positions was created, and the report examines how actively women and men have applied for civilian crisis management positions seconded by CMC Finland, as well how many had been nominated, and finally, selected for these positions.
The report revealed that out of all the Finnish applicants to civilian crisis management positions 35 % were women and 65 % men. A closer look revealed that out of the 852 civilian crisis management positions CMC Finland opened for applications between 2019-2023, 54 % were in task categories that can be described male-dominated, meaning that a clear majority of both applicants and selected candidates were men. These included, for instance, police positions. Meanwhile, only 19 % of the positions were in female-dominated fields, which include for instance gender and human rights advisors.
The report suggests that a more systematic use of task categories could be an effective tool for monitoring and tracking the gendered nature of some civilian crisis management positions.
The findings of the report can be utilised in developing the work of CMC Finland, as well as the civilian crisis management field more broadly. You can find the summary of the report here: English / suomeksi.
You can also check out our previous publication looking at gender parity in Finnish civilian crisis management deployments: The Road to 40 %: Recruiting Women in Finnish Civilian Crisis Management.
