NATO, Gender and the Military
This book examines NATOs engagement with gender issues through its military structures.
Drawing on newly declassified NATO documents, this volume provides the first comprehensive account of NATOs long-established engagement with gender issues. These documents bring to the fore the stories of the NATO women and gendermen who have organised within NATO across the decades to advocate on gender issues and highlights the continued challenges to pursuing transformative agendas within resistant institutions. The book argues that NATO is an institution of international hegemonic masculinity, with gender norms and values learned by member and partner states through socialisation and the engagement of a masculinist protection logic. It therefore provides an important context for NATOs recent implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda encapsulated in UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and the seven follow-up resolutions. The volume interrogates how Women, Peace and Security has mapped on to NATOs pre-existing concerns as a global security actor, providing impetus for further critical knowledge building of NATO which centres on gender.
This book will be of interest to students and scholars of NATO, Critical Military Studies, Gender Studies, Critical Security Studies and IR in general.
Katharine A. M. Wright is a Lecturer in International Politics at Newcastle University, UK.
Matthew Hurley is a Lecturer in Politics at Sheffield Hallam University, UK.
Jesus Ignacio Gil Ruiz was the former Chief of the NATO IMS Office of the Gender Advisor.
Routledge Studies in Gender and Security
Series Editors: Laura Sjoberg
University of Florida
and
Caron E. Gentry
University of St. Andrews
This series looks to publish books at the intersection of Gender Studies, International Relations, and Security Studies. It will publish a broad sampling of work in gender and security from private military companies to world wars, from food insecurity to battlefield tactics, from large-n to deconstructive, and across different areas of the world. In addition to seeking a diverse sampling of substantive work in gender and security, the series seeks a diverse author pool looking for cutting-edge junior scholars alongside more established authors, and authors from a wide variety of locations and across a spectrum of backgrounds.
Gender and the Genocide in Rwanda
Women as Rescuers and Perpetrators
Sara E. Brown
Gendering Military Sacrifice
A Feminist Comparative Analysis
Edited by Cecilia se and Maria Wendt
NATO, Gender and the Military
Women Organising from Within
Katharine A. M. Wright, Matthew Hurley and Jesus Ignacio Gil Ruiz
For more information about this series, please visit: www.routledge.com/Routledge-Studies-in-Gender-and-Security/book-series/RSGS
NATO, Gender and the Military
Women Organising from Within
Katharine A. M. Wright, Matthew Hurley and Jesus Ignacio Gil Ruiz
First published 2019
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
52 Vanderbilt Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
2019 Katharine A. M. Wright, Matthew Hurley and Jesus Ignacio Gil Ruiz
The right of Katharine A. M. Wright, Matthew Hurley and Jesus Ignacio Gil Ruiz to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Wright, Katharine A. M., author. | Hurley, Matthew M., author. | Gil Ruiz, Jesus, author.
Title: NATO, gender and the military : women organising from within / Katharine A. M. Wright, Matthew Hurley and Jesus Gil Ruiz.
Description: First edition. | Abingdon, Oxon ; N.Y., NY : Routledge, [2019] |
Series: Routledge studies in gender and security | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
Identifiers: LCCN 2019002228 (print) | LCCN 2019003987 (ebook) | ISBN 9780429489495 (Web PDF) | ISBN 9780429952067 (ePub) | ISBN 9780429952050 (Mobi) | ISBN 9781138593336 (hardback) | ISBN 9780429952074 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: North Atlantic Treaty Organization. | Women and the militaryWestern countries. | Western countriesArmed ForcesWomen. | MasculinityWestern countries. | Gender mainstreamingWestern countries. | Organizational changeWestern countries.
Classification: LCC UA646.3 (ebook) | LCC UA646.3 .W75 2019 (print) | DDC 355.0082/091821dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019002228
ISBN: 978-1-138-59333-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-429-95207-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear
To our long suffering partners.
Contents
Gender is not just women but also men.
In spring 2013, I was named Deputy Chair of the NATO Committee on Gender Perspectives (NCGP). Lt. Col. Jesus Ignacio Gil Ruiz was my tutor, with only three months to prepare me to be the Chair, NCGP. Together, with the Executive Committee, and eventually the NCGP, we navigated the transition from the Committee on Women in NATO Forces to NCGP with modified Terms of Reference to guide the Committee. This was not an easy process; but the Executive Committee, composed of gender experts, rewrote the Terms of Reference later approved by the Military Committee. This significant shift from focusing on women to focusing on gender reflects the progress NATO has made in recognising gender is part of everything NATO does.
In my work in the United States Army as the lead for coordinating the opening of 100,000 closed positions and 21 occupations to women from 2012 to 2015, I looked to what NATO member and partner countries have done in the area of gender issues. First, success and progress in this area only occurs when individuals at all levels support and strive together on gender issues. We have to pay attention to the historical context and learning lessons from NATOs long-established engagement with gender. The institutional context, when deeply gendered, helps explain the ways in which NATO has understood gender and developed policies accordingly. This book provides an excellent opportunity to learn what has happened previously to advance progressive institutional change.
The work of NATO Headquarters, member and partner nations and the individuals is recognised by the authors. However, their analysis, observations and recommendations are conducted from the feminist IR viewpoint. This is an unprecedented review of NATO Headquarters and its actions in how gender has been incorporated at all levels, strategic, operational, nations and militaries.
