Women in Multilateral Peace Operations in 2024: What is the State of Play?

In the year 2000, United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security stressed the link between gender equality and international peace and security. The resolution underscored the importance of the full and equal participation of women in all efforts towards the maintenance and promotion of peace and security, including UN peace operations. Following the resolution, organizations and member states involved in multilateral peace operations affirmed their commitment to increase women’s participation in these activities. Increasing the number of uniformed and civilian women at all levels has since become a priority of the UN Secretariat. The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Secretariat and, more recently, the European External Action Service (EEAS) of the European Union (EU) have followed suit and developed strategies establishing specific targets and deadlines to enhance women’s participation in their respective personnel. More than 20 years after the adoption of the resolution, some progress has been achieved in enhancing women’s representation in multilateral peace operations, but much remains to be done.

This overview of women’s representation in multilateral peace operations presents data on aggregate personnel trends, annual snapshots of data on women’s representation in leadership, and annual averages of women in the personnel of peace operations and in member state contributions. It looks at UN peace operations (i.e. both UN peacekeeping operations and UN special political missions), EU Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions and operations, and OSCE field operations. The objective is to support the efforts of multilateral organizations and their member states to increase the representation of women in multilateral peace operations.

The statistics presented here aim to inform and foster the debate on the future of the women, peace and security agenda within the context of multilateral peace operations. They illustrate to what extent the organizations deploying multilateral peace operations and their member states are making progress towards increasing women’s representation in multilateral peace operations. Having a clearer picture of the status of women’s participation in multilateral peace operations and keeping track of progress also help in recognizing and targeting potential shortcomings. Moreover, this overview enhances the transparency of multilateral peace operations and provides insights into their recent trends and developments.