Analyses of Female Participation in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations

Abstract

The United Nations issued the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 in 2000 and nine following resolutions promoting the Women, Peace, and Security agenda to protect more women in conflict areas and increase female participation in global peacekeeping operations. This research discusses essential issues about increasing female participation in UN missions. This thesis focuses on three critical areas: why the UN still has slight female participation in the missions, what the UN wants by adding more women to the forces, and how well the female participation campaign works so far. Monthly gender data from the official UN database and relevant literature are used in the research. The theoretical section connects the relationship between economic theories and the status quo of the UN peacekeeping labor market. The empirical research uses time-series data to measure the current trend of female numbers and calculate the estimated strength in the future. Two factors affect the missing number of female peacekeepers: the discrimination prejudices at a societal level and risk preference at an individual level. Findings show female participation in UN peacekeeping operations has a slightly positive trend during the last two decades; however, the number still has some room for improvement in the future.