Gendered power relations in UN peace missions : accounts of policewomen’s perseverance and empowerment

Abstract

This research investigates policewomen’s experiences of gendered power relations in UN peacekeeping missions. It employs the theoretical framework of IR feminism and draws inspiration from feminist institutionalism and IPS. It seeks to establish the multidimensional nature of policewomen’s experiences with challenges, agency, and empowerment, vis-à-vis their everyday experiences in peace missions. Building on interviews with ten policewomen and three male police commissioners, this study finds that policewomen may face many similar gender-related challenges as women in military peacekeeping roles, including on the structural and personal levels. While this is a harsh reality, the study also shows that policewomen exercise various levels of agency and find unique ways to navigate challenges, including making use of various forms of capital to this end. The findings further reveal how the policewomen perform actions that contribute to their and other women’s strengthened positions in missions and beyond. This study thus points toward the reality that policewomen’s experiences with gendered power relations in UN peace operations are best explored through a multidimensional framework of power. This allows an understanding of the interrelated nature of the women’s challenging and empowering experiences in peace missions. Based on these findings, this thesis argues more attention should be directed to the ways policewomen may potentially be disrupting and changing gendered cultures and hierarchies in UN peace missions, especially if supported by the right institutional measures.