Gender Mainstreaming in the Canadian Armed Forces and the Department of National Defence: Lessons on the Implementation of Gender-Based Analysis Plus (GBA+)

• Author: Bessma Momani,Rachael Johnstone
• DOI: 10.1177/0095327X20956722
• Date: 01 April 2022
• Published date: 01 April 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X20956722

Armed Forces & Society

2022, Vol. 48(2) 247 –273

© The Author(s) 2020

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DOI: 10.1177/0095327X20956722

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Article

Gender Mainstreaming in

the Canadian Armed

Forces and the

Department of National

Defence: Lessons on the

Implementation of

Gender-Based Analysis

Plus (GBAþ)

Rachael Johnstone

1

and Bessma Momani

1

Abstract

This article uses the Canadian military’s gender-mainstreaming strategy—gender-

based analysis plus (or GBAþ)—as a case study to explore the implementation of

gender mainstreaming in militaries. Utilizing a mixed method approach, including

group interviews and surveys, we employ Jahan’s model of gender mainstreaming to

understand how GBAþhas been operationalized. We argue that the implementa-

tion of GBAþin the Defense Force constitutes a more superficial integrationist

approach to the implementation of gender mainstreaming rather than a transfor-

mative, agenda-setting approach, despite the internalization of messaging to the

contrary by many in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) and the Department of

National Defence (DND). While not ideal, we suggest that an integrationist

approach does not necessarily mean a GBAþagenda will fail in a male-dominated

organization like the CAF; rather, we contend that it could constitute a valuable

starting point for progressive, large-scale change.

1

University of Waterloo, Canada

Corresponding Author:

Rachael Johnstone, University of Waterloo, 200 University Ave. W, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L

3G1.

Email: rjohnstone@balsillieschool.ca

248 Armed Forces & Society 48(2)

Keywords

gender mainstreaming, GBAþ, Canada, military culture, UNSCR 1325, women

Recognition of the barriers faced by women to meaningful participation in national

militaries has gained traction in recent decades. In 2000, the United Nations (UN)

Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security urged member

states to integrate a gender perspective into all peace and security efforts. In 2007,

the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) reified these objectives by enacting

the NATO/Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council Policy for the Implementation of

UNSCR 1325, which was followed by a Canadian National Action Plan in 2011.

Although the first iterations of Canada’s action plan did not meaningfully address

gender equality (Tiessen & Carrier, 2015), later versions, under the Liberal govern-

ment of Justin Trudeau, stressed the need to adjust institutions and policy to ensure

gender equality (Government of Canada, 2017). This commitment to ensuring that

policy and programming are sensitive to gender perspectives is more widely known

as gender mainstreaming (Government of Canada, 2017).

This article contributes to the growing study of gender mainstreaming in national

militaries. Using Canada’s implementation of gender mainstreaming—which is

farther along than many comparable Western militaries—as a case study, we glean

general lessons about the implementation of gender mainstreaming in a military

setting. Additionally, this research furthers the study of military sociology, in par-

ticular, civil–military relations. By revealing the difficulties of implementing civil-

ian initiatives within the tight-knit culture of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), our

study lends credence to the institutional model. It reveals that the institutional ethos

is still closely guarded by military members, posing significant challenges to the

realization of transformative change (Moskos, 1981).

The concept of gender mainstreaming has its roots in the Beijing Declaration

and Platform for Action, which emerged out of the UN’s Fourth World Conference

on Women in 1995. This platform affirmed the need for governments and other

actors to consider how different policies and programs might affect men and

women in different ways (UN, 1997, p. 80). Gender mainstreaming, broadly con-

ceived, constitutes an approach to more equitable policy-making, which asks that

the effects of policies for men and women are weighed before policies are enacted.

Rather than focusing on individuals or groups, “gender mainstreaming focuses on

the systems and structures that give rise to group disadvantage” (Duncanson &

Woodward, 2016, p. 6). The most comprehensive definition of the approach was

provided by the UN’s Economic and Social Council in 1997, which defined gender

mainstreaming as

the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action,

including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels . It is a

strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral

dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and