The Impact of Peacekeeping Missions on Women’s Empowerment
| Published date | 01 December 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/10659129231181594 |
| Author | Shannon Lindsey Blanton,Dursun Peksen,Robert Blanton |
| Date | 01 December 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Political Research Quarterly
2023, Vol. 76(4) 1872–1887
© The Author(s) 2023
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DOI: 10.1177/10659129231181594
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The Impact of Peacekeeping Missions on
Women’s Empowerment
Shannon Lindsey Blanton
1
, Dursun Peksen
2
, and
Robert Blanton
1
Abstract
What effect do peacekeeping operations (PKOs) have on women’s empowerment? The gendered consequences of
peacekeeping have long been an issue of contention. Stung by multiple cases of peacekeepers directly engaging in sexual
exploitation and abuse, the United Nations took measures to mainstream gender equality within PKO goals, ranging from
protection from sexual violence to the encouragement of female participation in peacebuilding processes. Yet while a
growing body of research has begun to provide insights into the gendered aspects of the PKO s themselves, much less is
known about the broader gendered impact of PKOs on the host countries. To better understand these effects, we
examine the extent to which PKOs serve to advance female empowerment in terms of women’s participation in official
political channels as well as women’s civil liberties and active involvement in civil society participation. Examining these
linkages from 1970–2013, we find that multidimensional PKOs are conducive to growing levels of women’sem-
powerment, though such growth decreases considerably after the conclusion of the PKO.
Keywords
human rights, international organizations, war and conflict, women and politics
Introduction
How do United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (PKOs)
affect women’s empowerment? The cessation of conflict
creates an opportunity to establish a foundation for
gender-just peace “which transforms unequal gender re-
lations providing for women’s political, social, and eco-
nomic agency”(Kostovicova and Paskhalis 2021, 263).
However, the restoration of peace often falls short in
meeting the needs and priorities of women, and the post-
conflict period can instead usher in norms, structures and
power relations that are not beneficial to women (Østby,
Leiby and Nord˚
as 2019; Wallensteen 2015). Given the
importance of PKOs in ending conflicts, the United
Nations (UN) has sought to address such dynamics,
through both recognizing the gendered aspects of conflict
as well as the key contributions that women can make to
peacebuilding. The watershed moment was the passage of
UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 in 2000,
which placed the Women, Peace, and Security (WPS)
agenda at the forefront of PKOs. Through UNSCR 1325
and a series of subsequent resolutions, the UN has es-
tablished mandates for gender mainstreaming as central to
its peacekeeping operations (PKOs).
While much of the extensive body of work on
peacekeeping focuses on military-security issues
(e.g., Hegre, Hultman, and Nyg˚
ard. 2019; Hultman,
Kathman, and Shannon. 2013; Fortna 2008; Doyle
and Sambinis 2006), there is a growing amount of
research on the gendered effects of peacekeeping on
the host countries. Multiple studies focused on the
issue of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA), as well
as the role of peacekeepers in such exploitation, in-
cluding transactional sex and sex trafficking (Smith
and Smith 2011;Beber et al. 2017;Bell, Flynn, and
Machain 2018). Relatedly, others have examined the
effectiveness of PKOs in reducing SEA, including the
conditions that make such progress more likely
1
University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL, USA
2
University of Memphis, TN, USA
Corresponding Author:
Shannon Lindsey Blanton, UAB Honors College & Department of
Political Science and Public Administration, University of Alabama at
Birmingham, UAB Honors Hall 201A, 1321 10th Ave. S., Birmingham,
AL 35205, USA.
Email: slblanton@uab.edu
(Karim and Beardsley 2017;Kirchner and Miller
2019). More broadly, Gizelis and Cao (2021) exam-
ined how PKOs served to improve both maternal
health as well as female educational outcomes.
Studies on peacekeeping economies also delineate the
ways in which PKOs can both support and undermine
women (Aning and Edu-Afful 2013;Jennings and
Nikolic-Ristanovic 2013). That is, while missions
can create “women’s increased access to employment
or economic independence”(Jennings and Nikolic-
Ristanovic 2013, 41), they also can reinforce gen-
dered economic divides with women relegated to
menial work and the local sex industry with its at-
tendant abuses.
Less examined are many of the gendered ways in
which PKOs can affect broader political dynamics within
host countries, which is an important yet overlooked
question given historically low female representation in
politics and key political positions. To better understand
these effects, we focus on the impact of PKOs on women’s
political empowerment. Specifically, we empirically ex-
amine the short and long-run consequences of peace-
keeping missions for women’s empowerment, particularly
their ability to participate in the post-conflict political
order, including their civil liberties, civil society partici-
pation, and formal political participation. We posit that
multidimensional, or transformational, PKOs, which seek
to achieve broader socioeconomic and political goals,
contribute to increased growth in women’s empowerment.
Examining these linkages from 1970–2013, we find that
multidimensional PKOs are indeed conducive to growing
levels of women’s empowerment during the mission
years. However, the rate of positive effects on women
decreases after the conclusion of the PKO.
Women’s Security and Conflict
Over the past few decades, there has been increased at-
tention to the “women and peace”thesis that links the
security of women to the security of states. It draws in part
on the premise that the “repressiveness and unquestioned
dominance…of the male in relations between men and
women replicate themselves in broader society, creating a
culture of domination, intolerance, and dependency in
social and political life”(Fish 2002, 30). At the macro-
level, gender equality and equity shape conditions within
a state, which in turn affect the security of women. At the
micro-level, the thesis posits that women tend to hold
more peaceful and compromising attitudes with regard to
the use of force (Melander 2005). More broadly, research
has shown that the linkage between female empowerment
and peace “is driven both by female participation in
politicsaswellasbyculturalshiftstowardsfemale
political empowerment, and that the extent to which
women in politics will induce peace depends on socie-
ties’gender-norms”(Dahlum and Wig 2020, 880). The
women and peace thesis thus posits that the degree to
which “the security of women is a societal priority, the
security and peacefulness of the state will be signifi-
cantly enhanced”(Hudson et al., 2008, 26). Along those
lines, the promotion of gender equality and female
empowerment is not only a social justice imperative, but
also an important factor for national and international
security.
More broadly, empirical studies have demonstrated
strong connections between the treatment of women and a
wide spectrum of socio-economic and political condi-
tions. Female well-being is linked to a variety of positive
economic outcomes, including increased GDP per capita,
economic growth rates, foreign investment, and global
competitiveness rankings (Hausmann, Tyson, and Zahidi
2007). It is also associated with positive health outcomes
such as declines in child mortality and malnutrition
(Thomas, Contreras, and Frankenberg 1997). Politically,
increased women’s rights leads to decreased corruption
(Kaufmann 1998), less likelihood of use of force in in-
ternational disputes (Caprioli 2003), and decreased like-
lihood of internal conflict (Melander 2005;Caprioli
2005). As one study concluded “(G)ive women equal
rights and entire nations are more stable and secure. Deny
women equal rights and the instability of nations is almost
certain”(Hudson and Leidl 2015, 1, see also Karin and
Beardsley 2017).
While an expanding body of literature delineates the
positive consequences of women’s rights, few studies
examine the macro-economic and political factors that
affect these rights. There is a relative consensus about
some of the economic and political factors that impact
women’s well-being and empowerment, such as increased
democratization and income (Beer 2009;Norris and
Inglehart 2001). However, the process of development
can be detrimental to women, as countries may take a “low
road to growth”replete with poor labor standards and
workplace discrimination (Seguino 2000). Women are
more economically vulnerable than their male counter-
parts, and thus likely to bear the brunt of economic
downturns and financial crises (Blanton, Blanton, and
Peksen 2019).
Such vulnerability is also apparent in conflict situa-
tions. Sexual violence and rape can be prevalent during
conflicts, and women may be forced into using transac-
tional sex as a survival strategy (UNOCHA 2018;Beber
et al. 2017). Women are also more vulnerable to a loss of
livelihood during conflicts; at the same time, the partic-
ipation of men in conflict can serve to increase the re-
sponsibilities of women within the family.
Beyond these immediate linkages, there are
broader and more persistent ways in which conflict
Blanton et al. 1873
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