Female UN peacekeepers: an all-too-rare sight
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Version 0 of 1. Major Shikha Mehrotra is a rarity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: a female officer in the UN’s peacekeeping force. That Mehrotra, who belongs to the Indian brigade, and her female colleagues form only 2% of the world’s largest peacekeeping mission reflects how little has changed since 2000, when the UN security council passed a resolution that stressed the important role women can play in peacekeeping and conflict resolution. UN resolution 1325 called for more women in decision-making positions, a gendered perspective to be “mainstreamed” across peacekeeping and for more women like Mehrotra to participate in field operations in military roles as police and as human rights observers. However, the few women serving in the UN mission in Congo (known as Monusco by its French acronym) are mostly in lower-level positions and describe a persistent, prevailing machismo culture in peacekeeping. Mehrotra, one of four women in the 5,000-strong Indian brigade, describes herself as a pioneer but for all her talk about the important role female peacekeepers can play interacting with civilians, she works almost exclusively at the base. She is a civil-military coordination officer, planning humanitarian projects the soldiers will implement, such as building water treatment plants and supporting women producing handicrafts. “We do go into the field but not very often,” she says. “I would love to go to the community and interact.” She says children, women and families suffer most as a result of the fighting, and more female peacekeepers could help them in a conflict that uses child soldiers and rape as a weapon of war. As a trailblazer, and one of the lonely few, she feels she is anything but mainstream. Her performance at the base, she says, is closely scrutinised by her male colleagues. “Since we are the first ones, what we are doing, how we are performing, is watched by everyone. You’re always on your toes, you have to be the best,” she says. “I want to prove I’m better than a male.” The gender office at the Monusco base in Goma is a small room in a temporary container, run by one member of staff, Anne Marie Obuyo, a Congolese national who has been working there for five years. She is passionate about her work, training staff members and pushing a gender agenda throughout the mission, but she feels sidelined. “Here at the mission there are many bosses who don’t understand; they banalise it,” she says of the gender mainstreaming mission. Obuyo is a national professional officer, far down the hierarchy of UN positions. “The higher you climb, women are very rare,” she says. “They said gender is a priority but for a long time the only person staffing the gender office was a UN volunteer,” says Séverine Autesserre, a professor at Barnard College at the University of Colombia, who has written about the habits of peacekeepers and done extensive research in Congo. We don’t have a problem with our ladies; they can do whatever a man can do Peacekeepers are soldiers from countries that commit troops to the UN mission, so it is ultimately the discretion of the member countries – and the percentage of women in national armies – that filter up to the mission. “Despite the calls of the UN, we don’t receive the numbers of women,” says Abdallah Wafy, deputy special representative of the secretary general for the rule of law at Monusco. “It’s very important to have many women in peacekeeping. Unfortunately, we have statistics that are not good,” he says. “We want to have 20%, but we aren’t there.” The South African contingent is considered a leader in women’s integration and has the only designated gender adviser among the troops. With her sparkly magenta nails contrasting with her sharp military fatigues and blue UN helmet, Lieutenant Colonel Zukiswa Caga looks the picture of women’s integration. “Women fill every position,” says Major Steven Matodon, the public information officer for the South African brigade. “We don’t have a problem with our ladies; they can do whatever a man can do.” Still, most of the women are in lower-level positions, working mostly on communications, logistics or nursing; they rarely go into the field. There are 168 women among 1,250 South African troops in Congo. “It’s like a drop in the ocean,” says Sabina Madisha, a 30-year-old sergeant in the force. “They have around 10-15% women,” Obuyo says, “but compared to other countries, it’s really something.” Women are beginning to be present in peacekeeping in Congo, but not in positions of power where they could influence and bring the female perspective to the operation. “We must have female soldiers,” says Mehrotra. “It should definitely increase from 2%; it should be more.” Allyn Gaestel and Allison Shelley reported from DRC with support from the International Women’s Media Foundation. |