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Female
Staff Associations in the Security Sector: Agents of Change?
Bibliographic Details:
Author(s): Ruth Montgomery
DCAF 2011
ISBN:978-92-9222-168-3
DCAF Occasional Papers (25)
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Publication in
English
In most security sector institutions, women
constitute a small minority of the personnel. Unwelcoming working environments
discourage recruitment and retention of women, and thus create a vicious circle
that perpetuates their minority status. At the same time, female security
sector staff associations have multiplied, promoting networking and offering
mutual support among members. Many of these associations have expanded their
mandate to activities reaching beyond their members’ welfare.
This occasional paper examines the structures, mandates and activities of a
sampling of female staff associations and networks in the security sector,
analyses whether and how they meet members’ needs, and gauges the effect or
influence they have had on changing policies and practices in their
institutions and in the communities they serve. Research for this paper focused
on 67 international, national, regional, and local female security sector
associations and networks in the military, police, corrections, justice system,
fire and emergency services, immigration services, and in national security
bodies and private security companies from around the world. An annex
to the paper provides more information on the associations studied.