Introduction

Abstract

Over the past decades, the participation of women in the armed forces of Europe and the United States (US) has statistically increased to reach roughly 13 to 15 per cent, depending on grade and service, even 17 per cent in some cases.¹ Women have taken part in military operations and found themselves on the frontline in recent years, most intensely in Iraq and Afghanistan under the US banner. They are said to represent 11 per cent of American forces deployed in operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom (now Operation New Dawn), where they formed respectively 1.88 and 2.55 per cent of the casualties as of February 2011.² Beyond operations, the ‘mainstreaming of gender’ is currently integral to the policy planning of all international and multinational institutions active in the field of the military and security (UN, NATO, OSCE, EU), as a result — among others — of the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325. As part of a wider agenda, improved integration of women into the armed forces constitutes one of the official objectives pursued at an international level. Accordingly, military institutions in Europe and the United States, as much as international defence and security organisations, have been for some years now careful to demonstrate their pro-active, innovative and exemplary stance towards female recruits.