"Framåt gubbar" - Genus och militär praktik i ett internationellt insatsförbund

Abstract

Resolution 1325, ratified by the United Nations in 2000, calls for increased gender awareness as well as an increase in the number of women officers in international peacekeeping operations. This article explores gender relations and military practice in a Swedish military unit bound for such an operation. The article is based on an ethnographic study and draws on feminist theories of organization. The purpose is to discuss ordering practices in a military unit, and the gender patterns they create. I show that Resolution 1325 reshapes gender distinctions in the military. Three sets of ordering practices are analyzed. I show that the practice of taken for granted masculinity tends to make women invisible and reinforce a masculine soldier norm. Furthermore, the practice of stereotyping reinforces perceived gender differences. The practice of the gendered resource constructs women officers as complementary to their male peers, and is related to the specific tasks women are assigned as a result of Resolution 1325. In conclusion, I state that the resolution is a source of new gender distinctions in the military practice. First, a women’s niche is emerging and thus a new gender division of labor is constructed as a result of the resolution. Second, the members of the studied unit tend to create a distinction between men, that is, between the Swedish soldiers in the unit and the local men “down there”. Third, I show that the issue of gender equality in the unit is dislocated as a result of Resolution 1325. The issue of “international gender equality” tends to marginalize questions concerning gender relations in the Armed Forces. When 1325 is interpreted at the unit, it boils down to a handful of positions where women are required – for the sake of the operation.