Gender diversity management in NATO for sustainable security and peace
Gender diversity management in NATO for sustainable security and peace

Summary/Abstract: The article focuses on the need for a paradigm shift in diversity management for sustainable peace and security. We discuss thebidirectional influence of security and defence organisations and society; the intersectionality of issues related to social justice, health,race, and ethnicity; sexual abuse and exploitation; and cultural factors that influence the functioning of LGBTQ+ personnel and thegender/technology nexus in the context of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). During the application of the SustainableSecurity Paradigm to gender diversity management, we found that ecofeminism and the ideas of post-colonial theory should informthe transformational shift of contemporary security and defence organisational cultures. This approach was used by the multinationalNATO Science & Technology Organization Exploratory Team ET-197 Gender, Peace and Sustainable Security (2022-23) and itssuccessor, the NATO HFM-368 Research Task Group (2023-26). Our research efforts were triangulated by an analysis of doctrinaltextual, audiovisual and art sources that relate to gender diversity and its management. Given the complexity of future warfare,there is a strategic imperative to develop an inclusive defence strategy that reconfigures the traditional white male-focused militaryparadigm. It is evident that the root cause of gender inequality cannot be solved solely by doctrine and training solutions—rathera transformational organisational culture shift is pivotal and critical to the future global security. This is the first article that addressesthe issues of gender diversity management for sustainable security and peace in an interdisciplinary and holistic manner. Our approachis relevant to any organisation with internal gender and intersectional diversity and systemic discrimination.

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