October, 15, 2018: A recent Council on Foreign Relations report has recommended that the U.S. government should support a UN premium for police- and troop-contributing countries to increase the training and deployment of female peacekeepers. Women are routinely underrepresented in peacekeeping operations, even though their participation has been shown to improve mission effectiveness and advance stability.

The rate of female participation in peacekeeping forces has changed slowly over the past quarter century, growing from 1 percent total in 1993 to just 4 percent of military peacekeepers and 10 percent of police personnel in 2017—far short of the UN targets of 15 percent and 20 percent, respectively. Nearly half of all troop-contributing countries do not contribute any female military observers or staff officers whatsoever.

Read the full report: Increasing Female Participation in Peacekeeping Operations (www.cfr.org)