Statistics

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Proportion of women serving in state militaries (October 2020):

Source: Australia (https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/Publications_Archive/archive/womenarmed#Women_in_the_ADF), Canada ((https://www.canada.ca/en/department-national-defence/services/women-in-the-forces/statistics.html), Latvia (https://eng.lsm.lv/article/features/features/interview-ilze-zilde-first-woman-ranked-colonel-in-latvian-army.a369864/), Myanmar (https://www.armyupress.army.mil/journals/military-review/english-edition-archives/november-december-2019/byrd-myanmar-gender-armed-forces/), New Zealand ((https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/defence-minister-salutes-our-military-women-women’s-day), Indonesia, (https://www.thestar.com.my/aseanplus/aseanplus-news/2020/06/26/long-road-to-gender-equality-in-indonesian-military), UK (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-armed-forces-biannual-diversity-statistics-2020/uk-armed-forces-biannual-diversity-statistics-1-april-2020), USA (https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/demographics-us-military), USA (https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/demographics-us-military).

All other sources from: https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/pdf_2019_09/20190909_190909-2017-Summary-NR-to-NCGP.pdf

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Proportion of Women in State Policing (October 2020):

Sources: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Moldova,Montenegro, Republic of Serbia (https://www.seesac.org/f/docs/Gender-and-Security/Women-in-Police-Services-in-South-East-Europe-.pdf), Australia and USA (https://theconversation.com/women-have-made-many-inroads-in-policing-but-barriers-remain-to-achieving-gender-equity-123082), Canada (https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/180328/cg-c002-eng.htm), Latvia (http://media.voog.com/0000/0034/7230/files/Summary%20of%20the%20seminar%20Women%20in%20the%20Police%2031.5-1.6.2017-1.pdf), Liberia (https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2016/4/women-police-climb-the-ranks-across-africa), Lithuania (https://www.baltictimes.com/representation_of_women_in_decision-making_processes_remains_low_in_all_three_baltic_states/), Singapore (https://www.unodc.org/documents/southeastasiaandpacific//Publications/2020/women_in_law_enforcement_in_the_asean_region_full.pdf), UK (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/831726/police-workforce-mar19-hosb1119.pdf).

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Proportion of women serving in ASEAN militaries (October 2020):

Source: https://www.unodc.org/documents/southeastasiaandpacific//Publications/2020/women_in_law_enforcement_in_the_asean_region_full.pdf

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Countries in which women are Defense Ministers and Executives(March 2022):

Austria: Klaudia Tanner, Minister of Defense (Jan. 2020-Present)
Bangladesh: Sheikh Hasina Prime Minister (Nov. 2017- Present)
Belgium: Ludivine Dedonder, Minister of Defense (October 2020-Present)
Canada: Anita Anand, Minister of Defense (Oct. 2021-Present)
Chile: Maya Fernández Allende, Minister of Defense (March 2022-Present)
Czech Republic: Jana Černochová, Minister of Defense (Dec. 2021-Present)
France: Florence Parly, Minister of Defense (June 2017-Present)
Germany: Christine Lambrecht, Minister of Defense (Dec. 2021-Present)
Iceland: Þórdís Kolbrún R. Gylfadóttir, Minister of Defense (Nov. 2021-Present)
Maldives: Mariya Ahmed Didi, Minister of Defense (Nov. 2018- Present)
Montenegro: Olivera Injac, Minister of Defense (Dec. 2020-Present)
Netherlands: Kajsa Ollongren, Minister of Defense (Jan. 2022-Present)
Nicaragua: Rosa Adelina Barahona Castro, Minister of Defense (August 2019-Present)
Portugal: Helena Carreiras, Minister of Defense (March 2022-Present)
South Africa: Thandi Modise, Minister of Defense (August 2021- Present)
South Sudan: Angelina Teny, Minister of Defense (March 2020-Present)
Spain: Margarita Robles, Minister of Defense (June 2018- Present)
Suriname: Krishna Mathoera, Minister of Defense (July 2020-Present)
Switzerland: Viola Amherd, Minister of Defense (Jan. 2019- Present)
Togo: Essozimna Marguerite Gnakade, Minister of Defense (Oct. 2020-Present)
Zimbabwe: Oppah Muchinguri, Minister of Defense (Sept. 2018-Present)

Barbados: Mia Mottley, Prime Minister (May 2018-Present), Sandra Mason, President(Nov. 2021-Present)
Denmark: Mette Frederiksen, Prime Minister (June 2019-Present)
Ethiopia: Sahle-Work Zewde, President (Oct. 2018-Present)
Finland: Sanna Mirella Marin, Prime Minister (Dec. 2019-Present)
Georgia: Salome Zourabichvili, President (Dec 2018-Present)
Honduras: Xiomara Castro, President (Jan 2022-Present)
Iceland: Katrin Jakobsdóttir, Prime Minister (Nov 2017- Present)
Nepal: Bidhya Devi Bandhari, President (Oct. 2015- Present)
New Zealand: Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister (Oct. 2017-Present)
Singapore: Halimah Yacob, President (Sept. 2017- Present)
Sweden: Magdalena Andersson, Prime Minister (Nov. 2021- Present)
Tanzania: Samia Suluhu Hassan, President (Mar. 2021-Present)

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_female_defence_ministers

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Female UN Peacekeepers (2022)

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UN Peacekeeping Statistics ( 2021)

Contributions to UN Peacekeeping by Country

This graph shows the percentage of women’s inclusion in parliament, according to the Inter-Parliamentary Union data. Further Details

Updated information on women's inclusion in Parliament as of July 1, 2022: Further Details

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Increasing women's security to increase overall security: Ranking women's safety around the world (2023)

It is worth noting that this research was limited by a small sample size, but remains useful to understand broader themes on sexual and gender-based violence in countries around the world.

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The researchers responsible for collecting the above data recommended changing the “ideological, societal, and legal systems that either directly put women into danger or fail to protect them” in order to make these 15 lowest ranked countries safer for women. SecurityWomen advocates for the increased representation of women in the policing, military, and peacekeeping forces to change the culture of these very systems. This is particularly relevant given that women often do not feel protected by the police, nor do they feel safe enough to report cases of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) to the police, ultimately increasing their vulnerability and putting women's security at risk. Below, some of the reasons why women do not report SGBV have been collated.

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Increasing women's security to increase overall security: Why women do not report sexual and gender-based violence (2023)

It is worth noting that this research was limited by a small sample size, but remains useful to understand broader themes on why women do not report sexual and gender-based violence to police forces.

Source: https://www.safetydetectives.com/blog/womens-safety-research/

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By bettering the representation of women in policing, military, and peacekeeping forces, SecurityWomen believes that women's security, and therefore overall security, will improve. To see more about SecurityWomen's mission, see here

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External Resources

These are some useful links to other resources that would further inform you on the global issues surrounding women’s rights pertaining to inclusion, justice and security.

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https://sgp.fas.org/crs/misc/R45483.pdf

https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2021/digest

https://www.cfr.org/article/womens-power-index

https://giwps.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/WPS-Index-2021.pdf

https://www.ipu.org/women-in-politics-2021

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