Women in Security covers a wide-range of issues as it explores the link between women, security, and development. As a forum to stimulate discussion and instructive debates, the NATO Association of Canada will examine the ways in which women both contribute to and are the focus of Canadian and NATO defence and security initiatives. This program also offers a critical look at the structures and institutions that shape the role of women in security at home and abroad.
Hungary frequently discriminates against minority groups, including members of the LGBTQ+ community, violating standards of human rights. In this article, Jordan McEwen and Diana Fodor discuss why NATO should intervene to address Hungary’s rollbacks of LGBTQ+ rights.
The international community has responded to the US Supreme Courts’ overturn of Roe v. Wade. In this article, Jordan McEwen highlights international concerns, specifically for human rights and democracy.
In the northeastern region of Europe, on the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, are three small but critical NATO member-states: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. Referred to collectively as the Baltic states, these countries are members of the European Union and have played an important role in NATO since they joined the alliance in 2004. Read More…
Women in positions of leadership has been a subject of debate recently in the Albanian Armed Forces. However, a new political improvement was the commitment to the adoption of the UN resolution on Women Peace and Security, which served as the benchmark for the forthcoming Albanian National Action Plan (ANAP) Despite the ongoing progress made in ten years, the figures on paper differ from reality.
On the streets of Kabul, advertisements depicting the faces of women are sprayed painted over. In a fitting metaphor for the regression of the gains made in the last 20 years, it took only days for years of progress to unravel following the withdrawal of American operations on August 31st and the Taliban’s sweeping takeover. In the following interview, NATO Association of Canada Junior Research Fellow Brynn Hopper sat down with Sally Armstrong to discuss the unfolding crisis in Afghanistan, its implications for women’s rights, and the international security threat it poses.
As the country observes its first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Caleigh Wong explores the history between Canada’s Armed Forces and its Indigenous peoples. From Oka to the Proud Boys, repeated disappointments in the Forces’ commitment to protect all Canadians demands greater efforts for reconciliation in the military and across all federal institutions.
In this article, Brynn Hopper explores Poland’s backsliding on women’s rights issues and the implications of a near total ban on abortion.
Intersectionality and lived experience, though standard concepts within many policy areas, has been largely absent from military diversity and inclusivity initiatives. In this article, Caleigh Wong explores the Canadian Armed Forces’ current leadership crisis through this lens to understand how a broader understanding of identity may help inform long-overdue institutional reform.
In this article, Caleigh Wong investigates the debate surrounding female conscription and Sweden, one of the few countries who has incorporated it into their defence policy. The Sweden case study offers justification for this practice through both a gender parity and operational effectiveness lens, but also presents shortcomings in its ability to meaningfully contribute to true equality.
The current institutional crisis underway in the Canadian Armed Forces is not only a domestic issue with extensive human costs for servicewomen and men, but a potential threat to broader Canadian international defense capabilities. In this article Caleigh Wong discusses the current investigation into sexual misconduct in the military and what this means for an organization crucial to upholding Canada’s democracy.