Presenter(s)

Laura Huber

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Description

Advocates hailed the UN's deployment of female formed police units (FFPUs), or all-female units, in peacekeeping missions as a groundbreaking achievement for women's empowerment. Three FFPUs have been deployed to Liberia, Timor-Leste, and Haiti. Many supporters of FFPUs claim that female police are better peacekeepers, less prone to violence, better able to interact with local women, more concerned about sexual violence, and act as role models, challenge gender stereotypes, and encourage local women to participate in the security sector. However, little systematic research has been conducted to evaluate these claimed practical impacts of the units. This thesis evaluates the effects of these units on women in local communities based on empirical and anecdotal evidence and using the current unit deployed in Liberia as a case study to determine the nature and sustainability of any impacts on women’s empowerment.Advocates hailed the UN's deployment of female formed police units (FFPUs), or all-female units, in peacekeeping missions as a groundbreaking achievement for women's empowerment. Three FFPUs have been deployed to Liberia, Timor-Leste, and Haiti. Many supporters of FFPUs claim that female police are better peacekeepers, less prone to violence, better able to interact with local women, more concerned about sexual violence, and act as role models, challenge gender stereotypes, and encourage local women to participate in the security sector. However, little systematic research has been conducted to evaluate these claimed practical impacts of the units. This thesis evaluates the effects of these units on women in local communities based on empirical and anecdotal evidence and using the current unit deployed in Liberia as a case study to determine the nature and sustainability of any impacts on women’s empowerment.

Publication Date

4-9-2014

Project Designation

Honors Thesis

Primary Advisor

Natalie Florea Hudson

Primary Advisor's Department

Political Science

Keywords

Stander Symposium project

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | Business | Education | Engineering | Life Sciences | Medicine and Health Sciences | Physical Sciences and Mathematics | Social and Behavioral Sciences

Power in Numbers?: The Impact of Female Formed Police Units of Women's Empowerment

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