Old Dominion University ODU Digital Commons Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses Educational Foundations & Leadership & Dissertations Fall 2016 Gender Awareness Training: A Comparison of U. Military Units to NATO/PFP Military Units Elizabeth Owens Lape Old Dominion University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.edu/efl_etds Part of the Military and Veterans Studies Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Recommended Citation Lape, Elizabeth O. "Gender Awareness Training: A Comparison of U. Military Units to NATO/PFP Military Units" (2016).
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Dissertation, Educational Foundations & Leadership, Old Dominion University, DOI: 10.25777/jakn-6372 https://digitalcommons.edu/efl_etds/32 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Educational Foundations & Leadership at ODU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@odu. GENDER AWARENESS TRAINING: A COMPARISON OF U.
MILITARY UNITS TO NATO/PFP MILITARY UNITS by Elizabeth Owens Lape B. May1983, Purdue University M. December 1988, Old Dominion University A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Old Dominion University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY HIGHER EDUCATION ADMINISTRATION OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY December 2016 Approved by: Dennis Gregory (Director) Kathleen Levingston (Member) Steven Myran (Member) David T. Fautua (Member) ABSTRACT GENDER AWARENESS TRAINING: A COMPARISON OF U.
MILITARY UNITS TO NATO/PFP MILITARY UNITS Elizabeth Owens Lape Old Dominion University, 2016 Director: Dr. Dennis Gregory United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 (UN, 2000), initially adopted on 31 October 2000 and updated with a resolution in 2009 (UN, 2009), proclaimed all peacekeeping personnel – military, police and civilian, will receive training on the protection of women. The purpose of this research was to review and compare how the U. military and forces of NATO/Partnership for Peace countries educate and train their military on the overall use of gender as a planning factor in support of this resolution.
The researcher conducted a phenomenological qualitative study that consisted of interviewing 12 personnel regarding their country’s National Action Plans, any training on gender perspectives available and if there was success in implementation of UNSCR 1325. If not successful, a review of possible barriers was analyzed. iii © Copyright 2016, by Elizabeth Owens Lape, All Rights Reserved. iv This dissertation is dedicated in loving memory of my mother, Margaret Rossiter Owens (1938- 2000) who was a strong supporter of all that I pursued, and of the goals women have increasingly been able to achieve.
v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are many people who have contributed to the successful completion of this dissertation. I would like to acknowledge: - My program advisor/dissertation chair from the advice given in the back of a taxicab in Hong Kong, through the program, until the ink was dry on the dissertation. - My committee members for their patience and hours of guidance on my research and editing of this manuscript. - My auditor and research team, Jamilla Glover and Joanne Fish, for the very important parts they played in helping with the results.
- My husband, children, and family members in their continued support and encouragement - My supportive friends and church family for their faith in me and gracious support throughout the past several years. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES. viii LIST OF FIGURES .23 INTEGRATION OF WOMEN INTO THE MILITARY FORCES .28 GENDER IN CONFLICT .31 UNITED NATION SECURITY COUNCIL RESOLUTIONS .40 EDUCATION AND TRAINING .57 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY .60 PROFILE OF PRIMARY RESEARCHER .63 ASSUMPTIONS AND BIASES .73 DOCUMENT REVIEW FINDINGS… .105 vii Page THEME DESCRIPTIONS .109 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ANSWERED. ANALYSIS OF THE DATA AND CONCLUSIONS .147 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH.
LIST OF NATIONAL ACTION PLANS. NATIONAL ACTION PLAN DOCUMENT REVIEW. NATIONAL ACTION PLAN REVIEW RUBRIC. INFORMED CONSENT FORM.
INTERVIEW PROTOCOL – ROUND #1. INTERVIEW PROTOCOL – ROUND #2 .231 viii LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Historical moments integrating women into the military. Countries with National Action Plans for UNSCR 1325.
Themes developed based upon concepts in the interview question structure. Themes developed in the NATO/PfP Group by Country. Themes developed in the U. Group by interview #.
Theme and Document Comparison to NATO Action Plan .128 ix LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Service Member Victims in Reports of Sexual Assault FY07 – FY14. Iterative framework for the qualitative analysis of UNSCR 1325 implementation with a view towards training and education programs. Chart of the number of women in the Armed Forces in 2014 .127 2 Chapter I INTRODUCTION "The empowerment of woman in unstable countries benefits not only them, but all of us.
It is a crucial component of a comprehensive approach to the security challenges of the 21st century.” NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen The Department of Defense’s (DOD) report to the Congressional Defense Committees FY11 stated the number of reported sexual assaults at the U. military academies rose in the academic year 2010-2011 compared to the previous year’s figures (DOD, 2012a). During that year, there were 80 reports of sexual assault that occurred within the walls of the three main service academies: U. Naval Academy, West Point, and the Air Force Academy, compared to 65 reports in the previous year.
The report states it is not clear whether this increase is due to a greater reporting of an increase in the number of actual assaults, or the academy making recommendations to assist victims when they come forward to file reports (DOD, 2012a). This report estimated these numbers represented only 10% of the incidents occurring. There has been an increase in the number of reported sexual assaults on members of the U. military by military members over the past years (DOD, 2012a) even though women have been participating in military operations for centuries (Skaine, 1999).
Many of the issues regarding sexual assault and sexual harassment towards women are still occurring after years of the services being fully integrated with women (DOD, 2015a). The Secretary of Defense aggressively addressed the subject through initiatives that included prevention measures, how to respond to the victims, training and education, and how to hold the leadership accountable. One of the new developments was a better way to measure an estimate how many service members experienced a sexual assault last year (DOD, 2015a). The FY14 report yielded an estimated 3 number of 20,300, which is an increase over past years, but the new way of accounting has given the DOD a better picture of the existing trend data on unwanted sexual contact, including a clearer account of how this crime is also perpetrated on men (DOD, 2015a).
The total number of reports, to include those that are unrestricted (available to all) and those that are restricted (closed) as reflected in the most recent report are charted in Figure 1. Reports of Sexual Assault to DoD, FY 2007 - FY 2014 DOD Total Reports DOD Unrestricted Reports DOD Reports Remaining Restricted 7000 6131 6000 5518 NUMBER OF REPORTS 5000 4660 4225 4000 3472 3393 3604 3109 3327 2846 2758 2640 2788 3000 2466 2579 2243 2000 1293 1471 603 643 714 748 753 816 1000 0 FY0 7 FY0 8 FY0 9 FY10 FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14 FISCAL YEAR Figure 1. Reports of Sexual Assault to DoD, FY 2007 - FY 2014. Adapted from Department of Defense annual report on sexual assault in the military - Fiscal Year 2014, p.
Assault on women is not only a factor within the armed forces, but in general society also. Beachum (2008) stated: 4 The level of male violence against women in this society is out of control. Despite decades of feminist activism, boys and girls are still sexually abusing, battering, raping, and murdering girls and women at alarming rates. While this violence has no single cause, the dehumanization and objectification of women in the media is surely one of the contributing factors.
Consider the pervasiveness of sexual harassment that women suffer from men in school, the workplace, on the street. Men aren’t biologically programmed to harass women. 48) Sexism, which is described as discrimination based on gender (Merriam-webster.com, 2013), in many cases results in a disadvantage to women (Beachum, 2008). Misogyny is defined as the distrust or hatred of women (Merriam-webster.
Sexism is often accompanied by misogyny which results in negative beliefs regarding the abilities of the female gender (Beachum, 2008). Misogyny is “an unfortunate part of American masculine culture” and the “contemporary male culture is impacted by this theme” (Beachum, 2008, p. History must be learned so that the social injustices from the past are not repeated and must be remembered in order to make forward progress (Blount, 2008). There has also been a long history in the education field of not recognizing social injustice regarding the exclusion of women, minorities, and persons with different sexual orientations (Blount, 2008).
Social justice theory can assist in intervening in all circumstances around the world, though culturally some biases will be more difficult to overcome (Beachum, 2008). Understanding our own history and how prior biases systematically limited opportunities to women is critical to extracting the military community from continuing to repeat these well- established patterns of social injustices (Blount, 2008). 5 Women’s oppression can be considered culturally biased as society tends to associate men with power and women with nurturing qualities. Women learn at a young age to be nurturers and caretakers while their male counterparts are often rewarded for being strong and unemotional (Hubbard & Datnow, 2000).
There has been a gradual increase in the number of women in the US who are coming out of the workforce (Boushey, 2008). The reason given by the media is that mothers - especially older, highly educated mothers – are now ‘‘opting out’’ of employment in favor of full-time motherhood. Even the military has been concerned about integrating women into the infantry units due to the purpose of women as “procreators and nurturers” (Wojack, 2002, p. Just as men and women may be treated differently in the workplace, there is also evidence there are gender differences in simple methods of communication.
Brescoll’s research found that “women without political experience are acutely aware of the fact that talking more than others at work may not be a successful way to communicate their power to others” (2011, p. She stated that women will typically listen and absorb the information before speaking. Gray (1992) noted that “Men mistakenly expect women to think, communicate, and react the way men do, women mistakenly expect men to feel, communicate, and respond the way women do. Pease (2000) discussed “Women’s intuition” noting that it “is mostly a woman’s acute ability to notice small details and changes in the appearance or behavior of others.
People from cultures around the world behave different and it is important to understand these differences. Frictions can arise between men and women because “…boys and girls grow up in what are essentially different cultures, so talk between women and men is cross-cultural conversation. Finally, Gilligan (1993) described the differences between men and women and how they “arise in a social context where factors of social status and power 6 combine with reproductive biology to shape the experiences of males and females and the relations between the sexes” (p. Dantley & Tillman (2008) stated that “Public intellectuals” need to view the social and cultural background of the situation to try and understand the reasoning behind why the social injustice is occurring.
Though the United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 (UN, 2000) on women, peace and security was adopted on 31 October, the U. did not deliver a National Action Plan until December 2011 (The White House, 2011). It is not clear why there was such a large gap between the time resolution was passed and the National Action Plan was drafted.