#WomenAreNATO campaign is on the road
We are very glad to announce that our #WomenAreNATO campaign is on the road! On February 1, we launch our annual campaign dedicated to amazing women who have had a pivotal contribution in making NATO a stronger Alliance. From Defence Ministers to Ambassadors and young experts, women who #OrangeTheWorld and make of it a better place.
STAY TUNNED and follow our social media channels as until March 8, we will be promoting those amazing women that #ProtectOurFuture.
Meanwhile, we would like to share with you some interesting highlights about Women in NATO:
The first NATO Conference of Senior Service Women Officers of the Alliance took place in Copenhagen in June 1961. It was organised by the Danish Atlantic Association as a first step to discuss the possibility of increasing co-operation on matters pertaining to the status and employment of women in the military forces of the Alliance. At the end of this conference, the delegates (representing Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States) adopted a resolution agreeing on the desirability of holding future conferences at regular intervals and expressing the hope that the appropriate NATO and national authorities would consider employing women more widely within their Services in the interest of NATO as a whole.
In 1961, the Alliance nations had 30,000 Servicewomen under their flag. Today, they are over 285,000 service women on full-time duty.
Norway was the first NATO country to allow women to serve on submarines and women have been allowed into all other combat functions since 1985.
Denmark opened all functions and units in the armed forces to women in 1988 after trials conducted in combat arms in 1985 and 1987.
Within the NATO International Military Staff, gender perspectives continue to be mainstreamed with the help of the Office of the Gender Adviser (GENAD). Established in 1998 as the Office on Women in the NATO Forces, the office took a more inclusive approach in 2014 by incorporating gender as a whole in its title and workings.
The NATO Secretary General’s Special Representative for Women, Peace and Security serves as the high-level focal point for NATO’s work in this domain.
NATO is also committed to supporting UNSCR 1820, which focuses on conflict-related sexual violence.
NATO’s first policy on Women, Peace and Security (WPS) was developed by Allies and partners in the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) in 2007.
More recently, on the 3rd February 2022, the International Military Staff (IMS) Gender Advisor, Lieutenant Colonel Katherine Prudhoe and staff hosted their first Deep Dive Session on Gender and Hybrid Threats at NATO HQ. The purpose of the session was to build awareness and spark discussion about how gender and hybrid threats affects NATO’s military planning.