Gender And Nuclear Security: Assessing Women's Participation In Strategic Security Institutions In Pakistan

Abstract

In this study, I explore the linkages between gender inclusion and nuclear security governance in Pakistan through the lens of women's engagement in strategic security institutions. Yet, despite the growing global awareness of how women are present in diverse roles within the security sectors, women's participation in nuclear policy-making and strategic planning and in decision-making institutions in the defense sector is still limited. This imbalance calls into question issues of inclusion, the effectiveness of policy and holistic security governance. The issue being studied in this paper is lack of representation of women in strategic security institutions, which can impact the complexity and range of views in the policy-making process and in risk assessment frameworks for nuclear security. The study builds on feminist frameworks of security and institutional inclusivity, focusing on security governance and the roles of gendered structures. The design used was a mixed-method research design, including two types of methods: the qualitative type, which included interviews with policymakers, and the quantitative type, which involved an institutional representation analysis of the gender dimension. The findings were confirmed by content analysis of policy documents. Primary data were gathered from official documents of the defence-oriented institutions and from records of public service commission as well as semi-structured interviews with the security professionals in Pakistan (n = 25). The results show that only less than 12% of the personnel are women in strategic security institutions and hardly any are working in nuclear policy advisory positions. Institutional constraints, socio-cultural norms and restricted professional access to defense sectors are some of the major hindrances. Derived from these findings, measurable outcomes are proposed that include a target of 20% for women in strategic security roles within five years as well as recommendations to ensure a more gender-responsive approach to recruitment and to institute structured capacity-building initiatives to increase opportunities for women to participate and lead in strategic security positions.

Keywords: Gender inclusion, nuclear security, Pakistan, feminist security theory, strategic institutions, policy governance