UN Women to support women’s empowerment in the Georgian Defence Forces
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Increasing women’s meaningful participation in the Georgian Defence Forces (GDF) is a global challenge and an essential part of implementing the Women, Peace and Security agenda. Despite the progress made in Georgia in recent years, the country is still facing some challenges. For example, women make up only 9 per cent of the GDF, of whom only 1.5 per cent hold decision-making positions.
Amid this context, UN Women, in partnership with the Geneva Centre for Security Sector Governance (DCAF) and the Ministry of Defence of Georgia, is making efforts for women’s empowerment in the civil service of the Ministry of Defence and the GDF and for the elimination of existing barriers for women to advance their careers in the military.
This partnership also entails another initiative - to conduct a series of professional development sessions for 25 representatives of the Ministry of Defence and the GDF. It is expected that the participants will use the newly acquired knowledge to identify and address gender stereotypes and reduce their negative impact on women’s career advancement in the GDF.
Furthermore, the training sessions aim to enable participants to more effectively address organizational challenges, including the barriers to recruiting, retaining and promoting women, and to increase women’s involvement and representation by sharing their success stories, among other initiatives.
The meetings will also help women who hold different military ranks and work in different units or divisions to enhance communication, share experiences and support one another, as well as recognize the importance of their career success.
“Women can build a successful military career. We are a source of motivation and an example for those women and girls who are thinking about a career in the military. We are empowering them,” says training participant Tatia Khugaeva, Platoon Commander of Battery II of the 6th Artillery Brigade, 62nd Reactive Artillery Battalion.
The trainings are delivered by national and international experts. The trainings, in addition to sharing best practices, are intended to support the implementation of the 2023–2024 Gender Equality Action Plan developed by the Georgian Ministry of Defence with UN Women’s active support, and to promote the implementation of the 2022–2024 National Action Plan of Georgia on Women, Peace and Security.
This initiative is implemented within the framework of the UN Women project “Accelerating Implementation of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in Georgia”, generously funded by the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) of the UK Government and the UK Ministry of Defence.