Description
As the EU embraced the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda and drafted its own policies to be implemented in its Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP), it increasingly required and relied on individuals able to dispense expertise on gender relations and gender mainstreaming. The result has been the creation of positions dedicated to gender on a full-time or part-time basis, both in the EEAS and in CSDP missions abroad: Gender Advisors and Gender Focal Points. This paper draws on early findings of fieldwork conducted in October 2019 and March 2020 in two civilian CSDP missions, EULEX Kosovo and EUMM Georgia, to understand the implications of the implementation of the WPS agenda through technical expertise. Particularly, the paper explores how Gender Advisors and Gender Focal Points contribute to shape the content and practice of gender expertise in CSDP missions by analysing their experiences, challenges, strategies and dilemmas. By examining these issues, the paper will contribute to further our understanding of the dynamics of gender expertise in EU security institutions and in turn how gender expertise shapes the EU’s implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda.
