Description
Over twenty years on, the capacity of the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda to challenge gender-blind peacekeeping and security practices remains limited. This article explores the practice of ‘mainstreaming a gender perspective’ in EU civilian Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions as a way to connect the WPS agenda with existing security practices. Meshing practice theory and feminist institutionalism, I first critically examine what a gender perspective means in the context of EU CSDP missions. Then, drawing on interviews with gender specialists, I explore everyday interactions, training and reporting as sites where the integration of a gender perspective is operationalised. A gender perspective tends to frame WPS as a set of depoliticised tools and skills. Yet, engaging with it as a practice can foster space to reflect on and deconstruct peacekeeping practices, in ways which convey some awareness of feminist principles. Overall, I argue that the deployment of a gender perspective reproduces problematic understandings of WPS while creating opportunities to redefine peacekeeping and security practices. The article contributes to literature on the articulation of the WPS agenda in security organisations and to debates in security studies on whether security practices can meaningfully change in line with feminist aspirations.
