ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the dynamic, by providing a historical overview of gender and peacekeeping. It explores gender mainstreaming and gender balancing, specifically mentioning the challenges of implementing both types of policies. As peacekeeping missions have taken on broader mandates to include peacebuilding activities such as organizing elections, disarming, demobilizing, and reintegrating solders, security sector reform, rule of law, promoting good governance, and human rights. It also incorporated gender equality in peacekeeping operations through gender balancing and gender mainstreaming as ways to achieve more complex mandates. The Windhoek Declaration and the Namibia Plan of Action on Mainstreaming a Gender Perspective in Multidimensional Peace Support Operations, which stressed the importance of gender mainstreaming and gender balancing in UN peace operations, was the first major document linking the WPS agenda to peacekeeping. The chapter concludes by arguing that a more holistic approach toward incorporating 'gender' – equal opportunity – in peacekeeping missions is necessary in order to achieve its mandates.
