United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and

the Empowerment of Women (UNWomen)

Study Guide

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Contents

Introduction Letters ................................................................................................................ 2

Introduction to the Committee ............................................................................................ 4

TOPIC A: IMPROVING WOMEN’S ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION ............................. 6

Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 6

Situation so far ..................................................................................................................... 6

Bloc Positions ...................................................................................................................... 10

Points to consider .............................................................................................................. 12

Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 13

Further Reading .................................................................................................................. 14

Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 14

TOPIC B: DISCRIMINATION AND TREATMENT OF WOMEN IN THE ARMED FORCES

................................................................................................................................................... 17

Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 17

Situation so far ................................................................................................................... 18

Bloc Positions ...................................................................................................................... 20

Points to consider .............................................................................................................. 20

Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 22

Further Reading .................................................................................................................. 23

Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 23

2

Introduction Letters

Ladies and (hopefully I also have the pleasure of addressing a few) Gentlemen,

I will be the Director of this committee for the grand total of 3 days in your life.

I read 2nd year Chemical Engineering MEng, hail from Imperial itself and trust that you

will delight in my campus as much as I do. I am of Indian origin, possess a Canadian

passport, and spent the last 2 decades reveling in the Singaporean lifestyle. This will

be my 6th time chairing and my 21st conference but those are just numbers – what’s

important is that I haven’t gotten bored of this yet!

It will be an honour to run this committee together with Sonja and Anastasia

and it will doubtless be the exploration of a very important but oft-sidelined aspect to

our society. I would like to request that you come adequately prepared for either

topic as there will be a referendum on which to debate first. The UNWomen entity is

in reality in its infancy, so let us seize the day and explore its full potential.

Sin cera,

Shiladitya Ghosh

Dear Delegates,

I am Sonja Huttunen, your assistant director at LIMUN 2014 and I am delighted

to be chairing UN Women with Shiladitya and Anastasia. I’m from the Finnish Model

UN Society and I am an MPhil candidate at Trinity College Dublin where I’m studying

International Peace Studies. I did my Bachelors in IR in the UK, but Finland is the place

I call home.

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I’m looking forward to meeting you soon. I expect you to do your homework

and study your country’s position (my top tip: UNBISnet, check it out!) and the topics

at hand. However, most importantly, I want you to have fun. Enjoy the debate, meet

new people and be the best diplomat you can be.

I look forward to meeting you all,

Sonja Huttunen

Dear Delegates,

I’m Anastasia, one of your assistant directors, and I bid you all a very warm

welcome to the UN Women committee! So a little bit about myself: I’m a third year at

the University of Nottingham, reading BA Ancient History, residing in London, but of

Russian/Ukrainian origin. This is my second time chairing, though the first for this

conference and committee, and I am looking forward to meeting you all.

I hope you all prepare well so that we can have a great debate on these issues.

So if we work well in committee we can all have an even greater time at the socials,

which, judging by last year’s conference (I went as a delegate), will be a blast- “work

hard, play hard” as they say. On top of Sonja’s tip for research, I would also use

CIA.gov for basic information on your countries.

See you all in February,

Anastasia Kvaskova

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Introduction to the Committee

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women

(UNWomen) was formally created by the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in 2010,

born from a merger of several previously extant bodies and committees pertaining

to interests of a similar nature. It has the following main roles (UNWomen, 2014):

• To support inter-governmental bodies, such as the Commission on the

Status of Women, in their formulation of policies, global standards and

norms

• To help Member States to implement these standards, standing ready to

provide suitable technical and financial support to those countries that

request it, and to forge effective partnerships with civil society

• To hold the UN system accountable for its own commitments on gender

equality, including regular monitoring of system-wide progress.

Since its formation, UNWomen has achieved progress in several areas such as:

building an international movement, COMMIT, where national leaders take on

pledges to mitigate or eradicate violence against women of all ages; and working

with Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), governments, and private partners

to improve healthcare systems available to women around the world under the

Every Woman Every Child initiative. This is in addition to continuing to push for the

various efforts that had commenced while its constituent bodies,

- the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW),

- the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM),

- the International Research and Training Institute for the Advancement of

Women (INSTRAW), and

- the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues Advancement of Women

(OSAGI)),

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were independently functional. It must be noted that UNWomen serves a largely

facilitative purpose and provides guidance and direction in the construction of

policies which are implemented by other organisations.

Till date, efforts related to higher education have been primarily driven by the UN

Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) while efforts regarding

discrimination against women have been tackled by the Commission for the

Eradication of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). However, UNWomen is in a

strong position to make updated advisories and statements of recommendations

to such organisations and it is with a broad aim along these lines that it will

convene from 21-23 February 2014, in London.

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TOPIC A: IMPROVING WOMEN’S ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION

Introduction

There is gender-based inequality in many areas of lives of women. Health, nutrition,

freedom and education are distributed unfairly and culture, tradition and under-

development stand in the way of women emerging to equality with men. Any

efforts to remove poverty must address gender inequality to be truly sustainable

and holistic: this is one of the Millennium Development Goals. Gender equality is a

fundamental human right. Education is in key position in promoting gender

equality and empowering women. That in itself is problematic due to various socio-

economic-political reasons. Furthermore, even if girls gain access to primary and

even secondary education, higher education can be out of reach for them. There

are legal, policy-related, financial and personal hindrances that restrict women’s

free access to higher education.

The number of women and their advancement in higher education can be

considered as a good indicator of women’s sociopolitical status in different

societies (Fuchs, 1998). Fortunately, there has been a significant growth in female

students in higher education: the number of women in tertiary education has

grown almost twice as fast as the number of men (Chien, 2012) and in some

wealthy countries there are already more women in higher education than men.

The growth, however, has not been geographically equally: the greatest growth

has been in North America and Western Europe while most disadvantaged women

are in Sub-Saharan Africa and in South and West Asia (ibid). Chien finds that women

are most likely to enter higher education in countries that have high national

wealth (2012).

Situation so far

The World Atlas of Gender Equality in Education recently published by UNESCO,

shows trends indicating that change is on its way. It shows that the longstanding

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custom of excluding women from access to higher education has been near-

completely eradicated in the last forty years and much progress has been achieved

to the contrary. Despite this, with barely three years of compliance with the goals

of the Education for All (EFA) movement and the targets of the UN Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs), the UNESCO report identifies two regions where the

higher education system continues to be unjust to women, indicating great

disparity: South Asia, West Asia and sub-Saharan Africa (UNESCO, 2012).

Higher education is a very conducive environment in which to generate gender

inequalities, as according to tradition, it was an aspect of life considered

“unfeminine”. Rather, in so as to boost their social stature and successful

assimilation into public society, only men received the privilege of an access to

higher education, whereas ladies were encouraged to only be visible within the

household, concerning themselves solely with domestic matters. (Papadópulos,

2005).

Gender representation in higher education has changed in the course of the past

few decades (Kelly et al, 1991), due to the gradual rise in the number of women

enrolled into higher education internationally. Furthermore, women exceed men in

evaluations, grades and degree completions (Buchmann, 2012)., which should be

regarded as “a positive development, especially given the spill-over effects that

benefit the individual, households and societies” (UIS-UNESCO, 2010, p.71).

One may say that as a result of democratisation of societies and human rights

development occurring, progress has been accomplished (Bosco, 2009). Higher

levels of education are being required by women in order to achieve social mobility

due to women's roles and aspirations in society undergoing constant evolution

(UIS-UNESCO, 2010). In an effort to lend surety and ensure progress in instating

gender equality in higher education, organisations such as UNESCO, have

developed resolutions, recommendations, and declarations by putting gender

issues on the international agenda.

In the eyes of the World Economic Forum (WEF), this heralds a turning of tables in

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our history, where gender equality has never been as heavily under scrutiny as it is

now (WEF, 2010). Through the issue of higher education, the once-rampant

perception that females should be subjugated and marginalised has been

suppressed by giving form to institutional structures granting both genders an

equal opportunity. At long last, females are even able to be in a position to

contribute to decision-making in public or be independent (Bosco, 2009).

Patterns emerging regarding higher education access for women may be traced

through the explosion of the number of women in higher education between 1970

and 2010. During this period, women all around the world were the primary

beneficiaries of the boom in the higher education sector, with their participation

more than tripling from 8% to

29% causing gender disparity

to shift away from men and

towards a middle ground

(UNESCO, 2012). It is believed

that such trends towards

change in women’s access to

higher education shall continue

in the decades to come, but

safe to assume that it will

occur at a slower rate (Rama,

2009).

Fig. 1. Gross enrolment ratio in HE by region and worldwide, years 1970 and

2009

Source: UNESCO Institute for Statistics, cited in UNESCO, 2012, p. 77.

Figure1 alludes to the above conclusions from 2012 UNESCO report. By 2009, Latin

America and the Caribbean, East Asia and the Pacific, North America, and Western,

Central and Eastern Europe were where the GER favoured women, with only two

regions that still favoured men over women- South & West Asia, and sub-Saharan

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Africa, and the Arab States region displayed parity. In regions with disparity, sub-

Saharan Africa's GRE was the highest in favour of men, while Western Europe and

North America's GREs were the most in favour of women (UNESCO, 2012).

Global changes in the Gender Parity Index (GPI) are also examined, with the GPI

representing the ratio between the respective GREs of men and women (UNESCO,

2012). Figure 2 further confirms the report by indicating the worldwide GPI

dramatic rise from 0.74 in 1970 to 1.08 in 2009. The latter value lies within the

acceptable range determined by UNESCO (between 0.97 and 1.03), thus, signifying

a global shifting of the balance slightly in favour of women. In 1970, only one

region - Central and Eastern Europe - had an index in favour of women, while in

2009, three more areas - Latin America & the Caribbean, Central Asia, and North

America & Western Europe, exhibited this statistic thus covering a majority of the

swathes of the world map. Nevertheless, South & West Asia and sub-Saharan Africa

continue to buck the trend, where the higher education enrolment mechanism

continues to be unjust to women. In those regions, the low levels of Gross

Domestic Product (GDP) (UNESCO, 2012) and the challenging social setting

(Dundar, 1993) may be seen as the primary forces maintaining female under-

representation.

At a higher education level, in regards to achieving a Bachelor’s degree, women

hold an edge in accounting for 56% of Master’s degrees. Nevertheless, at PhD level,

only 44% are women (UNESCO, 21012).

It is worthwhile to consider which sex dominates in various academic disciplines.

The MDG Report 2010 shows that women are "overrepresented in the humanities

and social sciences, whereas the sciences, technology, and especially engineering,

are significantly under-represented" (UIS, 2010). However, examining the abundant

sources and texts on this topic, it is generally argued that females have taken great

strides in populating disciplines where they were seldom found in due to the

custom of particular fields being male-dominated. This advancement signifies the

start of a journey to vanquishing several gender-based stereotypes pertaining to

education (Papadopoulos et al, 2005).

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From the primary to the tertiary levels, within formal education systems

opportunities are expanding, enrolment is rising and literacy levels are improving.

Are these changes advancing the goal of gender parity and equality in education

across countries and regions, even though global education patterns are changing?

Fig. 2. Adjusted gender parity

index for gross enrolment ratio in

HE, 1970–20091

Bloc Positions

Unlike most topics, the matter of

education is not quite split

politically but culturally – and even

then, everyone stands for the same

cause. What differs between

countries are how their culture

affects societal constraints on women seeking gender parity and how much

importance it holds to the people.

Furthermore, women have major roles to play in the economies of certain

countries, taking on low-skill jobs which they would probably shun were they to

become better qualified academically. For example, predominant in countries such

as Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, and various Middle Eastern nations, several

hundred thousand women are employed as domestic workers in each nation (ILO,

2013), and are usually migrants from economically poorer nations such as Sri Lanka,

Bangladesh, the Philippines, Thailand, and Indonesia. Considering almost 80% of all

domestic help employed worldwide is female (Anderson 2009), it is tenable to say

that it would not be in the country of employment’s best interests to see a boost in

poorer countries’ women having better access to higher education, becoming more

highly skilled and thus preferring to move on to better-paying jobs, as the costs of

1 UNESCO Institute for Statistics, cited in UNESCO, 2012, p. 77.

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sourcing for and employing domestic help from other places would therefore

considerably rise. However, this would definitely be good news for the country of

employee origin both economically and socially.

On the other hand, any policies implemented would no doubt positively impact the

access of women to higher education in the country of employment as well,

leading to more women competing for blue- and white-collar employment

opportunities locally and globally, thus potentially leading to a boost for the

economy, offsetting the above-mentioned adverse impacts to some extent.

Domestic workers are also employed to large extents in the Americas and Europe,

however the breadth in the variety of employment opportunities popular in those

regions result in substantially larger male populations in the domestic helper

regional communities, as roles of being a butler, chauffeur, valet, and security

guard are considerably more in demand whereas in Asia and the Middle East, roles

such as being a cook, housemaid, cleaner, and laundress are more sought after.

Thus it is expected that countries where domestic help of the latter nature is

widespread will be less dynamic and radical in lending their support to policies

which would both help and hurt them.

Another issue to consider is that of family planning and population control. In a

vast number of sub-Saharan African states, the total fertility rate (TFR) is between

4.0 and 8.0 (World Bank, 2011) – a figure that is in the respective governments’

interests to bring under control in a variety of ways. There is a moderate overlap

between this group of nations and the nations where women have the least access

to higher education.

Boosting access to higher education in these regions would result in a larger

population of educated women who would not only potentially be better

equipped to understand and assimilate family planning advice, but would also have

lost a few years of their potential childbearing period, making it very likely to bring

down the fertility rate, ceteris paribus.

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Thus it would also be expected that sub-Saharan nations and other nations with

high fertility rates will be the most concerned with improving access to higher

education for their women.

Points to consider

The following are recommended for consideration in formulating country stances

and brainstorming of clauses for working papers and draft resolution. They need

not be specifically addressed in writing (as some are not appropriate for the scope

of a resolution) however it is advised to ruminate on them in proposing solutions.

Fields of Study:

• Are there any fields of study that women are in fact less capable to perform

in? If yes, how so?

• What can be done to encourage more women to study subjects, such as

science and engineering?

• Are there prejudices towards women in certain areas of education? If so,

what can be done to discourage them?

The highest level of education:

• Why are there substantially fewer women at PhD Level?

• How can women be encouraged more to develop their studies?

Regions:

• What can be done to encourage, support and fund women from the regions

of Sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia?

• Why is there differentiation between regions? I.e. what are the factors that

could be affecting women’s access in a particular region?

Economic Gaps:

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• As a result of more women gaining access to higher education, how would

the economic and manpower gaps left behind (such as in the global

domestic work sector) be filled or accounted for?

Conclusion

It is seen from the discussion over the last few pages that women’s access to

higher education has considerably improved from what it was a few decades ago,

however in the march of progress, there are many subtleties and associated

economic and social issues that must be considered. At the same time, a lot

remains to be done internationally, especially in developing countries, to make it

less inaccessible for women to develop their education.

Nonetheless, there is not much of a conceptual sticking point and more debate

about addressing the finer points presented in 1.4 for consideration is expected by

the directorate.

It is reminded that UNWomen plays a largely advisory and watchdog-like role for

the rest of the UN and entities such as the UNCSW’s efforts in promoting women’s

issues in various fields. Recommendations to individual Member States about

policies and such will not be in the scope of the committee but rather the UNCSW’s.

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Further Reading

http://www.degruyter.com/view/j/njawhe

http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Pages/women-higher-education.aspx

http://www.uis.unesco.org/searchcenter/Pages/ResultsDS.aspx?k=women%27s%2

0access%20to%20higher%20education&s=DOT_STAT_EN

http://www.uis.unesco.org/Library/Documents/access-equality-empowering-girls-

women-literacy-secondary-education-2012-en.pdf

http://chronicle.com/article/Women-Value-Higher-Education/128713/

http://www.wihe.com/

http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED421047

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/3099443?uid=3738032&uid=2129&uid=2&

uid=70&uid=4&sid=21103206618681

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/Only-10-of-students-

have-access-to-higher-education-in-country/articleshow/28420175.cms

http://www.canadian-studies.net/lccs/LJCS/Vol_17/Tremblay.pdf

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-

agenda/gender-and-education/resources/the-world-atlas-of-gender-equality-in-

education/

Bibliography

UNWomen. (2014, January 7). About UNWomen. Retrieved from UNWomen

Website: http://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/about-un-women

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Bosco, J. (2009). Universidad, globalización y heterogeneidad institucional.

[University, globalization and institutional diversity]. Panama: Universidad

Especializada de las Américas.

"Who needs migrant workers? Introduction to the analysis of staff shortages,

immigration and public policy". Bridget Anderson and Martin Ruhs, Centre on

Migration, Policy and Society (COMPAS) University of Oxford Working draft: 11th

May 2009

Dundar, H. and Haworth, J. (1993). Improving women's access to Higher Education:

A review of World Bank project experience. [Online] http://www-

wds.worldbank.org/servlet/WDSContentServer/WDSP/IB/2000/07/19/000009265_

3961004075720/Rendered/PDF/multi_page.pdf

Fertility Rate, total (births per woman). (n.d.). Data from the World Bank. Retrieved

January 8, 2014, from

http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.DYN.TFRT.IN?order=wbapi_data_value_20

11+wbapi_data_value+wbapi_data_value-last&sort=desc

Kelly, P. and Slaughther, S. (1991). ‘Women and Higher Education: Trends and

perspectives’. In Paradise, G. and Slaughter, S. (Eds.), Women's higher education in

comparative perspective (pp. 3-16). The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Mark Tran, “ILO Urges Better Wages for Domestic Workers,” Guardian (9 January

2013) http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2013/jan/09/ilo-better-

pay-domestic-workers

Papadópulos, J. and Radakovich, R. (2005). Estudio comparado de Educación

Superior y género en América Latina y el Caribe. [Comparative study of Higher

Education and gender in Latin America and the Caribbean]. [Online]

http://www.cned.cl/public/Secciones/SeccionRevistaCalidad/doc/52/CSE_resumen

520.pdf

Rama, C. (2009). La tendencia a la masificación de la cobertura de la Educación

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Superior en América Latina. [The trend toward the massification of Higher

Education coverage in Latin America]. Revista Iberoamericana de Educación, 50,

173-195. [Online] http://redalyc.uaemex.mx/pdf/800/80011741010.pdf

UIS-UNESCO (2010). Global education digest 2010: Comparing education statistics

across the world. [Online]

http://www.uis.unesco.org/template/pdf/ged/2010/GED_2010_EN.pdf

UNESCO (2012) World atlas of gender equality in education.[Online]

http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002155/215522E.pdf

World Economic Forum (2010). Global Gender Gap. [Online]

http://www.weforum.org/issues/global-gender-gap

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TOPIC B: DISCRIMINATION AND TREATMENT OF WOMEN IN THE

ARMED FORCES

Introduction

Discrimination and treatment of women in the armed forces is a pressing issue for

many reasons, ranging from limited career progress to sexual harassment. In the

process of evolving, peacekeeping has incorporated a more humanitarian approach,

thus increasing the role of women in this field. The deployment of female

uniformed recruits in 1993 was 1%. Yet still, even by 2012, only 3 % of women in

the military, out of 125,000 peacekeepers, comprise the UN Peacekeeping mission.

Women have proven time and time again that they are capable of performing the

same tasks, under the same conditions, to the same standards as males, in all fields

of peacekeeping, be it civilian, police or military, yet they are still over looked. The

barriers, which female staff in the field face, are being examined and addressed by

the UN’s “Bridging the Gap” initiative.

Sexual harassment and rape incidents are a common occurrence in the military,

even in developed countries, such as the USA. Although reforms are underway,

they are still a long way away from achieving much change. In each of the service

branches, soldiers convicted of sex crimes receive a dismissal or dishonourable

discharge A long-standing directive of the Defence Department has banned

commanders from taking unfavourable personal action against those reporting

sexual harassment. Rates of sexual harassment vary, depending on the branch of

service. The Navy and the Air Force have the lowest rate of sexual harassment at

5.8%, whereas the Army’s rate is 10.3%. The Marines have the highest rate of

13.3%. In other countries, such as the Republic of Korea, harassment, both verbal

and sexual, resulted in a female soldier taking her own life.

Discrimination and the treatment of women in the military is a crucial issue today,

affecting women regardless of the country they serve, which branch the serve in,

or their length of service.

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Situation so far

It is pivotal that the international community recognises the role of women and

the issues surrounding them in the armed forces. The United Nations system has

adopted resolutions, programmes and conventions that are crucial for stopping

the discrimination against women and to improve their treatment in the armed

forces.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR, 1948) is the fundamental basis

for the meaning of freedom and human rights in the United Nations context. All

states must have agreed on it upon membership. It is not a treaty in itself, but it is

the moral basis for international law. It was explicitly created to be the constitutive

and moral basis for human rights in the UN system.

The 30 articles of the UDHR have been elaborated in various treaties, covenants,

constitutions and agreements. One of the earliest and most important conventions

for topic B is the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination

against Women (CEDAW, 1979). Its purpose was to highlight the female focus on

human rights concerns; however it has stirred controversy: it has been seen as

promoting Western feminism. 99 states have signed the treaty and most only with

reservations.

More specifically, various resolutions have addressed the issue of women and

security. The most historically significant is the UN Security Council resolution 1325

on Women, Peace and Security (WPS, 2000), which calls for greater participation,

access and protection of women in all areas of security, including peacebuilding.

The resolution recognises that conflicts affect females differently compared to

males. The Resolution 1325 later became supported by six further resolutions,

known as the WPS resolutions that all recognise and aim to address issues with

women and security (UNWomen, 2013a).

The fundamental and legislative framework for securing the role of women in

security thus exists. However, reality is quite different. Women at large are a

minority in the military and in some states are even denied entry. There are various

19

obstacles – systematic and cultural – against women entering the military. In the

UN system women are significantly underrepresented in peace operations.

Attitudes hinder the emergence of women both locally and internationally and the

issue is not given the recognition and support it requires.

In recent years, UNWomen has strengthened its commitment towards gender

equality in many areas such as peace negotiations, peace operations and

prevention. Fortunately, the changing nature of the military and the shift towards

prevention of conflicts have simultaneously created new roles within the armed

forces that have naturally paved the way forward for women. Including women in

the armed forces and specifically in conflict resolution is not only a natural

entitlement from human rights principles, but also beneficial for the conflict.

Including women in peace operations is more likely to increase the recognition of

women and gender perspectives in the peace process.

However, it is not enough that further attention is paid to women’s access to the

armed forces. Additional measures must be taken to ensure that the treatment of

women within the military is safe and equal. In the US, more women than men

reported sexual harassment by colleagues (Grossman, 2013). This has been

recognized and as mentioned in the introduction, action has been taken against

this issue. Furthermore, the ‘band of brothers’ culture and the perception of

inherent roles of males and females widens the gap between female and male

soldiers in the military. It has been put forward as a concern that a greater

inclusion of women breaks the unit cohesion and trust and that would be

disadvantageous. However, studies show that bonding and feeling of closeness are

actually counter-productive and mixed-sex units are more effective (Mackenzie,

2012).

But attitudes are shifting and measures are being taken to decrease discrimination

and improve treatment of women in armed forces. The difference between

supporting roles and combat roles is diminishing. The UN, for example, has

deployed an all-female unit in Liberia (UNWomen, 2013b). In 2013 the US lifted its

20

ban on women in combat roles (Grossman, 2013). UNIFEM/UNWomen have taken

several measures to contribute to a greater equality (UN Women, 2013b). Further

measures are required, however, to ensure safe and equal opportunity for women

to serve in the armed forces.

Bloc Positions

Women are freely allowed to join the armed forces in the vast majority of

countries. The discrepancy arises in terms of career development paths open to

them, i.e. being granted access to long-term combat roles.

The United Kingdom is a major military figure which as of yet does not allow

women into ground combat vocations on the grounds that it would cause a

degradation of combat effectiveness. This decision has stood after a review in

2010 (UK Government, 2010).

The United States of America and many NATO members are actively making

preparations to accommodate more women in combat roles.

India and Pakistan allow women into ground combat roles only on short-service

commissioned (SSC) roles.

Pakistan and Libya are among the few Islamic countries which allow women into

combat roles.

Points to consider

The following are recommended for consideration in formulating country stances

and brainstorming of clauses for working papers and draft resolution. They need

not be specifically addressed in writing (as some are not appropriate for the scope

of a resolution) however it is advised to ruminate on them in proposing solutions.

Do women have the right to fight?

• Are there inherent roles for genders?

• Can this be universal?

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• How can we avoid Western bias?

Should women’s access to armed forces be systematically facilitated?

• Is positive discrimination an option?

• What other systematic approaches should be conducted to increase the

inclusion of women?

What kind of tasks should women pursue in the armed forces?

• Should women’s tasks be limited to mediation and negotiations or should

women be allowed in combats?

Are women mentally less equipped to combat? Are women actually more

compassioned in the battle fields?

Can women perform tasks that men cannot?

• Compassion, gender expertise?

Should women’s biology and anatomy be considered? If yes, how could it be done?

• On average women have 30 per cent less muscle strength and 15-30 per cent

aerobic capacity than men (Grossman, 2013)

Do existing measures designed to protect women from gender-based

mistreatment in the armed forces need efficiency reviews and can new measures

be recommended?

Conversely, is it pragmatic to mandate all military personnel to undergo an anti-

gender discrimination course or similar?

Should mandatory military service be gender equal?

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Conclusion

There are two very separate parts to this issue which will pit countries both against

each other as well as in support of each other simultaneously.

The treatment of women in the armed forces is an issue of global concern and

most countries would desire to be seen to be taking steps to counteract this; what

remains to be seen is the extent to which they are willing to implement broad

measurers as opposed to dealing with incidents on a case-by-case basis,

considering not all countries’ armed forces contain a sizeable number of women.

On the other hand, the discrimination of women in the armed forces is an issue

which boils down to whether women are allowed into combat roles and whether

this is to the same extent as men. This involves cultural prejudices and concerns

about women being liabilities in the event of being captured as Prisoners of War

(POWs).

23

Further Reading

CEDAW – see especially the country specific reservations and objections listed

https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-

8&chapter=4&lang=en

UN Women Sourcebook on Women, Peace and Security

http://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2012/10/un-women-

sourcebook-on-women-peace-and-security

Case Study of women’s feats in the Indian Armed Forces

http://defencelover.in/2013/10/20/salute-to-brave-women-soldiers-of-indian-

armed-forces/

Bibliography

Grossman, L. (2013). The right to fight: women at war. New Scientist, 217(2902)

Mackenzie, M. H. (2012). Let Women Fight. Foreign Affairs, 91(6), 32-42.

United Nations (1979) Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. [Online] http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CEDAW.aspx

United Nations (1948) Universal Declaration of Human Rights. [Online] Available

from: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/ [Accessed 28.12.2013]

United Nations Security Council (2000) Resolution 1325. [Online] Available from:

http://www.un.org/ga/search/view_doc.asp?symbol=S/RES/1325(2000) [Accessed

28.12.2013]

UN Women (2013a) Peace and Security. [Online] Available from:

http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/peace-and-security [Accessed

28.12.2013]

24

UN Women (2013b) Peacebuilding. [Online] Available from:

http://www.unifem.org/gender_issues/women_war_peace/peacebuilding.html

[Accessed 28.12.2013]

http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/issues/military.shtml

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/new-military-rape-policies-make-no-

progress/2013/12/25/1bc9848c-6c09-11e3-a5d0-6f31cd74f760_story.html

http://www.stripes.com/news/sexual-harassment-assault-more-likely-for-

deployed-women-who-saw-combat-1.243735

http://www.koreabang.com/2013/stories/female-soldier-commits-suicide-after-

constant-sexual-harassment.html

Measuring sexual harassment in the military: The Sexual Experiences

Questionnaire (SEQ—DoD).

Fitzgerald, Louise F.; Magley, Vicki J.; Drasgow, Fritz; Waldo, Craig R.

Military Psychology, Vol 11(3), 1999, 243-263. doi: 10.1207/s15327876mp1103_3

Report On The Review Of The Exclusion Of Women From Ground Close-Combat

Roles, UK Government, 2010

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/2

7403/Report_review_excl_woman_combat_pr.pdf

25

CONFERENCE INFORMATION

When looking for information regarding LIMUN 2014 (and subsequent editions)

your first step should be to visit our website: www.limun.org.uk

LIMUN in social media

Please follow updates from us through our social media channels:

London International Model United Nations (LIMUN)

@LondonMUN

When tweeting about this year’s conference (your preparations, journey to/from

London or when live-tweeting the events during the conference itself) –

- please use hashtag #LIMUN2014

Agenda & Rules of Procedure

The agenda for the 2014 conference is available online at

www.limun.org.uk/agenda

Since its 14th session last year, LIMUN has introduced changes to its Rules of

Procedure. The revised Rules can be accessed here: http://limun.org.uk/rules

26

POSITION PAPERS

What is a position paper?

A position paper is a statement of policy, which is intended to communicate an

overall position of a country on a particular topic debated in the committee.

Position papers should be brief and outline the general policies rather than specific

measures.

Each delegate should submit one position paper per topic to be debated by the

committee (note: most of the committees have two proposed topics). Each paper

should be approximately one page per topic.

LIMUN offers a short guide on how to write a position paper. It is available on our

website: http://limun.org.uk/FCKfiles/File/Position_Paper_Guide.pdf

Deadlines

There are two deadlines for submission of delegates’ position papers:

February 11th (Tuesday) – position papers submitted before this deadline

will be reviewed by the Directors and the delegates will receive feedback and will

be given a chance to submit a corrected version of their policy papers (if

necessary).

February 14th (Friday) – position papers submitted before this deadline will

still receive feedback from the Directors, but their re-submission will not be

permitted.

Submitted position papers will be circulated by the Directors among the

committee members. Please note: LIMUN 2014 Awards Policy revision has

introduced a Best Position Paper award.

27

CONTACT DETAILS

For any enquiries relating to your committee proceedings or if you want to get in

touch with your committee’s Directors, or for submission of position papers -

- please e-mail: unwomen@limun.org.uk

Other enquiries regarding the Conference should be made to

enquiries@limun.org.uk

Before contacting LIMUN please make sure you have read FAQ section on our

website: http://limun.org.uk/faq