In 1961 the first NATO Conference of Senior Women Officers of the Alliance with Delegates from Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, the United Kingdom and the United States took place in Copenhagen. It was organised by the Danish Atlantic Association and focused on issues concerning the status, organisation, and conditions of employment and career possibilities of women in the military forces of the Alliance.
The Delegates completed the Copenhagen Conference by adopting a resolution agreeing to the desirability of holding future conferences at regular intervals. They unanimously expressed the hope that NATO and national authorities would consider employing women more widely within their military services for the greater interests of the Alliance.
In 1965, a study visit to NATO Headquarter (HQ), the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) and the NATO Defence College provided an opportunity to renew contacts. This led to a Director's Conference of Senior Women Officers convened by the NATO Information Service in 1966 with seven NATO countries attending.
Significant developments occurred during the Conference at NATO HQ in November 1973. Sponsored by NATO Information Service, nine countries, and for the first time, representative from the nursing services, were present. The Delegates, representing 28 women's services, which comprised over 100,000 service women, adopted a resolution agreeing that women should have the opportunity to serve in all job specialities with the exception of combat where their employment should be determined by national policy. Additionally, during that Conference, a recommendation was made for appointing an ad hoc committee with the responsibility for developing goals and objectives for the Alliance Women's Services organisations.
From that recommendation, the ad hoc Committee was formed and each Delegation nominated a national representative.
At the London Conference in 1975, representatives from Belgium briefed the Delegates, as Belgium was beginning to recruit women into their Armed Services. As Germany was preparing to introduce specialist women medical officers into the Bundeswehr, also Representatives from the Federal Republic of Germany gave briefings.
The Military Committee (MC) endorsed formal recognition of the Committee on Women in the NATO Forces (CWINF) on 19 July 1976 in Document MC 249.
At the 1977 NATO HQ Conference, Belgium and the Federal Republic of Germany became full members.
In 1979 Representatives from Greece and an Observer from Italy attended for the first time. Additionally, the Terms of Reference (TOR) for the Committee were revised to take account of the Committee's official military status.
At the 1985 NATO HQ Conference, 57 representatives from 13 NATO countries attended including participants from Spain for the first time. The Committee completed a much-needed revision of it’s TOR and a modified a resolution on the employment of women in the NATO Forces.
In 1996 the present Chairperson of the Committee, in co-operation with the Director of International Military Staff (DIMS) advocated for a full-time secretariat position for the Committee. At the time, only temporary administrative support was provided resulting in a lack of continuity for the Committee's goals and objectives.
In March 1997 the MC approved the establishment of an advisory office on Women in the NATO Forces within the International Military Staff (IMS). The intention was to run the office on a trial basis for up to three years to ascertain whether or not there was a requirement for such an office. The Office on Women in the NATO Forces (OWINF) became a reality in January 1998. The United States volunteered to send two United States Air Force members to initially staff the office. It provided liaison with the Military Representatives and their staffs and provided the much-needed continuity of the Committees goals and objectives.
In December 2000, the MC adopted a resolution and confirmed the permanency of the OWINF within the IMS structure. The intention was that nation representatives on a rotation basis staff the two office’s positions.
At the 2001 Meeting in Rome the Committee celebrated its 25th Anniversary. Italy opened the military for servicewomen.
Since 2002 there is an active co-operation between the Committee and the 27 “Partnership for Peace” (PfP) nations. In May they were invited for the first time to the Annual Conference in Brussels.
One year later, in May 2003, the 27 years old Document MC 249 was superseded by the updated version MC 249/1.
In the same year, in June in Ottawa the first established contacts to the seven countries from the Mediterranean Dialogue resulted in inviting them to the Meeting.
In year 2004 the seven new NATO nations were invited to the Conference in Brussels and Delegates from Bulgaria Latvia, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia participated then for the first time.
