Committee on Women in the NATO Forces
The Committee on Women in the NATO Forces’ (CWINF) mission is to advise NATO leadership and member nations on critical issues affecting women in the Alliance’s Armed Forces
Topics
- Improving the gender balance : a selected list of best practices (18 Nov 2008) (.PDF/7,5 Mb)
- CWINF guidance for NATO Gender Mainstreaming (.PDF/45KB)
- Training and education related to gender or UNSCR 1325 and 1820 at the national level (Excel/70Kb)
Events
- List of meetings PDF/18Kb
- DEU MOD Press on CWINF Meeting in Berlin 07 (German text)
- CWINF 25 Anniversary (.PDF/97 KB)
- Reykjavik NATO Parliamentary Assembly 2007 (.PDF/14 KB)
PDF Library
Facts and figures
- Entrance criteria to Military Academies
- Admission limit for Military Academy
- Maternity/paternity leave
- Female generals
- Submarines - combat
- Personnel comparison in deployments 2006 (PDF/12Kb)
- Percentage of female soldiers in 2007 (PDF/12Kb)
- Percentage of female soldiers from 2001 till 2006 (PDF/52Kb)
Multimedia
Opinions
- 22/10/08 - NATO
Gender booklet CCOE version 12 - Gender mainstreaming in ESDP missions
- 30/09/2006 - NATO
Briefing by Col Dr. A.N.Matschulat at the Conference Challenges and Perspectives - 29/09/2006 - NATO
Q&A to the Chairperson of the Committee on Women in the NATO Forces, Col Dr. MATSCHULAT, during an interview for the Military TV Channel in Sofia, Bulgaria on 29 Sep
Eng. / Fr.
Women in the NATO Forces have served proudly in defence of their nations and in NATO collective defence during critical times of war and mobilisation.
Integration efforts, equality and rights of women in the military have undergone meaningful changes in many NATO nations.
The Committee on Women in the NATO Forces continues to concentrate its efforts in promoting equality of all its military personnel in terms of:
Sharing of information and lessons learned avoids „reinventing the wheel“.
Structure
The Committee on Women in the NATO Forces (CWINF) comprises the Chairperson, three Deputy Chairpersons and one Delegate of each NATO Member Nation having a representative in the Military Committee (MC). One of the Deputy Chairpersons is the Chair elect, which means that she is the elected person, to become the next Chairperson.
More...History
The existence of the CWINF is ultimately the result of co-operation and hard work of the participating nations. 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, Denmark.
Since then the Committee has grown with the Alliance. Currently 25 nations are represented in the CWINF. Iceland is missing, as it has no military of its own.
More...Activities
The Committee on Women in the NATO Forces meets once a year; every second year, the Committee Meeting takes the form of a Conference. To maintain and reinforce links with the Military Committee, Conferences are held at NATO HQ. In alternate years, Meetings are hosted by the Chairperson and held in this nation, but may be held in any NATO country. Following to every annual Meeting, the Chairperson formally briefs the MC on the Committee Meetings outcomes. The Conferences and Meetings and not open for the public and guest speakers are directly invited by the Executive Committee.
Co-operation with partner nations
To maintain active cooperation with the 27 Partnership for Peace and seven Mediterranean Dialogue countries the CWINF usually opens one day of its annual Meetings for one Representative of each of those countries.
Looking ahead
Although the CWINF is encouraged by the progress made so far on the integration of women within the Armed Forces, there is yet a lot of work to be done. Since 2002 the CWINF works on enhancing the Conditions for service women concerning NATO operations.
