Deep Dive Recap: Exploring Gender and Hybrid Threats
On the 3rd February 2022, the International Military Staff (IMS) Gender Advisor, Lieutenant Colonel Katherine Prudhoe and staff hosted their first Deep Dive Session on Gender and Hybrid Threats at NATO HQ. The purpose of the session was to build awareness and spark discussion about how gender and hybrid threats affects NATO’s military planning.
The Deep Dive explored key factors of hybrid threats, how disinformation can be used to discredit and undermine, and can also be used to exploit existing social divisions such as those between men and women. Outi Jalonen highlighted key examples women politicians as the victim of misinformation campaigns. Dr. Hoogensen Gjørv explained that “diversity can be a vulnerability but also a strength” stressing the importance of looking through different lenses and to find new solutions to counter hybrid threats.
The Deep Dive featured speakers Outi Jalonen from the European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE), and Dr Gunhild Hoogensen Gjørv from the Security, Peace and Conflict studies at the Arctic University of Norway. In addition to participants from IMS, colleagues from International Staff, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE), Allied Command Transformation (ACT) also took part.
The Gender and Hybrid Deep Dive is the first among a series of future sessions, including Gender and Resilience, Gender and Deterrence, as well as the upcoming session on Gender and Climate Change in March 2022. The aim of the Deep Dive series is to integrate a gender perspective throughout all of NATO’s core tasks.