Gender mainstreaming in mine action

Gender mainstreaming in mine action is the application of gender mainstreaming to mine action. It is increasingly being adopted by international and state mine action organizations.

Gender mainstreaming in mine action is derived from the idea that women and men often have different roles and responsibilities within their communities or families and consequently different decision-making power, mobility patterns, information and control over resources. The different positions of men and women have an influence on their exposure to landmines and explosive remnants of war (ERW), their ability to access medical and psychological services once they have been injured by mines, their chances of long term reintegration in society, and the likelihood of them to be included in risk education.

As a result, organizations employ gender mainstreaming in mine action by assessing the implications for women and men in all aspects of the mine action activities. Gender mainstreaming in mine action attempts to ensure women and men benefit equally from mine action and that gender inequality is not perpetuated which might impede the overall effectiveness of mine action programs.

Women's advancement instruments in national bureaucracies started in the mid-1970s. While the concept of gender mainstreaming appeared in the mid-1980s, it was formalised in the early 1990s. Gender mainstreaming in mine action was part of a larger movement to end discrimination and mainstream gender in security sector reform. Before guidelines on how to integrate gender into mine action were standardised, several documents highlighted the importance of gender mainstreaming in that domain.

Gender mainstreaming in mine action was first mentioned in 1995 at the Beijing Platform for Action in the section on armed conflict, by stating that "women and children are particularly affected by the indiscriminate use of anti-personnel land-mines".

In 2000, the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on "Women, Peace and Security" emphasised "the need for all parties to ensure that mine clearance and mine awareness programmes take into account the special needs of women and girls". In 2005 the UN Gender Guidelines for Mine Action Programmes provided the first comprehensive description of how to mainstream gender in mine action, afterwards revised in 2010. This guide is a manual used by the UN mine action field-based personnel and headquarters' staff, and also by all the actors involved in mine action.

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