Secondment Policy Career Path Development Women, Peace and Security

24 September 2026

Comparing Barriers to Women’s Participation in Civilian CSDP Missions: Belgium and The Netherlands

European Centre of Excellence for Civilian Crisis Management (CoE) Reports, articles, briefs Public 2026

This CoE report compares studies undertaken with the Belgian Federal Police and Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs to identify barriers to increasing women's representation in civilian crisis management, concluding with recommendations for member state seconding institutions.

This report compares key findings of both the Belgian and Dutch studies. It aims to increase understanding of the motivating and hindering factors for women respondents when applying to join expert pools, sometimes referred to as the civilian mission pool (CMP), and subsequently applying for positions in civilian CSDP missions. What it particularly focuses on is how these factors are influenced by different secondment systems – in case of Belgium, a police service (civil servants), and in the Netherlands, seconding Experts outside of Public Service (EoPS, non-civil servants).

Key barriers found across respondents in both studies include that personal and family reasons are the most common discouragement from applying to missions. Career considerations were also important. Women in the Belgian police did not see mission experience as beneficial to their careers and said their hierarchy sometimes did not support such a career choice. Members of the Dutch secondment pool were concerned about ending their current employment and those who had mission experience found insufficient opportunities for internal advancement. Respondents also commonly mentioned having too little information about the recruitment process, or not being aware of calls for contributions.

Based on the shared findings, this document provides recommendations for how Member States can address these identified barriers and increase women’s participation — supporting Member States in their efforts to increase the number of women candidates for civilian CSDP missions:

  1. As women who have been admitted into a pool appear to have a strong interest in participating in civilian CSDP missions but face barriers, more national seconding agencies could undertake barrier studies for themselves.
  2. Seconding agencies should provide career support and opportunities for women both while seconded in missions and upon return.
  3. Recruiters should be aware that women candidates tend to be more modest in the application process.
  4. Seconding police departments acknowledge and more broadly highlight the value of experience in missions within department hierarchies.
  5. Information about calls for application should be more completely and widely publicised.
  6. Seconding agencies could consider providing mentoring opportunities for women interested in missions.

Reference: Flach, M. (2026). Comparing Barriers to Women’s Participation in Civilian CSDP Missions: Belgium and The Netherlands. European Centre of Excellence for Civilian Crisis Management.

Resource

PDF | 11 pages
Read the full report