Gender Training of Peace Support Operation Personnel : An Effective Tool to Reach Increased Knowledge Levels and Attitudinal Change?

Sammanfattning:   This study aims to answer the question of how pre-deployment gender training affects knowledge and attitudes regarding gender in the mission area among military personnel in peace support operations (PSOs). A common explanation to why attitude change occurs is through the introduction of new information. It is hypothesized that gender training leads to increased knowledge levels and more positive attitudes towards gender mainstreaming in PSOs. Unique longitudinal data is collected through a survey conducted among participants of a gender training session in the Swedish Armed Forces. The theory is tested through difference in means test of the participants test scores on knowledge and attitudes as well as a list experiment included in the survey. The study finds a substantial effect on change in knowledge levels and marginal support for attitude change due to the training. However, the result of the list experiment questions suggests that the marginal support on attitude change could in part be due to social desirability bias. The study concludes that increased attention needs to be placed on integration of gender perspectives into the general training and everyday service of peace support operation personnel.