The Changing Role and Position of Women within the Croatian Defence System

The aim of this contribution is to analyze following questions: What is the position of women in the Croatian defence system as minority in numerical and substantial terms? How is the policy of gender equality transferred into Croatian defence system – primarily Croatian Armed Forces (CAF) and Ministry of Defence – through legislative framework and the implementation of UNSC 1325?

Key questions in this analysis will focus on how women are recruited, availability of higher posts within CAF for women, trends in the percentage of women in the system of recruitment in education model designed for Croatian Armed Forces and factors contributing the decision to pursue military career among women.

Two aspects of the topic include: 1. posts held by women in CAF 1992-2017., and 2. inclusion of women through education system for military purposes. Hence the paper will offer the analysis of recruitment of women through the voluntary conscription since 2008 and the new undergraduate university study programs of Military Engineering (ME) and Military Leadership and Management (ML&M) which were introduced in 2014.

Research methods will include: content analysis of the Croatian legislative framework for gender equality and implemented international standards concerning gender perspective introduced by UN and NATO, as relevant referent points; analysis of available numerical indicators concerning the presence of women in the CAF and MoD (quantitative) and positions held by women (qualitative) in the stated period; qualitative and quantitative survey (questionnaire) among the 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th generation of students enrolled into the undergraduate university study programs of Military Engineering (ME) and Military Leadership and Management (ML&M) on different aspects recruiting women into CAF.