The Centre for Defence Higher Studies recently hosted the first seminar on equal opportunities and the gender perspective within the 5+5 Defence Initiative. This was the first event comprised in a three-year plan of activities that has been shared with the other participating Nations and that shall comprise, over the next two years, a survey to be conducted within participating Nations concerning women's inclination for military careers. The results of the survey shall be then published.
In addition to Italian experts, delegates from Algeria, France, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania, Portugal, Spain, and Tunisia attended the seminar organized by the Italian Defence General Staff. Each Nation expressed an interesting view of the current female condition within their respective military organizations and of the effort made in adopting a gender perspective in military operations, in compliance with the Women, Peace and Security Agenda promoted by the United Nations across all Member Countries.
Rear Admiral (UH) Pietro Luciano Ricca, Chief of 1st Division of Defence General Staff, in his capacity as Chairman of the Joint Committee on gender perspective reporting to the Chief of Defence, welcomed foreign guests and thanked them for their participation. Admiral Ricca stressed the significance of the issues to be discussed during the two-day seminar as "important instruments to improve the effectiveness of modern military missions".
Participants' presentations provided considerable food for thought such as, for instance, the specific presence of military social workers within the Moroccan armed forces and the mobile teams providing training on gender perspective issues that were employed by Spain in some African countries.
During the seminar, Lt. Col. Paola Verde, who is a medical researcher serving as officer in the Italian Air Force, delivered a presentation focusing on some case studies conducted on Italian military personnel concerning the different performance men and women achieve in the military domain.
Brig. Gen. Antonello Vespaziani, Deputy Chief of 1st Division of Defence General Staff, talked about the commitment of Italian military leadership in creating an organizational culture regarding the topics that were discussed at the seminar.
The sessions ended with a proposal to publish the proceedings of this first seminar as an investigation on prospective activities of common interest concerning equal opportunities and the gender perspective within the armed forces of the 5+5 Nations.
