On Wednesday 30 October 2024, the Department of International Relations and the Department of Gender Studies co-hosted the launch of Dr Aiko Holvikivi’s first monograph, Fixing Gender: The Paradoxical Politics of Training Peacekeepers. Dr Holvikivi is an Assistant Professor in Gender, Peace, and Security at LSE.
She was joined in a lively discussion about the limits and potential of “gender training” within peacekeeping by Dr Jasmine K. Gani, Assistant Professor of International Relations at LSE, Dr Olivia Umurerwa Rutazibwa, Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology at LSE, Dr Hakan Sandal-Wilson, Assistant Professor in the Department of Gender Studies at LSE. The panel was chaired by Dr Katharine Millar, Associate Professor of International Relations at LSE.
L to R: Hakan Sandal-Wilson, Katharine Millar (Chair), Jasmine Gani, Olivia Rutazibwa and Aiko Holvikivi
Dr Holvikivi questioned whether gender training—often positioned as a solution to address issues like sexual violence—can genuinely align with feminist ideals in a militarised context. She highlighted a troubling tendency to treat sexual violence as a problem with a “military solution,” a perspective that can reinforce, rather than dismantle, institutional power structures.
Dr Gani spotlighted a core paradox in peacekeeping: can we expect soldiers, trained for combat, to embody the very peace they’re supposed to enforce? This contradiction, Dr Gani suggested, complicates the goals of peacebuilding. She also noted the book’s innovative approach to assessing impact, raising questions about what meaningful “impact” truly looks like in gender and peacekeeping work.
…a core paradox in peacekeeping: can we expect soldiers, trained for combat, to embody the very peace they’re supposed to enforce?
Adding to this critique, Dr Sandal-Wilson praised the book’s transnational perspective, observing that gender training content is largely shaped by the Global North, where institutions like the UN and NATO are based. This bias, he pointed out, often sidelines the voices and lived experiences of those in conflict zones and treats male peacekeepers solely as “problem-solvers” rather than potential contributors to
the problem. Dr Sandal-Wilson also noted how issues of race and sexuality are frequently omitted from these trainings.
Dr Rutazibwa commended Dr Holvikivi for engaging academia with real-world issues. In a powerful call to action, Dr Rutazibwa challenged the audience to rethink what ‘good feminist politics’ means, asking if peacekeeping promotes equality—or just rebrands colonial control.
Dr Rutazibwa challenged the audience to rethink what ‘good feminist politics’ means, asking if peacekeeping promotes equality—or just rebrands colonial control.
Fixing Gender closed with an invitation to continue the conversation, the book’s insights apply well beyond peacekeeping, as the entanglement of militarism with societal issues extends into broader systems of power and control. The event wrapped up with a lively Q&A, with audience members pressing for more discussion on how language shapes training outcomes.
Dr Holvikivi’s work calls for a thoughtful examination of gender training’s impact and its potential to effect real change. Fixing Gender encourages readers to remain critical, asking how we might foster peacekeeping that aligns with the complex, intersectional values of feminist thought, without simply applying a “gender fix” to systemic issues.
the book’s insights apply well beyond peacekeeping, as the entanglement of militarism with societal issues extends into broader systems of power and control.
Event report by Anita Mancosu, MSc International Political Economy
This article represents the views of the author, and not the position of the Department of International Relations, nor of the London School of Economics.
