Women only 1.9% of Indian Armed Forces deployed in United Nations Peacekeeping missions

India has the lowest proportion of women representatives among major contributors to the United Nations Peacekeeping (UNPK) missions across the world, according to a latest study on women in multilateral peace operations.

Women form only 1.9% of Indian military personnel deployed to UN peacekeeping missions, said a Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) report.

Nepal heads the list, with 9.3% women peacekeepers, followed by Bangladesh (6%). Other countries on the list ahead of India include Ghana, Rwanda and Cambodia.


As per the UN Uniformed Gender Parity Strategy's 2028 targets, 15% of peacekeeping troops should ideally be women. However, at present there are only 6.6% women among troops.

"Overall, organizations are still falling short of their own strategic targets for women's participation in peace operations, signalling a clear need to redouble efforts to achieve these goals," said the Sipri report.

India has traditionally been among the top troop contributors to UN missions, with thousands of soldiers serving throughout the world. While the number of women officers in Indian armed forces is increasing, representation of women in the ranks remains low. As the bulk of peacekeeping troops are soldiers and not officers, India's contribution has remained low when it comes to women. Enrolment of women as other ranks in corps of military police in the Indian Army commenced only in 2019.

In June, speaking at an event to celebrate 75 years of UN Peacekeeping, defence minister Rajnath Singh had advocated for meaningful participation of women in peacekeeping operations, emphasising that their unique contribution during missions in conflict-affected areas must be recognised. India has contributed about 275,000 troops to peacekeeping missions so far, since its first commitment in Korea in 1950.