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Scientists argue that gender affects foreign policy and security policy, that ideas of gender are inconstant and that there is a lack of feminist perspectives in International Relations. The changes seen in the global security context may have challenged the way politicians and scientists understand war and its impacts, and led to increased gender awareness.

Using securitization theory and feminist international relations theory, the aim is to examine how women and men are being spoken of in the Swedish foreign policy discourse regarding participation in the UN-led stabilization mission Minusma in Mali. By applying a feminist perspective on the securitization process, the intention is to increase the knowledge of whether there is gender awareness in this context.

The result shows that there is limited gender awareness. There is minor consideration for the conflict’s different implications on the situation for women and men. The women of Mali are seldom being referred to. When spoken of, it is most often in terms of victims and rarely as political actors. The men of Mali are never specifically mentioned. Swedish soldiers, both women and men, are described as brave and responsible citizens.

Feminist international relations theory explains the neglect of women by referring to the gender hierarchy. According to this theory, a masculine perspective dominates the political arena, why the traditional definition of security is masculine. As stated in feminist international relations theory, the masculine perspective on foreign policy and security policy explains why no specific attention is being drawn to women’s security situation.