Militarization and Gender Dynamics in Security Contexts

Militarization and gender dynamics intersect to shape how security frameworks are conceived, enacted and experienced across diverse contexts. Militarization extends beyond the mere expansion of armed forces, permeating urban spaces, private security markets and cultural narratives that normalise political violence. Gender dynamics inform who participates in security roles, how authority is distributed and which bodies are rendered visible or invisible within military cultures. Women’s experiences—from active service and recruitment campaigns to the domestic labour that underpins reservist commitment—reveal pervasive masculinised structures that privilege male norms and marginalise gender-specific needs. Emerging research highlights the everyday and affective dimensions of militarism, demonstrating how gendered labour within households, marketing strategies and policy-making both sustain and contest security institutions. Attention to these dynamics offers pathways to more inclusive security policies, improved veteran support and a broader understanding of how power operates in both wartime and peacetime environments.

Research from Nature Portfolio

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Militarization and Gender Dynamics in Security Contexts publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in militarization and gender dynamics in security contexts across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Militarization: The process by which military principles, organisational structures and practices extend into civilian spheres, shaping societal norms, infrastructures and governance.

Gendered militarism: A system of power in which gender norms and hierarchies inform the organisation, justification and conduct of military institutions and security policies.

Everyday labour: Routine domestic and emotional work—often performed by women—that sustains military personnel, from managing household responsibilities to providing logistical and psychological support.

Private Military and Security Company (PMSC): A commercial enterprise offering military or security services, operating alongside or in place of state armed forces and often dependent on gendered labour in connected households.

References

1. Urban military geographies: New directions in the (re)production of space, militarism, and the urban. Geography Compass (2023).
2. No Women’s Land: Australian Women Veterans’ Experiences of the Culture of Military Service and Transition. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2024).
3. War is where the hearth is: gendered labor and the everyday reproduction of the geopolitical in the army reserves. International Feminist Journal of Politics (2018).
4. The Cruel Optimism of Militarism: Feminist Curiosity, Affect, and Global Security. International Political Sociology (2020).
5. Forum: Militarization 2.0: Communication and the Normalization of Political Violence in the Digital Age. International Studies Review (2020).
6. Periods, Pregnancy, and Peeing: Leaky Feminine Bodies in Swedish Military Marketing. International Political Sociology (2021).