II 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3377 

To increase the participation of women in foreign security forces, specifically 

the military and police, with United States foreign assistance. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 21, 2016 

Mrs. BOXER (for herself and Mrs. SHAHEEN) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations 

A BILL 

To increase the participation of women in foreign security 

forces, specifically the military and police, with United 

States foreign assistance. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Enhancing Military 

5 and Police Operations through Women’s Engagement and 

6 Recruitment Act of 2016’’. 

7 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

8 Congress makes the following findings: 

9 (1) The United States National Action Plan On 

10 Women, Peace and Security expresses the unqualiVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Sep 22, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3377.IS S3377

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1 fied commitment of the United States to integrating 

2 women’s perspectives fully into our diplomatic, de3 fense, and development efforts not simply as bene4 ficiaries, but as agents of peace, security, reconcili5 ation, development, growth, and stability. The plan 

6 also specifies the following priorities: 

7 (A) Providing assistance to support wom8 en’s participation, integration, and leadership in 

9 the security sector. 

10 (B) Working with partner nations to in11 crease women’s participation in United States12 funded training programs for foreign police, ju13 dicial, and military personnel, including profes14 sional military education, as well as exchange 

15 programs, conferences, and seminars. 

16 (C) Utilizing the participation of female 

17 members of the United States Armed Forces to 

18 encourage and model gender integration in the 

19 armed forces of partner nations. 

20 (2) The Department of State’s 2015 Quadren21 nial Diplomacy and Development Review states 

22 that— 

23 (A) the United States is promoting initia24 tives based on the unique roles that women and 


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1 girls play in preventing and responding to con2 flict; and 

3 (B) gender equality is a core element in 

4 policy development, strategy and budget plan5 ning, policy and program implementation, man6 agement and training, and monitoring and eval7 uation of results. 

8 (3) United States security sector assistance is a 

9 key engagement tool with our foreign partners. Se10 curity sector assistance helps further United States 

11 interests by seeking to professionalize and develop 

12 the police and militaries of our foreign partners, 

13 shaping the security sector policies of foreign gov14 ernments, and building sustainable and legitimate 

15 institutions to provide security and justice and re16 spond to the needs of populations. Security sector 

17 assistance can also support broad United States pol18 icy goals, including respect for human rights, civilian 

19 control of the military, and the rule of law. 

20 (4) To support these efforts, the United States 

21 Department of State provides funding for a number 

22 of training programs for military forces, police and 

23 other security forces, and international peacekeeping 

24 operations. 


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1 (5) Women are underrepresented in security 

2 forces worldwide. For instance, in South Asia— 

3 (A) women make up less than 1 percent of 

4 Pakistan’s total police force; 

5 (B) women make up less than 5 percent of 

6 Bangladesh’s total police force; and 

7 (C) women make up less than 7 percent of 

8 India’s total police force. 

9 (6) As demonstrated by United States Female 

10 Engagement Teams deployed to Afghanistan, female 

11 soldiers can enhance the operational effectiveness of 

12 security operations and gather information and pro13 vide access to local populations that all-male units 

14 cannot engage or search. 

15 (7) Female military and police can provide crit16 ical contributions to security. For Afghanistan’s 

17 2014 presidential elections, Afghanistan’s Ministry 

18 of Interior recruited and trained 13,000 females to 

19 provide security and conduct searches of women at 

20 checkpoints and polling stations. Female police fa21 cilitated the participation of women in elections. 

22 (8) The International Military Education and 

23 Training (IMET) program, funded by the United 

24 States Department of State, provides professional 

25 military training for the future leaders of our forVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Sep 22, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3377.IS S3377

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1 eign partners, enhances interoperability with the 

2 United States Armed Forces, builds relationships 

3 among international and United States military stu4 dents, and conveys United States customs and cul5 tural norms. 

6 (9) Of the 141 countries that received IMET 

7 funding from Fiscal Year 2011 through Fiscal Year 

8 2015, only approximately 7 percent of IMET pro9 gram participants from those countries were women. 

10 (10) United States international police training 

11 programs that are specifically focused on women 

12 have proven effective in recruiting and retaining 

13 women. In Lebanon, for instance, a Department of 

14 State-funded basic cadet course for women was in15 strumental in helping Lebanon’s Internal Security 

16 Forces increase the number of police officers from 

17 two to 610. 

18 (11) United States security assistance for 

19 peacekeeping builds the capabilities of our partner 

20 countries, increases the number of military and po21 lice personnel available for deployment to support 

22 peace operations, and facilitates the logistical sup23 port and deployment of units to peace operations. 

24 (12) Studies demonstrate that the inclusion of 

25 higher proportions of female peacekeepers is associVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:06 Sep 22, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3377.IS S3377

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1 ated with fewer allegations of sexual abuse and ex2 ploitation, as is the inclusion of personnel from 

3 countries with better records of gender equality. 

4 (13) Female peacekeepers are uniquely capable 

5 of assisting female survivors of sexual violence. Re6 ports demonstrate that victims are more likely to re7 port incidents of abuse to women in the police or 

8 military. In Liberia, the presence of a female Indian 

9 peacekeeping unit increased reporting of sexual 

10 abuse and encouraged the recruitment of women to 

11 the national police. 

12 (14) Despite the recognition of the importance 

13 of increasing the number of women in peacekeeping 

14 operations, according to the United Nations, as of 

15 February 2016— 

16 (A) women comprised only 3 percent of 

17 total military forces deployed to peacekeeping 

18 missions; and 

19 (B) women comprised only 9 percent of 

20 total police forces deployed to peacekeeping mis21 sions. 

22 (15) The Global Peace Operations Initiative is 

23 a United States security assistance program to 

24 train, deploy, and build the capacity of peacekeepers 

25 worldwide. Through the Global Peace Operations 


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1 Initiative, the United States has worked to increase 

2 the participation of female peacekeepers in United 

3 Nations operations. With dedicated United States 

4 assistance, over the last five years, the countries 

5 that received assistance under the Global Peace Op6 erations Initiative nearly doubled the number of de7 ployed female military peacekeepers from 1,396 to 

8 2,539. Of the countries that received assistance 

9 under the Global Peace Operations Initiative that 

10 deploy personnel to peacekeeping missions, as of 

11 January 2016— 

12 (A) women comprised approximately 4 per13 cent of total military forces deployed to peace 

14 operations; and 

15 (B) women comprised approximately 7 per16 cent of formed police units and 10 percent of 

17 total police forces deployed to peace operations. 

18 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

19 It is the policy of the United States— 

20 (1) to recognize and respond to the significant 

21 shortage of women at all levels in foreign military 

22 and police forces; 

23 (2) to prioritize the identification, engagement, 

24 and support of women leaders at all levels in foreign 

25 security sectors; 


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1 (3) to increase the recruitment, retention, 

2 professionalization, and promotion of women in for3 eign security sectors, specifically in the military and 

4 police forces; 

5 (4) to promote the meaningful inclusion and de6 ployment of women in security operations; and 

7 (5) to enhance and expand United States train8 ing opportunities for women at all levels in foreign 

9 militaries and police forces. 

10 SEC. 4. FOREIGN MILITARY EXCHANGES. 

11 The Department of State, in coordination with the 

12 Department of Defense, shall seek to increase the partici13 pation of women receiving training under the Inter14 national Military Education and Training program at 

15 United States military schools and training institutions, 

16 with the goal of doubling female participation in such pro17 grams globally by September 30, 2019. 

18 SEC. 5. COUNTERING TERRORISM AND VIOLENT EXTRE19 MISM. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Department of State shall 

21 seek to increase the participation of women receiving 

22 training under the Department of State’s Anti-Terrorism 

23 Assistance (ATA) programs, with the goal of doubling the 

24 total women receiving such training by September 30, 

25 2019. 


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1 (b) MANDATE.—The Department of State shall make 

2 explicit in its mandate for ATA programs its priority to 

3 increase the participation of women. 

4 SEC. 6. PEACEKEEPING OPERATIONS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Department of State shall 

6 work with partner countries receiving peacekeeping train7 ing assistance to prioritize the integration, training, and 

8 deployment of qualified female peacekeepers in peace oper9 ations. The Department of State shall work with partner 

10 countries receiving peacekeeping training assistance to 

11 prioritize the employment, development, and integration of 

12 female peacekeeping trainers. 

13 (b) UNITED NATIONS PEACEKEEPING MISSIONS.— 

14 Through the United States Mission to the United Nations, 

15 the Department of State shall promote an increase in the 

16 recruitment, retention, and leadership roles of female per17 sonnel assigned to United Nations peacekeeping missions. 

18 (c) INCREASED DEPLOYMENT OF FEMALE PEACE19 KEEPERS.—The Department of State may work with part20 ner countries receiving United States peacekeeping train21 ing assistance to double the number of qualified women 

22 deployed to peace operations not later than 5 years after 

23 the date of the enactment of this Act. 


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1 SEC. 7. LAW ENFORCEMENT. 

2 (a) PARTICIPATION REQUIREMENT.—The Depart3 ment of State shall establish female participation require4 ments for its police training programs and work with part5 ner countries to ensure that women account for not less 

6 than 10 percent of nominees for United States-funded po7 lice training programs. 

8 (b) COMMUNICATION OF REQUIREMENT.—The De9 partment shall make explicit its priority to increase the 

10 participation of women in the design and implementation 

11 of all police training programs. 

12 SEC. 8. MONITORING AND EVALUATION. 

13 The Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, and 

14 representatives of other relevant Federal agencies and de15 partments, as appropriate, shall develop a plan for the 

16 monitoring and independent evaluation of programs, 

17 projects, and activities carried out under this Act. 

18 SEC. 9. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State, in con20 junction with the Secretary of Defense, shall designate ap21 propriate officials to brief the appropriate congressional 

22 committees, not later than 1 year after the date of the 

23 enactment of this Act, on— 

24 (1) the existing, enhanced, and newly estab25 lished training carried out pursuant to this Act; 


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1 (2) diplomatic actions undertaken to promote 

2 the targets set forth in this Act; 

3 (3) the guidelines established for overseas 

4 United States diplomatic and military personnel to 

5 engage with foreign counterparts pursuant to this 

6 Act; 

7 (4) progress towards the targets set forth in 

8 this Act; and 

9 (5) actions to address the structural and sys10 temic barriers to women’s recruitment, retention, 

11 and professionalization for the largest recipients of 

12 United States security sector assistance. 

13 (b) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES

14 DEFINED.—In this section, the term ‘‘appropriate con15 gressional committees’’ means— 

16 (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the 

17 Committee on Armed Services, and the Committee 

18 on Appropriations of the Senate; and 

19 (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the 

20 Committee on Armed Services, and the Committee 

21 on Appropriations of the House of Representatives. 

Æ 


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