Samenvatting

The following research aims to determine the factors that influence the degree of the participation of women in the military in NATO member states. Segal’s theoretical model was chosen to determine the factors as it, unlike other theories that explain women’s participation in the military, provides an outline with specific variables and hypotheses that can be applied. It must be noted that this research does not want to invalidate Segal’s theory, but rather build on it. The Netherlands and Hungary have been chosen as cases due to their contrasting percentages of female militaries. Women represent 19.3% of the Hungarian military, yet 9.7% of the Dutch military.
The research design chosen for this research is comparative, and the research method used tocompare is exclusively qualitative. Besides desk research, three interviews were conducted with Suzanne van Opstal (campaign manager and subject matter expert on Diversity & Inclusivity in the Dutch military), Eszter Skrinyár (Lieutenant Colonel in the Hungarian military) and one former
employee of the Hungarian military. The interviews were conducted in order to fill in the information gaps, as English information on Hungary’s military was scarce.
In the first chapter, Segal’s theory is extensively described. The military dimension entails five variables; the national security situation, military technology, combat to support ratio, force structure and military accession policies. The cultural dimension involves the social construction as well as
the social values of gender and family. And at last, the social structure dimension entails four variables, namely the demographic patterns, labour force characteristics, economic factors and the family structure. Segal’s variables are applied to the Netherlands and Hungary in Chapter three and four and compared in the analysis.
After analysing the primary and secondary research that was conducted to each case, the factors could be determined. The following factors do influence the degree of the participation of women in the military: the demographic patterns, the labour force characteristics, the economic structure, the social construction as well as the social values of gender and family does partly have an impact, the
national security situation, the combat to support ratio and the military accession policies. The other variables did not show to have an impact.
Furthermore, the origins of women’s participation in the military in a country is not a variable of Segal’s theory, even though this research showed that it did have an impact on women’s participation. Additionally, working conditions (hours, salary, extra benefits) of employees for the military in a country is also not a variable, while this could also affect the participation.
It is therefore recommended to develop, expand and prove the theory further. The benefits of developing the theory can lead to the determination of certain factors that can create a more gender balanced military internationally.