Gender Champions In Nuclear Policy: Insights From One Year Of Advancing Gender Equity Through Voluntary Commitments

Women make up just one quarter of the nuclear industry’s global workforce, a trend mirrored in the world of nuclear policy. Only 31% of the delegates who negotiated the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons were women. A 2018 report by Women in International Security (WIIS) found that at 22 security-focused think tanks in Washington, D.C. only 27% of experts were female. The same report confirmed a dearth of women in positions of leadership; among the think tanks surveyed only 32% were led by women, while 22% had female board chairs. Diversity in team settings is proven to deliver more effective outcomes. A 2015 McKinsey report found that among a sample of 366 companies those in the top quartile for gender diversity were 15% more likely to have returns above the industry mean. In the world of nuclear policy diversity is not a question of financial returns, but of mission criticality. Nuclear industry supports essential functions like power production, advanced medicine, and agricultural technology, while the nuclear policy community provides frameworks for threat reduction, risk management, and the responsible stewardship of nuclear materials. Awareness of the need for diversity in the nuclear policy workforce has increased in recent years, but conversations remain largely anecdotal and actions intangible. Founded in November of 2018, Gender Champions in Nuclear Policy (GCNP) is a leadership network that brings together heads of organizations working in nuclear policy who are committed to break down gender barriers in their spheres of influence. GCNP offers intragroup and public accountability by tracking progress on and completion of voluntary commitments made by these leaders to promote gender equity and inclusiveness within the policies and programmatic activities of their organizations. This paper will explore findings of data reporting from 43 organizations participating in the Gender Champions in Nuclear Policy initiative. Data will cover progress made in one year of execution on voluntary commitments, including trends in their successful implementation and surfacing of challenges that have stalled progress. Findings will inform ongoing efforts to strengthen the nuclear policy workforce, promote retention, broaden recruitment, and improve outcomes.