Introduction
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is an important framework for addressing widespread social and political inequities with critical implications for strengthening security at nuclear facilities. A growing body of empirical evidence indicates that more diverse, equitable, and inclusive work environments improve organizational outcomes.1Sundiatu Dixon-Fyle, Kevin Dolan, Dame Vivian Hunt, and Sara Price, Diversity Wins: How Inclusion Matters (May 19, 2020), https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-wins-how-inclusionmatters.
Unfortunately, the nuclear field, which encompasses energy, security, and nonproliferation issues/specializations, has historically lacked diversity. This includes racial representation, gender, sexuality, and other marginalized demographics.2Jessica Bufford, “Nuclear Security: The IAEA Faces the Future,” Arms Control Today (May 2020), https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2020-05/features/nuclear-security-iaea-faces-future#endnote06. Although data is sparse, the nuclear security community, a subset of the larger nuclear field, faces similar challenges. For example, women in nuclear security and those working on the physical protection of nuclear weapons, material, facilities, technology, and information have less representation than in other areas in the wider nuclear field.3WINS, Gender and Nuclear Security: Challenges and Opportunities (July 2019), https://www.wins.org/wpcontent/uploads/2020/12/Gender-and-Nuclear-Security_Pg33.pdf.
The lack of diverse representation has spurred a wave of interest and initiatives targeted at increasing participation and reducing inequalities in the nuclear security field. The UN Women, Peace, and Security agenda; implementation of feminist foreign policies in states like Canada, Chile, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Mexico, Spain, and Sweden; social justice movements around systemic racial discrimination and the rights of historically marginalized communities such as the Black Lives Matter movement; and campaigns by indigenous activists to raise awareness about the ongoing effects of weapons testing and uranium mining to support the nuclear industrial complex all present an opportunity for the nuclear field to strengthen human resource development and organizations.4Renata H. Dalaqua, “Lost in Translation? Understanding the Relevance of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in the Field of Arms Control and Disarmament,” European Leadership Network Commentary (November 30, 2020): https://www.europeanleadershipnetwork.org/commentary/lost-in-translation-understanding-the-relevance-ofthe-women-peace-and-security-agenda-in-the-field-of-arms-control-and-disarmament/; UN Women, In Brief – Feminist Foreign Policies: An Introduction (July 2022), https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/202209/Brief-Feminist-foreign-policies-en_0.pdf; Mari Faines, “What the Nuclear Policy Community Needs to Understand About Intersectionality,” Outrider (December 21, 2021), https://outrider.org/nuclearweapons/articles/what-nuclear-policy-community-needs-understand-about-intersectionality; Sylvia Mishra, Racial Inequalities and Nuclear Policy (Muscatine: The Stanley Center for Peace and Security, February 2022): https://stanleycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/CRNW-SPC21-AB-2-1-22.pdf.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), alongside Member States, industry, and civil society, has increased its focus on promoting the role of women in the nuclear field. Commitments by leaders and stakeholders in the field to civil society groups like International Gender Champions, Gender Champions in Nuclear Policy, Women of Color Advancing Peace and Security, and other organizations have popularized efforts to make the nuclear field more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. The primary venue for these initiatives is targeted at civil society and diplomats—not practitioners at facilities. Nuclear security, however, is a specialized subset of the broader nuclear field and subsequently requires a tailored approach to address its unique challenges and specific stakeholders, like the operators and guard forces.
This paper will examine these challenges by first defining DEI within the context of nuclear security and describing the problem DEI is trying to address, providing a framework for understanding DEI as a tool for strengthening nuclear security implementation, and then, based on this framework, providing recommendations for strengthening DEI in nuclear security.
Notes
- 1Sundiatu Dixon-Fyle, Kevin Dolan, Dame Vivian Hunt, and Sara Price, Diversity Wins: How Inclusion Matters (May 19, 2020), https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion/diversity-wins-how-inclusionmatters.
- 2Jessica Bufford, “Nuclear Security: The IAEA Faces the Future,” Arms Control Today (May 2020), https://www.armscontrol.org/act/2020-05/features/nuclear-security-iaea-faces-future#endnote06.
- 3WINS, Gender and Nuclear Security: Challenges and Opportunities (July 2019), https://www.wins.org/wpcontent/uploads/2020/12/Gender-and-Nuclear-Security_Pg33.pdf.
- 4Renata H. Dalaqua, “Lost in Translation? Understanding the Relevance of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in the Field of Arms Control and Disarmament,” European Leadership Network Commentary (November 30, 2020): https://www.europeanleadershipnetwork.org/commentary/lost-in-translation-understanding-the-relevance-ofthe-women-peace-and-security-agenda-in-the-field-of-arms-control-and-disarmament/; UN Women, In Brief – Feminist Foreign Policies: An Introduction (July 2022), https://www.unwomen.org/sites/default/files/202209/Brief-Feminist-foreign-policies-en_0.pdf; Mari Faines, “What the Nuclear Policy Community Needs to Understand About Intersectionality,” Outrider (December 21, 2021), https://outrider.org/nuclearweapons/articles/what-nuclear-policy-community-needs-understand-about-intersectionality; Sylvia Mishra, Racial Inequalities and Nuclear Policy (Muscatine: The Stanley Center for Peace and Security, February 2022): https://stanleycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/CRNW-SPC21-AB-2-1-22.pdf.
