Policy Voices | Meet NATO’s Special Representative for Women, Peace and Security

Host Catarina Vila Nova sat down with Irene Fellin, NATO’s Special Representative for Women, Peace and Security at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels shortly after her return from her second trip to Ukraine. What she describes – the lack of body armour tailored for women – is just one very practical example of why NATO still needs a special representative for women, peace and security.

The start of Fellin’s tenure as NATO’s Special Representative for Women, Peace and Security came mere weeks before Russia’s full invasion of Ukraine. What had until then been a decade of crisis management quickly turned into NATO’s core tasks of deterrence and defence.

But how does one get to become NATO’s Special Representative for Women, Peace and Security? For Irene Fellin, it was not an obvious path. She describes how, being a wife of a diplomat, she found herself trapped in gender stereotypes and expectations and how she had to fight for her career. The rest is history…

Irene Fellin also answered if she would be disappointed if her next boss would be another man and what legacy she hopes to leave for her twins in this episode of Policy Voices.

If you want to comment on this episode you can send us an e-mail. Our address is press@friendsofeurope.org.

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