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This study focuses on soldiers returning from peacekeeping missions and the challenges they experience adapting to the home environment in the postdeployment phase. The article focuses on South African peacekeepers returning from missions in Darfur/Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Burundi. Interviews with 50 South African peacekeepers on the challenges they face in terms of their homecoming, family reintegration, and military support were conducted. Overall, the study found that both external military factors such as deployment length and nature of mission, and internal factors specific to the soldier affected reintegration. We highlight three major findings of our study: Firstly, our analysis show that peacekeepers across gender, rank, and race identify the absence from their children as a major challenge. Secondly, while relational turbulence characterized by ambivalence and concerns about infidelity was prevalent among all, there was a clear difference in the answers between the male and female peacekeepers. Thirdly, a large majority voiced the need for more support from the military institution for their families, before, during, and after deployment.

The South African military has adopted an assertive affirmative action campaign to ensure that women are represented across all ranks and branches. This has brought about new tensions in terms of gender integration, related to issues of equal opportunities and meritocracy as well as the accommodation of gender difference and alternative values. The argument is made that the management of gender integration from a gender-neutral perspective cannot bring about gender equality, as it obliges women to conform to and assimilate masculine traits. This affects women’s ability to function as equals, especially where feminine traits are not valued, where militarized masculinities are privileged and where women are othered in ways that contribute to their subordination. Under such conditions, it is exceedingly difficult for women to bring about a more androgynous military culture espoused by gender mainstreaming initiatives and necessary for the type of missions military personnel are engaged in today.

This article examines the extent to which the participation of women in the military furthers or hinders the displacement of gendered dichotomies and whether this brings about more transformative change to military institutions. Based on research of the South African National Defence Force, the authors argue that although typical 'feminine' qualities at times are valued in peace operations, this has not contributed to a transformation of gender relations in the military. The authors identify the lack of change as due to a deep-seated patriarchal culture in South Africa and essentialist discourses that affect women's identities as soldiers. Three discourses are identified in the interviews which accentuate this phenomenon: civilianizing, sexualizing and victimizing discourses. While these discourses are not necessarily negative to female soldiers' inclusion in the military, the focus on differences related to gender stereotypes renders a displacement of gendered hierarchies and consequently also a regendered military difficult.