Gender Champions in Nuclear Policy Adds Nearly Two Dozen Members in Year Two

Gender Champions in Nuclear Policy (GCNP) increased its membership by 50 percent in its second year, bring to 64 the number of organizations connected to global nuclear policy that have committed to breaking down gender barriers and making gender equity a working reality.

Founded in November 2018 by NTI Vice President Laura Holgate and Michelle Dover of the Ploughshares Fund, GCNP added 22 organizations since November 2019, expanding the initiative’s global reach across the United States, the United Kingdom, and Austria and into new sectors including national laboratories, media outlets, academic institutions, and fuel cycle technology companies. Recent additions include the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Center for International Cooperation and Security at Stanford University.

The GCNP’s 64 member organizations are represented by 66 Gender Champions who have made a collective 222 commitments to advance gender equity within their organizations and spheres of influence. These commitments are recorded and tracked by GCNP using the SMARTIE framework (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound, Inclusive, and Equitable).

Accountability is built into the GCNP framework. As co-founders Holgate and Dover explained in the initiative’s first Impact Report in 2019, “We set out to change the institutional culture of nuclear policy by engaging the leaders of the institutions and organizations whose mission and members make up the nuclear policy world.”

Under the leadership of Gender Champion Joan Rohlfing, NTI President and COO, and Ernest J. Moniz, NTI CEO and Co-Chair, NTI in 2020 committed to:

• Expand its part time benefits to enable both women and men to better balance work and family responsibilities
• Provide sick leave to interns
• Increase gender relevant training
• Continue to focus on diversifying its Board, staff, and partners.

GCNP’s first annual Impact Report, released in May 2020, provides a full accounting of Gender Champions’ success in implementing their commitments to advancing gender equity. The report found that 86 percent of Gender Champions had been successful in avoiding speaking on all-male expert panels in 2019, and that 65 percent of commitments had been fully implemented with another 29 percent partially implemented.

In the coming year, GCNP will continue to expand its membership and its work to making gender equity a working reality in the nuclear security field. As Holgate and Dover wrote, “The existential challenge of nuclear policy in all its dimensions—deterrence, non-proliferation, security, energy, disarmament, and so on—requires our best minds and our most committed participants.”