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Education

D. Phil. University of Alberta
M.A. University of Saskatchewan
B.A. University of Regina

Areas of Specialization

• Gender and war
• Feminism and international relations
• Military culture
• International security
• Disarmament and demilitarization
• Post-conflict reconstruction

Research

Dr. Megan MacKenzie is the Simons Chair in International Law and Human Security.  Megan MacKenzie is a feminist scholar interested in war, security studies, post-conflict recovery and reconstruction, and military culture. Her work is broadly focused on the ways that gender matters in understanding war and insecurity and the ways that experiences of war and insecurity are shaped by gendered norms and sexism.

She is one of the world’s leading experts on gender and war, military culture and gender, bias and discrimination in large institutions, and post-conflict reconstruction. Her interdisciplinary research has shaped and informed public conversations and policies related to military sexual violence, the integration of women into the military, and addressing systemic forms of discrimination in the military. Recent publications include, Good Soldiers Don’t Rape: the stories we tell about military sexual violence (Cambridge University Press 2023). 

In addition to her work on military culture, Dr. MacKenzie has been a fierce advocate of equity, diversity and inclusion both in her research and her service to the discipline. She co-led a major study on racism and sexism in academia (2024), co-published an article exploring how gender and racial bias impacts individual access to care in pharmacies (2021), and has collaborated on a research project examining obstacles to EDI initiatives within the university (2022).

MacKenzie is co-Director of the Research Network on Women, Peace and Security an bilingual national network advancing research and supporting the next generation of scholars advancing work on gender peace and security. 

Publications

Manuscripts

. Cambridge University Press, 2023.

MacKenzie, Megan and Nicole Wegner (eds) . Pluto Press, 2021.

MacKenzie, Megan. Beyond the Band of Brothers: the US Military and the Myth that Women Can’t Fight. (Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press, June 2015).

MacKenzie, Megan. Female Soldiers in Sierra Leone: Sex, Security, and Post-Conflict Development. (New York: New York University Press, August 2012).

Articles

Luna, K.C. & MacKenzie, M. Postcards from the Pandemic: Women, Intersectionality, and Gendered Risks in the Global COVID-19 Pandemic. International Studies Review, 26 (4).

Goldsmith, B.E., MacKenzie, M., & Wynter, T. . International Journal of Education Policy and Leadership, 20 (1), 1-23.

MacKenzie, M. & Wadham, B. (2023). . Australian Journal of Political Science, 58 (3): 298-308.

MacKenzie, M., Gregory, T., Sarwary, B., & Razack, S. (2023). Australian Journal of Political Science, 58 (3): 247-255.

MacKenzie, M. (2023). . Media, War & Conflict, 12 (9).

MacKenzie, M., Sensoy, Özlem, Johnson, G. F., Sinclair, N., & Weldon, L. (2023). How Universities Gaslight EDI&I Initiatives: Mapping Institutional Resistance to Structural Change. International Journal of Education Policy and Leadership, 19 (1).

MacKenzie, M. & Wegner, N*. (2022). . International Political Sociology, 16 (2).

MacKenzie, M. & Gunaydin, E*. (2022).   Journal of Military and Strategic Studies, 21 (2).

Collins, J.C., MacKenzie, M., Schneider, C.R*., Chaar, B.B., & Moles, R.J. (2021). . Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy, 17 (3): 553-559.

Collins, J.C., MacKenzie, M., Schneider, C.R., Chaar, B.B., & Moles, R.J. (2023). . Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy, 19 (7).

MacKenzie, M, Gunaydin E & Chaudhuri, U. (2020) “Illicit Military Behaviour as Exceptional and Endemic: Media coverage of military sexual violence and the ‘bad apples’ paradox,” International Studies Quarterly, accepted October 24, 2019; to be published online in January 2019.

MacKenzie, Megan. (2019) “Why do soldiers swap illicit pictures? How a visual discourse analysis illuminates military band of brother culture,” Security Dialogue, accepted November 2019 to be published early 2020.

MacKenzie, Megan. (2019) “Can We Really ‘Forget’ Militarization?: A Conversation on Alison Howell’s Martial Politics,” and “Looking to the Pacific for Ways to Overcome Western Liberal Nostalgia for Pre-War Pacifism.” Editor of special conversation section of Alison Howell’s concept of ‘martial politics’ in International Feminist Journal of Politics Vol 21(5), 816-836.

MacKenzie, Megan. (2018) “Will Letting Women Fight Fix Gender Inequality?” Foreign Affairs 24 April.

MacKenzie, Megan and Alana Foster. (2017) “Masculinity Nostalgia: How war and occupation inspire a yearning for gender order.” Security Dialogue 48 (3), 206-223.

MacKenzie, Megan. (2015) “True Grit: the Myths and Realities of Women in Combat.” Foreign Affairs 12 August.

MacKenzie, Megan. (2013) “On ‘Women in Battle’” Parameters 43 (3), 128-132.

MacKenzie, Megan. (2013 ) “Women in combat: beyond ‘can they?’ or ‘should they?: Introduction.” Editor of the interventions section of Critical Studies on Security Vol 1, No. 2, 239-242.

MacKenzie, Megan. (2012) “Let Women Fight” Foreign Affairs 91 (6), 1-6.

MacKenzie, Megan and Marianne Bevan, (2012) "Cowboy Policing: Observing Policing Masculinities in East Timor" International Feminist Journal of Politics 14 (4), 508-528.

Ben-Josef Hirsch, M., Mackenzie, M., Sesay, M. (2012) “Measuring the imapacts of truth and reconciliation commissions: placing the global ‘success’ of TRCs in local perspective.” Cooperation and Conflict, 47 (3), 386-403.

MacKenzie, Megan and Mohamed Sesay. (2012) “No Amnesty from/for the International: the Production and Promotion of TRCs as an International Norm in Sierra Leone.” International Studies Perspectives, 13(2), 146-163.

MacKenzie, Megan. (2011) “Their Personal is Political, Not Mine: Feminism and Emotion” International Studies Review. July.

MacKenzie, Megan. (2010) “De-Securitizing Sex: War Rape and the Radicalization of Development in Sierra Leone,” International Feminist Journal of Politics, Volume 12; 2.

MacKenzie, Megan. (2009) "Securitization and Desecuritization: Female Soldiers and the Reconstruction of Women in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone," Security Studies, issue 2, volume 18.

MacKenzie, Megan. (2009) "Empowerment Boom or Bust? Assessing Women's Post-Conflict Empowerment Initiatives," Cambridge Review of International Affairs, issue 2, volume 22.

Book Chapters

Mackenzie, M. and Nicole Wegner. (2024) Gender and Security: Tackling Insecurity Inside the Canadian Military in Aisha Ahmad (ed) Securing Canada’s Future: vital insights from women experts (University of Toronto Press).

MacKenzie, M. (2023). Sexual Misconduct and the Crisis of Defence Culture. Canadian Defence Policy in Theory and Practice, 2: 9-28.

MacKenzie, M and Nicole Wegner. (2023) Militarism and Security in Caitlin Hamilton and Laura Shepherd (eds) Gender Matters in Global Politics, (Routledge) pp 288-300. 

MacKenzie, M and K Giri*. Can armed service be emancipatory?: Complex answers from Nepal and the United States. In Tarja Vayreyen, Swati Parashar, Elise Feron, Catia Confortini (eds) Routledge Handbook of Feminist Peace Research (London: Routledge, 2021), pp.167-177

MacKenzie, Megan and Christopher Hills. “Women in Non-State Armed Groups After War: The (Non)Evolution of Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration.” In Rachel Woodward and Claire Duncanson (eds) “The Palgrave International Handbook of Gender and the Military.” (London: Palgrave, 2017)

MacKenzie, Megan. “Gender and Post-Conflict Security.” In Simona Sharoni, Julia Welland, Linda Steiner, Jennifer Pedersen (eds) Handbook on Gender and War, (London: Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., 2017)

MacKenzie, Megan. “Disarmament Demobilization and Reintegration and the Politics of Slavery in Sierra Leone.” In Joyce P. Kaufmand and Kristin Williams (eds) Women and Post-Conflict Transitions: Lessons of the Past, Implications for the Future (Routledge 2016).

Baldi, Giulia and Megan MacKenzie. “Silent Identities: Children Born of War in Sierra Leone." in R. Charli Carpenter ed. Born of War: Protecting Children Born to Sexual Violence Survivors in Conflict Zones. (San Francisco: Kumarian Press, 2007)

MacKenzie, Megan. “Securitization and De-Securitization: Female Soldiers and the Reconstruction of Women in Post-Conflict Sierra Leone.” in Laura Sjoberg ed. Gender and International Security. (Critical Security Series, Routledge. 2009)

MacKenzie, Megan. “Security as the Exceptions: What Women Warriors Experience” in Christine Sylvester ed. Experiencing War. (Routledge: 2010)