WOMEN IN MILITARY

Women in military

Women in military

Introduction

The phrase women in combat relates to any deployment (whether in air, in navy, or on the ground) of military women in direct combat. This is a controversial issue both for military and defense policy makers and for feminists. While the biggest debates have been held around exclusion policies of women from direct combat roles in the U.S. military (i.e., ground combat exclusion), especially in the wake of the 1990-91 Gulf War, this debate has been present globally. In order for women to ever be fully integrated members of military service, not only the rules, but also the culture of the military must change (Davis, 2002).

Discussion and Analysis

Women have served a vital role in just about every major battle and in every major military throughout history, but their official participation has been limited in most countries throughout time. Women's participation often comes in association with the military, in either civilian roles or in auxiliary corps, rather than as direct participants. Women's current position in most major world militaries is still quite precarious. Many countries are just now beginning to allow women's service, since many militaries still rely on the conscription of men to fill their ranks. Those women who do serve in militaries also face many barriers both occupationally and socially (Feinman, 2000).

The most progressive inclusion of women in a major world military is the Israeli military, where women are active service members, and are even permitted in combat. Israel is also the only major military that conscripts women. The U.S. military, while also quite progressive in its acceptance and inclusion of women in its formal military service, still disallows women in certain combat positions, and has yet to include women in any form of the draft. Many European nations have a fluctuating history with women, often allowing them to serve in connection with the military during times of war.

Many of these countries have only more recently begun to allow women into their militaries in a formal capacity during peacetime, and most of these roles are still restricted. This entry will focus on women's participation in formal state militaries, rather than in guerrilla, militia, or other nonsanctioned militaries (Kier, 2003).

Currently, in most militaries of the global North, women are allowed to participate in the combat to a certain extent. Under Equal Opportunity Acts, many countries have been changing the policies in respect to deployment of women in combat, especially in cases of voluntary army service and in the context of employment opportunities within the army. In the Australian Defense Forces, women are excluded from categories of deployment that are classified as “direct combat duties” such as clearance diving teams, infantry, armor, artillery, and combat engineers and airfield defense guards and ground defense officers. The Canadian Armed Forces opened all occupations, including combat roles, to women in 1989 and allowed women on submarines in 2000.

Under the European Union's (EU's) Equality Directives, Germany's constitutional prohibition of women in the military had to be changed and the ...