Women in the military

Of the many reasons the military developed as a male preserve, the first was human sexual dimorphism and the greater upper-body strength required to wield clubs and swords, to shoot an arrow with killing velocity, and to bear the weight of body armour. This is a sine qua non for relatively few tasks in the modern military. The second, emergent from this, was that women were prey, not predators, thus in time to be seen as part of the property men fought to preserve or to seize from the enemy. The modern cliché that rape is not a violent expression of sexuality but a sexual expression of violence is apposite. The third reason was the belief that women were naturally softer and gentler by nature, in fact a culturally defined assumption by no means common to all human societies over time. Western chivalry combined these factors, the putting of (upper-class) women on a pedestal going hand in hand with denying them freedom and the rights enjoyed by men. The fact that until very recently there could be no way of knowing who the biological father of a child might be has undoubtedly contributed to this.

This remained little changed until the 20th century, and especially its last three decades, during which time women's role in armed forces has become transformed. In many countries, from playing key roles in the non-combatant support arms and services (for example, during WW II), women now serve in an increasingly wide range of mainstream military jobs. These include combat roles in some air forces and navies, as illustrated by the employment of women combat pilots in the RAF and the USAF, and in the Royal Navy (which does not in any case distinguish combat from non-combat ships). However, there is still a powerful norm that women are excluded from the combat arms of armies; that is, the infantry, armour, and artillery (except in administrative supporting roles). Even in the USSR, where during WW II women played active roles as combat pilots, tank crew, and even in the highly specialized killing role of snipers, once the emergency was over the military reverted to using women primarily in supporting arms, as in the West.

This last example suggests that the driving force for women's full integration into the armed forces has been manpower shortage. This was an imperative for the USSR facing the German onslaught (although the Germans themselves were culturally inhibited from tapping into womanpower resources even at the bitter end), and remains a relative consideration for modern volunteer armies trying to recruit from a population that no longer greatly respects martial values. According to this argument, the reduction of standards of physical strength and endurance now required, for example, in the US armed forces, is not so much a function of ideologically suspect legislation as of a pragmatic need to find the numbers necessary to maintain institutions that have become just one bureaucracy among many. Despite the film GI Jane, not only are the units most likely to get involved in serious hand-to-hand fighting resistant to the admission of women, women themselves seem to find little attraction in military specializations that combine extremes of hardship in training with a higher probability of getting killed in war.

There remains a great variation among nations, even among the nations of NATO, in the extent to which women serve in the armed forces. In some countries women are excluded, or have limited involvement, as in Germany and Spain. In others all or almost all military positions (including, in some cases, those with direct combat functions) are open to them, as in Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, and, more recently, the USA and the UK. Women were still excluded from infantry and armour in the USA and the UK in 1999 and will remain so until the results of further study. Israel today still conscripts women but excludes them from combat operations. During the early Arab-Israeli wars, the IDF discovered not only that despite their gender-neutral training, women casualties caused whole units to cease operations while they were recovered, as well as disproportionate demoralization, but also that the knowledge that they were fighting against women decreased the willingness to surrender among bypassed enemy units.

This variety poses a number of questions such as why countries vary in their employment of women in the military, how exclusion or inclusion policies are justified, and how far the process of gender integration can be taken. In order to answer such questions one must first of all recognize that the military is a unique institution. The functional imperatives of war and military operations ensure that the armed forces stand apart from civilian society. The military is unique in the nature and extent of the demands it places upon its personnel. These include the obligation to train to kill and to sacrifice self; to participate in a military community where one works, lives, and socializes with other service personnel; and, when necessary, a 24-hour commitment with the risk of separation from family at short notice.

It is the obligation to kill while others are seeking to kill you and, if necessary, to sacrifice one's own life that has provided the main basis for limiting the widening of employment opportunities for women in the military to non-combatant roles or only to certain kinds of combat role. It is not simply that in combat roles one is exposed to the risk of death or injury by hostile fire—in modern warfare non-combatant support personnel will increasingly be exposed in this manner. Rather, in a combatant role—in a warship, combat aircraft, and in the infantry, armour, and artillery—one is required to engage the enemy with offensive fire. In the army there is a requirement to close with and kill the enemy in comparison with the greater ‘action at a distance’ characteristic of the other services. It is here that the barrier excluding women from the military is, in many countries, at its firmest.

In contrast, women's role as childbearers makes them givers not takers of life. Their physical weakness in comparison to men means that the latter have a comparative advantage in the field of combat, while women can play an equal role in other military occupations. Such arguments have not gone unchallenged, for they underestimate the extent to which the fighting qualities required of effective combat performance are not inherent in all men but need to be built up through training. Furthermore, some of the supposed physical weakness in women can be overcome through training and by recognizing the need to challenge the long-term impact of gender stereotypes about what is appropriate for men's and women's work (both in the military and other civilian occupations) inherited from the past. The cases of guerrilla armies and the employment of women in the Soviet armed forces show that in extremis women can and have served successfully in offensive land operations.

In reply to these claims, one can argue that in certain fields of combat (notably infantry warfare) the continuing physical demands are such as to be beyond all but a small minority of women who would have the capacity (and inclination) to pass the exacting standards required. It is a mistake to assume that the era of so-called ‘push-button warfare’ renders irrelevant the physical courage and strength rooted in traditional hand-to-hand combat skills on the battlefield, let alone the demands of the exhausting ‘24-hour warfare’ itself made possible by modern technology. By contrast, the different demands of naval and aerial warfare make it possible to train and employ both men and women. This is evident in the recent trends towards gender integration in surface ships of the Royal Navy and of pilots in the air forces of the UK, USA, and other countries.

However, the case for inclusion and exclusion of women from certain areas of military employment rests not only on an argument based on physical or psychological weakness. There is also a case to be made that women per se undermine the cohesion of previously all-male combat units. Thus even assuming their physical and psychological aptitude for combat roles, their presence will introduce sexual tensions in the group, either passively just by being there, or actively in competition for advancement by attracting the non-military favour of their NCOs and officers. This would undermine the effectiveness of the combat group or at the very least add a distraction and risk that a military commander could well do without. The matter of distinct hygiene and medical requirements may add somewhat to logistical demands, but is not significant outside this general consideration.

It would be foolish to believe that sexual tensions are unlikely to arise in gender-integrated military teams, not least because of the presence of young physically active people who are required to work in close contact with each other. These have been evident, for example, in ships' crews of both the US and UK navies. However, it would also be unwise to assume that discipline and working procedures cannot be devised to reduce these to a manageable level. In addition, there are other considerations to be taken into account when considering the employment of women in the military. Those countries which have, in recent years, widened employment opportunities for women in the armed forces sought to address male recruitment and retention difficulties by widening the pool of skilled labour from which they draw and for whose services they compete ever more intensely with other civilian employers. Given the success of females in educational performance there are good labour-market reasons to widen the military employment pool as far as is practicable (and this point applies not just to women but also other under-represented groups such as minority ethnic communities in the case of the UK). It has been argued that there are costs of relying more upon female personnel, for example their leaving the services to have children. However, others point out that these have to be offset by the costs accruing to employing males as, for example, in their rates of alcoholism and non-military injuries.

In addition to this ‘business case’ for widening employment opportunities for women, there are also considerations of equality and citizenship rights. The role of women in military and civilian employment has been transformed by changing conceptions of men's and women's work and the enforcement of women's (and other groups') claims for equality of opportunity through legislation. Yet in many countries it remains unclear whether public opinion is convinced that gender equality should be extended to all combat roles, especially the ‘teeth’ arms. This is even assuming that some females are technically able to perform them and that the combat effectiveness of the team would not suffer by their presence. The image of a woman engaged in bayonet practice is, rightly or wrongly, one that would still not command widespread public acceptance in the UK and the USA, for example. The issue of public acceptability is an important factor in the overall effectiveness of military operations. This is because of the capacity of the modern media to convey (often distressing) images of war—refugees, the opponent's civilian casualties, and one's own casualties—which can constrain political leaders to act or to withdraw from action.

It is not yet clear what the impact of significant female casualties would have on public opinion in the industrial democracies. However, it would be unwise to presume that this situation will not change especially now that women are in combat roles in other services. This is likely to lead to the view that, if women are to serve in any and all military employments, assuming they have volunteered to serve, then they should meet the same fitness standards and accept the same risks as their male counterparts. For the armed services of the industrial democracies citizenship trends, shortages of skilled manpower, and changing gender roles will lead to an increasing participation of women in the military. Much work still needs to be done to provide more flexible working conditions and to recognize that women are no longer prepared to place their own career second to that of their military partners. In the UK, it is likely that the remaining rules excluding them from the front-line positions will be removed, although whether this would, in fact, lead to more than a small minority of women with the inclination and ability to meet the standards demanded of infantry roles remains doubtful. Controversial issues connected with the training and working relations of gender-integrated units will remain.

Bibliography

• Dandeker, Christopher, and Segal, M. W., ‘Gender Integration in Armed Forces: Recent Policy Developments in the United Kingdom’, Armed Forces and Society (Fall, 1996).
• Gal, Reuven, A Portrait of the Israeli Soldier (New York, 1989).
• Moskos, C., Williams, J., and Segal, D. R., The Postmodern Military (Oxford, forthcoming).
• —— and Wood, F. R., The Military: More than Just a Job (London, 1988).
• O'Connell, Robert, Of Arms and Men: A History of War, Weapons and Aggression (London, 1989)

— Christopher Dandeker

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The role of women in the U.S. military has changed significantly over the last 200 years, but the greatest change has come since the initiation of the All‐Volunteer Force in 1973. Throughout American history, the expansion of women's roles has come about when the military faced a shortage of male recruits, usually in times of war. Historically, women's participation has occurred mainly in medical and administrative support positions, thus releasing male soldiers from desk jobs to fight in combat. However, the excellent performance of women in support roles in combat zones during the 1980s and 1990s spurred extensive public debates about opening combat positions to women and about women's duties and rights as citizens. This debate focused attention specifically on the contribution women soldiers have made to military readiness and efficiency, rather than simply on the older notion that a woman's military role was to free up men to fight.

From the Revolutionary War to the present day, women have served in the armed forces. Until World War I, however, their roles—as laundresses or nurses, for example—were generally informal and seldom institutionalized. A handful of women disguised themselves as men and fought alongside male soldiers in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In World War I, 21,000 women served in the U.S. Army and Navy Nurse Corps, and another 13,000 volunteered for clerical positions in the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps. All except the nurses held a quasi‐military status and were discharged from active duty immediately after the war ended. At the outbreak of World War II, the shortage of military personnel led to the first large‐scale recruitment of women and the formation of the women's auxiliary military branches. During that war, more than 350,000 women served primarily in the medical and administrative fields, although the services also employed women as pilots, mechanics, truck drivers, gunnery instructors, and electricians. Women were not used in combat roles, but rather to fill support positions and thus release male soldiers for combat.

The end of World War II brought the demobilization of large numbers of servicemen and ‐women and a corresponding diminution in women's roles. In 1948, Congress passed the Women's Armed Services Integration Act, which provided the first ever legal basis for and legal limits to a permanent role for women in the military. Allowing for women to hold full military rank and privilege, the 1948 act also placed caps on women's enlistment and promotion, and excluded them from combat service. Women were not to exceed 2 percent of active duty personnel in each service and could not be promoted beyond lieutenant‐colonel or commander. The combat exclusion requirement remained more or less in effect into the late 1990s (aside from exceptions in the early 1990s for female pilots), but the enlistment and promotion ceilings were repealed in 1967, when the Department of Defense again needed to ease a recruitment deficit at the height of the unpopular Vietnam War. Coinciding with the expanding role of women in the labor force and calls for equal rights more broadly, women's participation in the services grew gradually over the next few years (in 1971, 1.6% of active duty personnel were women; in 1976, 5%), and the first women were promoted to general officers in 1970.

When the end of U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia resulted in the elimination of the draft in 1973 and the initiation of the All‐Volunteer Force, the military began planning how to recruit more women to compensate for expected shortages of qualified male volunteers. Congressional passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (1972), as well as a number of court rulings in favor of equal treatment across gender lines in the services, led to changes in personnel policies that allowed women to command units composed of both men and women; eliminated rules that required the automatic discharge of pregnant women soldiers; ended segregated training of male and female recruits; and equalized dependents' entitlements for married servicewomen and servicemen. In 1973, the first women naval aviators earned their wings (followed by women pilots in the army in 1974 and air force in 1977). In 1976, the first women cadets were admitted to service academies; in 1978, President Jimmy Carter signed a new law allowing navy women to be assigned to sea duty aboard noncombat ships.

During the 1990s, women participated in all major military deployments of U.S. forces, and some combat specialties opened up to them. In 1989, 800 women soldiers served among the 18,400 U.S. troops sent to Panama for Operation Just Cause. From August 1990 to February 1991, 41,000 military women were deployed to the Persian Gulf for Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. In the Persian Gulf War, women constituted 7 percent of all U.S. military personnel deployed; 13 U.S. women were among the 375 U.S. soldiers who died, and 2 women were captured and held as prisoners of war. In April 1993, Air Force 1st Lt. Jeannie Flynn was the first woman to complete a combat training course to fly advanced fighter aircraft.

By 1996, 197,693 women were serving in the armed forces, constituting 13.4 percent of all active duty personnel. At the junior officer levels, women were represented relatively proportional to their numbers in the services. However, there remained a “glass ceiling” inhibiting promotion at the senior levels. In 1996, no women held three‐ or four‐star rank, and only 2 of the 277 two‐star officers and 14 of the 430 one‐star officers were women.

Media coverage in the 1990s led to increased public debate about the role of women in the armed forces. In arguing for equal treatment of all individuals in the military, some senior women military officers and liberal feminists, including Congresswoman Pat Schroeder of the Armed Services Committee, have pressed for opening combat roles to women as part of a larger program to give women full citizenship rights and responsibilities. Furthermore, women's advocates note that combat exclusion reinforces the glass ceiling that blocks promotion to the most senior ranks in a system that favors combat experience over support roles as a condition for advancement. Those opposing women's assignment to combat roles argue that combat effectiveness will be compromised because men will be more likely to defend their female colleagues than to destroy the enemy; that unit cohesion might be undercut by tensions between the sexes; and that the problem of pregnancy makes women soldiers not deployable in times of emergency. Some observers have suggested that the line between combat and noncombat roles will become increasingly arbitrary as support functions put women in the line of fire (as in the Persian Gulf) and as the armed forces prepare to fight noninfantry, high‐technology wars.

The issue of sexual harassment has caught public attention in recent years. Starting with the 1991 Tailhook Conference, at which at least 83 women were assaulted by drunken male navy fighter pilots, harassment scandals have rocked the services. In 1997, a number of female soldiers at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland alleged that their army drill instructors harassed them during their training. Subsequently, a sexual harassment hotline set up to field anonymous calls from women in the armed forces yielded hundreds of reports of abuse of rank and privilege by senior male noncommissioned officers and commissioned officers. The sexual harassment issue remains controversial as the armed forces attempt to establish fair procedures to adjudicate complaints in organizational environments hostile to change.

[See also Families, Military; Gender: Female Identity and the Military; Gender and War; SPARS; WAC; WAVES.]

Bibliography

• Jeanne Holm, Women in the Military: An Unfinished Revolution, 1982; rev. ed. 1992.
• Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces, Report to the President, 1992.
• Martin Binkin, Who Will Fight the Next War? The Changing Face of the American Military, 1993.
• Ruth H. Howes and Michael R. Stevenson, eds., Women and the Use of Military Force, 1993.
• Laura Miller, Feminism and the Exclusion of Army Women from Combat, 1995.
• Richard D. Fisher, et al., Keeping America Safe and Strong: Keeping the Armed Forces Focused on the Military Mission, 1996.
• Office of the Secretary of Defense, Department of Defense Selected Manpower Statistics, Fiscal Year 1996, 1996

Women have served in the U.S. military since the revolutionary war. Some 20,000 women were part of the semiofficial auxiliary Women in the Army during that war. Subjected to military discipline, they received half the pay of men, half the rations, and did not wear uniforms. They made and repaired the men's uniforms and served as cooks and nurses. Their chief combat role was to carry water to the artillery.

The Civil War and Spanish-American War

More than 10,000 women served as nurses and hospital administrators during the Civil War, including African Americans. Soon after the war began, the secretary of war appointed Dorothea Lynde Dix as superintendent of women nurses for the Union army. During the war she oversaw the work of 6,000 women. Clara Barton, another prominent volunteer nurse during the war, helped establish the American Red Cross. Some women joined units consisting of male officers and female volunteers to protect themselves and their property during the war. Some 400 fought for the Union army disguised as men, while 250 fought for the Confederacy. Nearly 1,500 women served as nurse volunteers during the Spanish-American War in 1898. At least sixteen died of typhoid or yellow fever. The war demonstrated the need for a permanent and professional nurse corps. As a result, the army surgeon general established the Nurse Corps Division in August 1898. On 5 February 1901, the Nurse Corps became a permanent part of the army. The navy followed suit in 1908.

World War I and World War II

During World War I, the navy created the Women's Reserve to release men for combat duty. Nearly 11,500 women served as clerk typists and administrators in the navy and marines. Of the 21,000 army nurses on active duty during World War I, about 10,000 served overseas. The army also brought 350 women to France to serve as bilingual communications specialists. Although they wore uniforms and were under military discipline they remained technically civilians. More than 33,000 women served during World War I, the majority with the Army Nurse Corps, and 400 died. Many were killed by the influenza epidemic that swept Europe, including thirty-six nurses. The army awarded three nurses the Distinguished Service Cross (its second highest combat award) and twenty-three the Distinguished Service Medal (the highest noncombat award). The navy awarded three nurses the Navy Cross (its second highest combat award) for their role in fighting the influenza epidemic. The governments of France and Great Britain decorated another 100 nurses. Although the Red Cross certified more than 1,800 African American nurses to serve during the war, the army did not assign any to active duty until after the armistice. Those that were called up were housed in segregated quarters and worked in an integrated environment.

World War II was the watershed for women in the military. The Army's Women's Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was established in May 1942, while in July, the navy began recruiting women into Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service (WAVES). In September, the Women

Airforce Service Pilots (WASP), a quasi-military organization affiliated with the Army Air Forces, was organized, and in November, the Coast Guard formed the Women's Coast Guard Reserve (SPAR). The Marine Corps was the last to admit women, establishing the Marine Corps Women's Reserve (MCWR) in February 1943. On 1 July, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed new legislation, and the WAAC dropped its auxiliary status, becoming the Women's Army Corps (WAC). Almost 400,000 women served in uniform during the war. This included more than 150,550 WACs, 100,000 WAVEs, 76,000 army nurses, 23,000 female marines, 13,000 SPARs, and nearly 1,100 WASPs. Some 7,000 African American WACs and nurses also served, but in segregated units. Restricted from going overseas, they faced daily discrimination. African Americans were not accepted into the navy or Coast Guard until November 1944. Two hundred Puerto Rican women also served as WACs during the war. At their peak strength, some 271,000 women were in uniform, including 100,000 WACs.

Although the combat exclusion law was in effect, women were shot at, killed, wounded, and taken prisoner; 432 American military women were killed during World War II, including 201 army nurses, 16 as a result of enemy action. Another 88 were taken prisoner of war, all but one in the Pacific theater. More than 1,600 nurses were decorated for bravery under fire and meritorious service. Thirty-eight WASPs were killed while towing targets or ferrying or testing planes. The women who served were motivated by patriotism, religion, and a chance for adventure.

Despite their large numbers and immense contributions, only a handful of women were allowed to remain in the military after World War II, although with the Army-Navy-Nurse Act of 1947 and the Women's Armed Services Integration Act of 1948, the women's services became a permanent, integral part of the U.S. military. The Women's Armed Services Integration Act, however, restricted the number of women to 2 percent of the total force and barred them from serving aboard navy combat vessels and from duty in combat aircraft. It also capped their rank at colonel with only one per service. Because the Coast Guard was not included in the bill, a few SPARs remained in the Women's Coast Guard Reserve. In 1949, the air force organized the Air Force Nurse Corps and Air Force Women's Medical Specialist Corps.

The Korean and Vietnam Wars

Women continued to make major strides in the military between World War II and the Korean War. In 1950, President Harry Truman appointed Anna Rosenberg the assistant secretary of defense for manpower and personnel in 1950. She served in that position until 1953. The beginning of the Korean War in June 1950 saw a small initial surge in the number of women in the military. By June 1951, there were 28,000 women serving in the military. The services, however, did not attempt to recruit women because there was a large pool of draft-eligible males. So, the increase in numbers was neither significant nor long term. In 1951, Secretary of Defense George C. Marshall appointed the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS), consisting of fifty prominent women educators, civic leaders, and business and professional women, to assist the defense establishment in recruiting women for the armed services. When the cease-fire was signed on 27 July 1953, the Pentagon began a phase out, reducing the number of Americans in uniform, including women. In all, 120,000 women served during the Korean War.

Women volunteered in large numbers during the Vietnam War, and as the war progressed, they were assigned to wartime operational commands, serving in nontraditional fields such as intelligence, communications, and transportation. About 7,000 served and 7 were killed. In 1967, Congress removed the 2 percent ceiling on number and grade limitations and women became eligible for appointment to flag and general officer rank. In 1971, Colonel Jean Holm was selected as the first air force woman general, and the air force became the first service to allow pregnant women to remain in the service. It also changed recruiting rules to allow the enlistment of women with children. The other services soon followed suit. In 1973, the first women naval aviators received their wings, and three years later the first women army aviators received theirs. In 1976, the service academies began admitting women. The following year the first women air force pilots received their wings. In 1978, the Coast Guard removed all assignment restrictions based on gender.

From Grenada to the Persian Gulf and Beyond

The participation of women in military operations continued to grow during the military actions that followed Vietnam, and by the 1980s there were enough air force women flying to allow the formation of all-female crews. Some 170 women took part in Operation Urgent Fury in Grenada in 1983, including air force women in air transport crews. Later that year, 7 women were among the crews of the KC-135 tankers that refueled the F-111s that raided Libya. About 770 took part in Operation Just Cause in Panama in 1989. Women manned air force transport and refueling aircraft, a woman MP (Military Police) commanded troops in a firefight with Panamanian troops, and women army aviators came under fire for the first time. Three were awarded the Air Medal. Almost 41,000 women deployed to the Persian Gulf as part of Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield in 1990– 1991. Thirteen were killed, including 5 army women, and 21 were wounded as the result of SCUD missile attacks, helicopter crashes, or mines. Two were taken prisoner. Women in the Persian Gulf War endured the same hardships as men, served for the same principles, and played a key role in the war's successful outcome.

In 1991, Congress repealed the combat exclusion law, leaving policies pertaining to women to the secretary of defense. In 1993, Secretary of Defense Les Aspin moved to eliminate many of the remaining restrictions on military women. He ordered all the services to open combat aviation to women, directed the navy to draft legislation to repeal the combat ship exclusion, and directed the army and Marine Corps to study opening new assignments to women. That same year, Sheila E. Widnall became the first woman secretary of the air force. In 1994, more than 1,000 women took part in military operations in Somalia. Four years later more than 1,200 women were deployed to Haiti for peacekeeping duties and the first Marine Corps women aviators received their wings. From 1995 to 2002, more than 5,000 women had served in peace-keeping operations in Bosnia.

A significant proportion of all U.S. military women are African American. Indeed, African Americans account for a considerably higher percentage of military women than of military men (30 percent versus 17 percent). In 2002, the army had the highest proportion of African American women (36 percent of female personnel) and the air force had the lowest (almost 25 percent). Hispanic women accounted for a lower population of the armed forces (10 percent) than of the general population (11 percent). The marines had the highest representation of Hispanic women (15 percent of its women), while the air force had the lowest (7 percent). Finally, almost 15 percent of military women were officers, the same ratio of officers to enlisted personnel among military men.

Bibliography

Feller, Lt. Col. Carolyn M., and Maj. Debra R. Cox. Highlights in the History of the Army Nurse Corps. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Center of Military History, 2000.

Friedl, Vicki L. Women in the United States Military, 1901–1995: A Research Guide and Annotated Bibliography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1996.

Holm, Jeanne. Women in the Military: An Unfinished Revolution. Novato, Calif.: Presidio Press, 1995.

Morden, Bettie J. The Women's Army Corps, 1945–1978. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1990.

Poulos, Paula Nassen, ed. A Woman's War Too: U.S. Women in the Military in World War II. Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1996.

Putney, Martha S., When the Nation Was in Need: Blacks in the Women's Army Corps during World War II. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1992.

Seeley, Charlotte Palmer, Virginia C. Purdy, and Robert Gruber. American Women and the U.S. Armed Forces: A Guide to the Records of Military Agencies in the National Archives Relating to American Women. Washington, D.C: National Archives and Records Administration, 2000.

Treadwell, Mattie E. United States Army in World War II: The Women's Army Corps. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Center of Military History, 1991.

Women's Research and Education Institute. Women in the Military: Where They Stand. Washington, D.C.: Women's Research and Education Institute, January 1998.

This article's citation style may be unclear. The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of citation, footnoting, or external linking. (September 2009)

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Four F-15 Eagle pilots from the 3d Wing walk to their respective jets at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

Women in the military have a history that extends over 4,000 years into the past, throughout a vast number of cultures and nations. Women have played many roles in the military, from ancient warrior women, to the women currently serving in conflicts.

Despite various roles in the armies of past societies, the role of women in the military, particularly in combat, is controversial and it is only recently that women have begun to be given a more prominent role in contemporary armed forces. As increasing numbers of countries begin to expand the role of women in their militaries, the debate continues.

Peruvian female military officer during parade.

The queen of Jhansi, Rani Lakshmibai.

Medieval depiction of Joan of Arc.

Roza Shanina, a Soviet sniper during World War II, credited with 54 confirmed kills. About 400,000 Soviet women served in front-line duty units,^[1] chiefly as medics and nurses.

From the beginning of the 1970s, most Western armies began to admit women to serve active duty.^[2] Only some of them permit women to fill active combat roles, including Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Italy, Germany, Norway, Israel, Serbia, Sweden and Switzerland.

Contents 1 Women in combat 1.1 Women's bodies 1.2 Social and cultural issues 2 Women on submarines 3 Portrayals in popular culture 3.1 Non-fiction 3.2 Fiction 3.3 Science fiction 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References 6.1 Scholarly studies 6.1.1 Websites 7 Further reading

Women in combat

Main article: Women in combat

Some nations allow female soldiers to serve in certain Combat Arms positions. Others exclude them, for practical or political considerations.

Women's bodies

Women aren't as strong as men, on average, although some women do possess the physical attributes suitable to become combat soldiers.^[3] There has been debate over whether women pilots can handle g-forces as well as men.

Social and cultural issues

Mixed-gender berthing on ships and submarines is an issue. Some people think having women in a combat unit would hurt esprit de corps, that men could not trust them (see also Unit cohesion). There are worries about romantic or sexual relationships developing (see also Fraternization), or that a woman might get pregnant to avoid combat. Some people are not willing to accept the risk of women being captured and tortured and possibly sexually assaulted, which happened to then-Major Rhonda Cornum.^[4]

On the other hand, some argue that there's a shortage of male combat soldiers and that women should not be treated as second-class citizens.^[5]

According to Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, author of On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society, Israeli soldiers reacted with uncontrollable protectiveness and aggression after seeing a woman wounded. Grossman also notes that Islamic militants rarely, if ever, surrender to female soldiers, lessening the IDF's ability to interrogate prisoners. On the other hand, Iraqi and Afghan civilians are often not intimidated by female soldiers. However, in such environments, having female soldiers serving within a combat unit does have the advantage of allowing for searches on female civilians. Children and women are more likely to talk to female soldiers than to male soldiers.^[6]

Women on submarines

In 1985, the Royal Norwegian Navy became the first ^[7][8] navy in the world to permit female personnel to serve in submarines, followed by the appointment of a female submarine captain in 1995.^[9] The Danish Navy allowed women on submarines in 1988, the Swedish Navy in 1989,^[8] followed by the Royal Australian Navy in 1998, Canada in 2000, and Spain;^[10] all operators of conventional submarines.

Social obstacles include the perceived need to segregate accommodation and facilities, with figures from the US Navy highlighting the increased cost, $300,000 per bunk to permit women to serve on submarines versus $4,000 per bunk to allow women to serve on aircraft carriers.^[11]

Recent US Navy policy allowed three exceptions for women being on board military submarines: (1) Female civilian technicians for a few days at most; (2) Women midshipmen on an overnight during summer training for both Navy ROTC and Naval Academy; (3) Family members for one-day dependent cruises.^[12]

In October 2009, the U. S. Secretary of the Navy, Ray Mabus announced that he and the Chief of Naval Operations were moving aggressively to change the policy.^[13] Reasons included the fact that larger SSGN and SSBN submarines now in the Fleet had more available space and could accommodate female Officers with little or no modification. Also, the availability of qualified female candidates with the desire to serve in this capacity was cited. It was noted that women now represented 15% of the Active Duty Navy ^[13] and that women today earn about half of all science and engineering bachelor’s degrees. A policy change was deemed to serve the aspirations of women, the mission of the Navy and the strength of its submarine force.^[13][14]

In February 2010, the Secretary of Defense approved the proposed policy and signed letters formally notifying Congress of the intended change. After receiving no objection, the Department of the Navy officially announced on April 29, 2010, that it had authorized women to serve onboard submarines.^[15]

Portrayals in popular culture

Further information: Woman warrior and List of women warriors in folklore

In the late 20th century and early 21st century, there have been a significant representations of "women warriors" in popular culture, occasionally including women in the military, such as the films G. I. Jane and Down Periscope.

Non-fiction

In 2007, author Kirsten Holmstedt released Band of Sisters: American Women at War in Iraq. The book presents twelve stories of American women on the frontlines including America's first female pilot to be shot down and survive, the U.S. military's first black female combat pilot, a 21-year-old turret gunner defending a convoy, two military policewomen in a firefight and a nurse struggling to save lives, including her own. Her second book, The Girls Come Marching Home: Stories of Women Warriors Returning from Iraq details the lives of women who served in combat after they come home.

A television movie about Margarethe Cammermeyer called Serving in Silence, was made in 1995, with Glenn Close starring as Cammermeyer. Cammermeyer, a retired colonel in the Washington National Guard,^[16] disclosed in 1989 that she was a lesbian. The movie's content was largely taken from Cammermeyer's autobiography of the same name.

Fiction

In the People's Republic of China, one of the Eight Model Plays was Red Detachment of Women, which concerns female units in the Maoist military.

Science fiction

A notable tendency of science fiction since the 1940s is to place women in dominant military roles. These are often command positions, in some cases for the express purpose of having a woman in command (as was the case for Captain Kathryn Janeway, where the ship having a female captain was used as a selling point). In some cases, this is accompanied by a complete desegregation of the sexes, such as in Starship Troopers, where no one showed any compunctions about undressing, showering, etc. in front of the other gender.^[17]

Another example, from the Stargate franchise, is Major (later Colonel) Samantha Carter, an air force officer who was placed in command of a front-line unit.

Women openly serve in both frontline infantry and special operations units in the game series Mass Effect and Gears of War.

In numerous games, such as Starcraft, women appear as fierce warriors.

See also

v d e History of women in warfare Ancient Medieval Early Modern 1750–1799 1800–1899 1900–1939 WWI WWII 1945–1999 2000–present

• List of women who sparked a revolution
• List of women warriors in folklore
• List of wartime crossdressers
• Women in the military by country
• Women in the workforce

Notes

1. ^ Campbell, D'Ann. "Women in Combat: The World War Two Experience in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and the Soviet Union" Journal of Military History (April 1993), 57:301-323. online edition
2. ^ Carreiras, Helena (2006). Gender and the military: women in the armed forces of western democracies. New York: Routledge. pp. 1. ISBN 0-415-38358-7. http://www.google.com/books?id=h_teNrU9k6QC&pg=PA1. 
3. ^ Women in the Military: Combat Roles Considered
4. ^ Kristof, Nicholas D. (NY Times) (April 25, 2003). "A Woman's Place". http://www.ambrosiasw.com/forums/index.php?s=ec38e9ce59c7388c185485da75495be7&showtopic=40740. 
5. ^ Congresswoman Louise M. Slaughter: Remarks on Women in Combat
6. ^ [1]
7. ^ "Royal Navy to allow female sailors on subs". London: Daily Mail. 2010-06-21. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1288304/Royal-Navy-allow-female-officers-aboard-submarines-report-dispels-health-fears.html. Retrieved 2011-04-25. 
8. ^ ^{a b} "Women, Leadership and the US Military: A Tale of Two Eras". 2010-08-11. http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Security-Watch/Detail/?lng=en&ots627=fce62fe0-528d-4884-9cdf-283c282cf0b2&id=123253. Retrieved 2011-04-25. 
9. ^ Armstrong, Rebecca (May 3, 2007). "U-34 submarine, Eckernforde, 02.05.07". Independent, the (London): 2. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20070503/ai_n19047309. ^{[dead link]}
10. ^ "Women in the military - international". Indepth (CBS News). 30 May 2006. http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/military-international/. Retrieved 21 December 2011. 
11. ^ New Debate on Submarine Duty for Women Armed Forces Careers retrieved August 11, 2007
12. ^ Can women go on submarines? United States Navy retrieved March 27, 2008
13. ^ ^{a b c} Navy Office of Information, “Women on Submarines”, Rhumblines, October 5, 2009.
14. ^ http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=52954
15. ^ http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=52990
16. ^ [2]
17. ^ Robin Roberts, "The Female Alien: Pulp Science Fiction'S Legacy To Feminists," Journal of Popular Culture, Sep 1987, Vol. 21 Issue 2, pp 33-52

References

Scholarly studies

• Elshtain, Jean Bethke. Women and War (1995)
• Elshtain Jean, and Sheila Tobias, eds., Women, Militarism, and War (1990),
• Frampton, James Scott The Influence of Attitudes and Morale on the Performance of Active-Duty United States Marine Corps Female Security Guards (2011),
• Goldstein, Joshua S. . War and Gender: How Gender Shapes the War System and Vice Versa (2003), psychology perspective
• Jones, David. Women Warriors: A History, Brassey's, 1997
• Salmonson, Jessica Amanda (1991). The Encyclopedia of Amazons: Women Warriors from Antiquity to the Modern Era. Paragon House. ISBN 1-55778-420-5. 

World War II

• Bidwell, Shelford. The Women's Royal Army Corps (London, 1977) on Britain
• Campbell, D'Ann. Women at War with America: Private Lives in a Patriotic Era (Harvard University Press, 1984). on WW2
• Campbell, D'Ann. "Servicewomen of World War II", Armed Forces and Society (Win 1990) 16: 251-270. statistical study based on interviews
• Campbell, D'Ann. "Women in Combat: The World War Two Experience in the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and the Soviet Union" Journal of Military History (April 1993), 57:301-323. online edition
• Cottam, K. Jean Soviet Airwomen in Combat in World War II (Manhattan, KS: Military Affairs/Aerospace Historian Publishing, 1983)
• DeGroot G.J. "Whose Finger on the Trigger? Mixed Anti-Aircraft Batteries and the Female Combat Taboo," War in History, Volume 4, Number 4, December 1997, pp. 434–453
• Dombrowski, Nicole Ann. Women and War in the Twentieth Century: Enlisted With or Without Consent (1999)
• Weatherford, Doris. American Women During World War II: An Encyclopedia (2009)

Current

• Carreiras, Helena and Gerhard Kammel (eds.) Women in the Military and in Armed Conflict (2008) excerpt and text search
• Goldman, Nancy. "The Changing Role Of Women In The Armed Forces." American Journal Of Sociology 1973 78(4): 892-911. Issn: 0002-9602 online in Jstor
• Herbert, Melissa S. Camouflage Isn't Only for Combat: Gender, Sexuality, and Women in the Military New York U. Pr., 1998.
• Holm, Jeanne M. (1993). Women in the Military: An Unfinished Revolution. ; women from the United States
• Skaine, Rosemarie. Women at War: Gender Issues of Americans in Combat. McFarland, 1999.

Middle East

• Holmstedt, Kirsten. Band of Sisters: American Women at War in Iraq (2007) excerpt and text search
• Holmstedt, Kirsten. "The Girls Come Marching Home"
• Wise, James E. and Scott Baron. Women at War: Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Conflicts (2006)

Websites

Green Berets

• BBC News Online on May 31, 2002: 'Long, hard struggle' for green beret retrieved on March 12, 2007
• BBC News Online on May 31, 2002: Superwoman Pip's green beret test retrieved on March 12, 2007

Joan of Arc

• Joan of Arc archive retrieved on March 12, 2007
• Maid of Heaven extensive site about Joan of Arc, retrieved on March 12, 2007

Women Veterans

• The Betty H. Carter Women Veterans Historical Project located in the Special Collections and University Archives Department at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
• Textiles and Artifacts from Women in World War 1 located in the Special Collections and University Archives Department at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Miscellaneous

• blitzkriegbaby.de site for Women in the military retrieved on March 12, 2007
• Women in the Military: A Selected Bibliography, Jacqueline S. Bey, 2005, retrieved on March 12, 2007
• Iraqi Bloggers Central: Oldest American Servicewoman Killed In Combat retrieved on March 12, 2007
• militarywoman.org MilitaryWoman retrieved on March 12, 2007
• post-gazette.com retrieved on March 12, 2007
• womensenews.org retrieved on March 12, 2007
• The History of a Hello Girl retrieved on July 17, 2007
• When Janey Comes Marching Home Multi-Media project on women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan in the Virginia Quarterly Review

Further reading

Booth, Bradford. 2003. “Contextual Effects of Military Presence on Women’s Earnings.” Armed Forces & Society, vol. 30: pp. 25–51. http://afs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/30/1/25

Cooney, Richard; Segal, Mady Wechsler; Segal, David and Falk, William. 2003. “Racial Differences in the Impact of Military Service on the Socioeconomic Status of Women Veterans.” Armed Forces & Society, vol. 30: pp. 53–85. http://afs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/30/1/53

Moore, Brenda. 1991. “African American Women in the U.S. Military.” Armed Forces & Society vol. 17: pp. 363–384. http://afs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/17/3/363

Iskra, Darlene. 2007. “Attitudes toward Expanding Roles for Navy Women at Sea: Results of a Content Analysis.” Armed Forces & Society, vol. 33: pp. 203–223. http://afs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/33/2/203

Dar, Yechezkel and Shaul Kimhi. 2004. “Youth in the Military: Gendered Experiences in the Conscript Service in the Israeli Army.” Armed Forces & Society, vol. 30: pp. 433–459. http://afs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/30/3/433

“Michele Jones: A History of Firsts.” The Story of America's Black Patriots http://www.forloveofliberty.net/stories/michele-jones-history-firsts/36

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