Women in Combat Policy

Source: About.com
Source: National Geographic

There are roughly a dozen nations that have opened “close combat roles” to women. Those roles are defined by a 2010 British Ministry of Defense (MOD) study as those that include “engaging an enemy on the ground … while being exposed to hostile fire and a high probability of physical contact with the hostile forces personnel.”

In many parts of the world, these efforts have moved quickly once they’ve begun. Though women in Poland were not even accepted at the nation’s military academies until 1999, for example, the country passed a law in 2004 requiring women with college nursing or veterinary degrees to register for compulsory service.

Of the dozen or so countries that allow women to be part of combat units, here are those with the fewest restrictions on what women can do:

USA

The 1994 ban on women in combat directs that “women shall be excluded from assignment to units below the brigade level whose primary mission is to engage in direct combat on the ground.” The policy states that “direct ground combat takes place well forward on the battlefield.”

In 2011 a government study conducted by the Military Leadership Diversity Commission, reignited the debate on women in combat recommending that the military eliminate policies that exclude women from combat units.  Allowing women in combat positions would be a reversal of a Pentagon policy adopted in 1994. The Commission advocated for the military to end its policy restriction on women in combat after finding white males make up a disproportionate share of the upper echelons of the armed services. The report described the policy as an “institutional barrier” to women that “can affect their ability to reach the senior leadership ranks, particularly in the officer corps.”

Combat Exclusion reflected an enormous gap between Defense Department policy and the reality on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan. The policy not only legalized sex discrimination, it also helped foster a hostile work environment in which sexual harassment and sexual assault have been allowed to thrive. Additionally, the Combat Exclusion Policy was one of the last remaining institutional glass ceilings for women, barring women from serving in career enhancing assignments and entering the tactical career fields associated with promotion to flag/general officer grades.

In January 2013, the U.S. lifted its ban on women in combat and expect to have women training in those positions by 2016.

Canada

Canada’s Charter of Rights was enacted in 1982 which provided the legal impetus for the Armed Forces to consider the equality of women in the services and to permit them into all military roles. In 1989 Canada opened all combat roles except those involving submarine warfare to women. In 2000, women were given the green light to serve on subs as well. Three years later, the first female was assigned to serve as captain of a Canadian warship, while another woman became the first female deputy commanding officer of a combat arms unit.

Roughly 15 percent of Canadian military forces are now women, while 2 percent of combat troops (99 troops) are female. In 2006, Canada lost its first female soldier—a forward artillery scout—in combat with Taliban forces.

Australia

In 2011, Australia’s defense minister announced that the last 7 percent of positions that had been closed to women—including Special Forces, infantry, and artillery—would be opened up to them.

Driven in large part by a string of sex scandals, the move includes a five-year transition plan. At its height, Australia had more troops in Afghanistan than any non-NATO country, and women currently account for roughly 10 percent of all Australia’s deployed troops.

Denmark

Since 1988, Denmark has had a policy of “total inclusion,” which came on the heels of 1985 “combat trials” exploring the capabilities of women to fight on the front lines. “Danish research showed that women performed just as well as men in land combat roles,” according to the British MOD study. Although all posts are open to women, physical requirements have so far prevented them from joining the country’s Special Operations Forces.

France

Women make up nearly one-fifth of the French military and can serve in all posts except on submarines and in the riot-control gendarmerie. Though permitted to serve in the combat infantry, however, most chose not to. As a result, women make up only 1.7 percent of that force.

Germany

In 2001, the country opened German combat units to women, dramatically increasing the recruitment of female soldiers into the ranks. The number of women in the German Armed Forces is now three times as high as in 2001. As of 2009, roughly 800 female soldiers were serving in combat units.

Israel

In 1985 the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) began putting women into combat positions and by 2009 women were serving in artillery units, rescue forces, and in anti-aircraft forces. While women must take part in compulsory military service, they are conscripted for only two years, versus three for men.

A study on the integration of female combatants in the IDF between 2002 and 2005 found that women often exhibit “superior skills” in discipline, motivation, and shooting abilities, yet still face prejudicial treatment stemming from “a perceived threat to the historical male combat identity.”

New Zealand

Women have been able to serve in all defense units, including infantry, armor, and artillery units, since the country passed a law to that effect in 2001. A report four years later found that the move helped drive a societal shift that “values women as well as men,” but that the integration of women into the combat trades “needed a deliberate and concerted effort.” The British MOD report concluded that there has been “variable success in attracting and recruiting women to these areas.”

Norway

In 1985, Norway became the first country in NATO to allow women to serve in all combat capacities, including submarines. Norwegian women are also subject to the draft in the event of a national mobilization. “The few women that are attracted by the infantry and cavalry do a great job in the Norwegian Army,” says Col. Ingrid Gjerde, an infantry officer in the Norwegian military for 25 years.

“I have to be clear: You have to meet the physical standards, because the job is still the same. It works very well as long as women hold the standards,” added Colonel Gjerde, who was the commander of Norwegian forces in Afghanistan in 2012. “It’s not a big deal because women who go into these fields know the standards, and it’s not that hard for women to train up to the standards if they really want.”