Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Group - Women in the armed
forces: the role of women in the Australian Defence Force
Contents
Introduction
Women in the ADF
Categories
from which women are excluded
Definition
of combat and combat related duties
Conventions,
legislation and policy
Official
attitudes to the role of women in the ADF
Competency
based testing for employment
Harassment
Women in other
armed forces
Selected key
publications
Useful Internet
sites
Introduction
Continuing emphasis on the elimination of discrimination in the workplace,
along with the need to maximise access to sufficient numbers of suitably
skilled personnel in a competitive labour market has increased attention
on the role of women in the Australian Defence Force.
The number of jobs open to women in the Australian Defence Force (ADF)
has expanded greatly since the first Army Nursing Service was established
in New South Wales in 1899. Women can now be employed in approximately
88% of employment categories in the ADF. Australia recently made a partial
withdrawal from its previous reservation to the Convention on the Elimination
of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the last step in
a decade long process of recognising the employment of women in combat
related roles. However, women are still excluded from direct combat roles
in the ADF. Women also still make up only a small proportion of the ADF,
and as inquiries over the last decade have demonstrated, sexual harassment
remains a problem.
Major milestones in the employment of women in the ADF are listed in
a chronology
of women in the Australian military prepared by the Department of Defence.
Women in the ADF
Personnel statistics from Section
4 (Table 4.12) of the Department of Defence’s Annual report
1999-2000(1) show that women make up 12.8% of the
permanent ADF (6,507 women compared to 44,248 men). The Royal Australian
Air Force has the highest percentage of women at 15.1% (2,121 positions
occupied by women), followed by the Royal Australian Navy with 14.6% (1,832
positions), and the Australian Army with 10.6% (2,554 positions). Women
also make up 17.5% of the defence force reserves (1% of the Naval Reserve,
14.6% of the Army Reserve, and 1.9% of the Air Force Reserve). Women’s
participation in a combined total of the permanent and reserve forces
runs at 14.2%.
Women can now be employed in 477 of the ADF’s employment categories,
ie, 88% of job categories are open to women, however, only 284, or 60%
of categories, actually employ women. The 477 categories open to women
represent 74% of all positions across the ADF(2).
Following the report of the RAN’s Submarine
Integration Study (SIS) to the Chief of Navy, women are now serving
in the new Collins Class submarines, the accommodation facilities of which
provide privacy for both sexes. Collins submarine training for women started
at the Submarine Training and Systems Centre on June 1998.
In December 1999, Air Commodore Julie Hammer became the first female
officer to be promoted to an air rank in the history of the RAAF and to
one star rank in the ADF. Several NATO nations have also promoted women
to brigadier or equivalent rank or above(3).
Categories from
which women are excluded
Currently, there are no women
in combat roles in the ADF, that is, women are excluded from categories
of employment which are classified as ‘direct combat duties’.
These are: clearance diving teams (Navy); infantry, armour; artillery
and combat engineers (Army); and airfield defence guards and ground defence
officers (Air Force). In addition, for occupational health and safety
reasons, women are excluded from some employment categories, such as surface
finishing and electroplating within the Air Force which involve the use
of embryo-toxic substances.
Definition of combat
and combat related duties
- Direct combat duties are defined in a Defence
Instruction on the employment of women in the ADF as ‘duties
requiring a person to commit, or participate directly in the commission
of an act or violence against an armed adversary; and duties exposing
a person to a high probability of direct physical contact with an armed
adversary.’
- Combat duties are declared under regulation
3 of the Sex Discrimination Regulations to be duties ‘requiring
a person to commit, or to participate directly in the commission of,
an act of violence against an adversary in time of war’.
- Regulation 3 of the Sex Discrimination Regulations defines combat
related duties as duties requiring a person to work in support of,
and in close proximity to, a person performing combat duties, in circumstances
in which the person may be killed or injured by an act of violence by
an adversary.
Conventions, legislation
and policy
In 1983 Australia ratified the Convention
on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
with two reservations, one of which supported the exclusion of women from
combat related duties and combat duties. The Sex Discrimination Act
1984 granted an exemption to the ADF in respect of combat or combat
related duties. Ironically, despite the aim of eliminating discrimination
against women, the result of these exemptions was that women who had been
employed in combat related duties, such as certain transport duties in
the Royal Australian Corps of Transport and in the Royal Australian Engineers
in the Army, were unable to continue to be employed in these roles.
In November 1992, the Minister for Defence Science and Personnel explained
in answer to a Question
without Notice that in May 1990 the Hawke Government had announced
that women would be able to serve in combat related positions. At that
time 94% of RAAF positions were open to women, but they were then still
excluded from positions as air crew on FA18s, PC3s and F111s, as well
as air defence guards. In the RAN, as well as being excluded from navy
clearance diving, women could not crew submarines, and they were excluded
in practice from some surface ships which required modification to accommodation
spaces. In the Army, the categories of armour, artillery, infantry and
combat engineers were still closed.
In December 1992 the Keating Government announced that women could serve
in all army, navy and air force units, except direct combat units. Section
43 of the Sex Discrimination Act was amended in 1995 to reflect
this change.
The Howard Government marked International Women’s Day 2000 with
the announcement
that Australia would be partially withdrawing its reservation to CEDAW
relating to combat related duties. Australia’s reservation to the
convention now reads:
On 30 August 2000, with effect from that date, Australia withdrew that
part of the reservations which reads:
The Government of Australia advises that it does not accept the application
of the Convention in so far as it would require alteration of Defence
Force policy which excludes women from combat and combat-related duties.
The Government of Australia is reviewing this policy so as to more closely
define 'combat' and "combat-related duties.
and deposited the following reservation:
The Government of Australia advises that it does not accept the application
of the Convention in so far as it would require alteration of Defence
Force policy which excludes women from combat duties.
The National
Interest Analysis , tabled in Parliament on 7 April 2000, explains
Australia’s new position and the reasons for the partial withdrawal.
Official attitudes
to the role of women in the ADF
In his speech
to the Women in Uniform conference in May 1999, the Hon Bruce Scott, Minister
for Veterans’ Affairs and Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence,
referred to the need to have a ‘critical mass’ of women in some
specialisations and to provide adequate social and psychological support
to women to enable them to reach their potential.
The Chief of the Defence Force, Admiral Chris Barrie, gave a speech
to the 12th Women, Management and Employment Relations Conference
in July 2000 in which he characterised the issue of ‘women in the
military’ as a pragmatic initiative, rather than a social policy
initiative. Admiral Barrie also discussed the role of women in the ADF
during his opening
speech to the Women in Uniform conference in May 1999.
In a speech
to the Defence Women’s Network in December 1999, the Defence Secretary,
Dr Allan Hawke, outlined Defence’s policies relating to the role
of women in the ADF, including the issue of women in combat and the integration
of women into the Submarine Squadron.
Competency based
testing for employment.
The Department of Defence has reported that competencies for employment
categories and critical mass limits are being developed before bringing
forward proposals to open up further employment categories to women. In
August 1999, the Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence agreed that
competencies should be developed for engineers, artillery, armour and
infantry (including airfield defence guards). The Navy is still considering
the issue of the employment of women as clearance divers(4).
Harassment
Previous instances of bastardisation at the Royal Military College and
recent
allegations of brutality in the 3rd Battalion, Royal Australian
Regiment, if true, demonstrate that women are not the only victims of
harassment. However, as recently
reported surveys of six defence bases have confirmed, and as the Human
Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s recent
ruling on damages to a former RAAF member demonstrates, women in the
ADF are still subject to sexual harassment and sexual assault. Two incidents
during the last decade which have generated adverse publicity for the
ADF were:
- Incidents of alleged sexual harassment and assault during a deployment
of HMAS SWAN in 1992 which led to an inquiry by the Senate Standing
Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade and the tabling and
publication of its 1994 report, Sexual harassment in the Australian
Defence Force. In his tabling
speech, the chair of the committee outlined the recommendations
which generally involved the ADF taking steps to raise gender awareness
and preventing unacceptable sexual behaviour from occurring. The ADF
reported back to the Senate in December 1995 with an Action Plan(5).
- In 1998 an inquiry was undertaken after allegations of harassment
were made concerning officer cadets at the Australian Defence Force
Academy. A submission
to the inquiry by Dr Graham Cheeseman, an academic at the University
College at ADFA, suggested that one step in ‘eradicating the root
causes of sexual harassment at ADFA would be to begin to reconstruct
the notion of the armed forces and military service in Australia in
non-gendered (and even non-militarised) terms.’ The report of the
inquiry, Report of the review into policies and practices to deal
with sexual harassment and sexual offences at the Australian Defence
Force Academy(6), was published in June 1998.
In 1996 Major Kathryn Quinn of the Australian Army Psychology Corps published
a report, Sexual
harassment in the Australian Defence Force, a comparative assessment
of results from the 1987 and 1995 ADF career and family studies.
The ADF and the Defence Department policy
on discrimination states that the Defence Organisation has a zero tolerance
attitude to sexual harassment. The Defence
Equity Organisation’s (DEO) Internet site also includes a Sexual
assault information pack: a guide for survivors peers and managers.
Women in other armed forces
A comparison between Australia and NATO nations using 1998-99
figures claims that Australia is at the forefront in women’s
participation in the military, with the United States a very close second
in percentages(7).
NATO: In 1976 the NATO Military Committee formally recognised
the Committee on Women
in the NATO Forces, an advisory body on critical issues affecting
women in the Alliance’s forces. Women serve in the armed forces of
the majority of NATO’s member nations.
Canada: In 1989 a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ordered the Canadian
Forces to fully integrate women into all occupations by 1999. In addition,
demographic data forecasts have indicated that the Canadian Forces’
(CF) traditional recruiting base is shrinking.
Figures given in the second chapter of the 1999
report of the Canadian Minister for National Defence’s Advisory
Board on Canadian Forces Gender Integration and Employment Equity indicate
that according to a 1997 survey, the Canadian armed forces have the potential
to achieve a minimum of 28% female representation. At the time women made
up 13% of the regular force and the primary reserve. The 1998 Evaluation
of gender integration in the CF found that the total increase
in the representation of women in the military since 1989 remains modest.
Canada was the first NATO country to open all occupations to women, although
others (Norway, Denmark and Belgium) have since followed.
A report
on the experience of women who have served in the combat arms, made to
the Chief of Land Staff’s Gender
Integration Study in 1998, indicates that the Canadian Army has experienced
difficulty in attracting women into, and retaining them in the combat
arms and related occupations.
Germany: After a
ruling in 2000 by the European Court of Justice in favour of a case
brought by Tanja Kreil, and following the necessary changes
to German law, the German government has opened
combat units of the German armed forces to women. The European Court
ruled that: 'Council Directive 76/207/EEC of 9 February 1976 on the implementation
of the principle of equal treatment for men and women as regards access
to employment, vocational training and promotion, and working conditions
precludes the application of national provisions, such as those of German
law, which impose a general exclusion of women from military posts involving
the use of arms and which allow them access only to the medical and military-music
services.' The judgement, however, confirmed that there can be
special exceptions for 'special combat units' following its previous decision
in the Angela Sirdar
case, brought by a British servicewoman against the United Kingdom
Ministry of Defence regarding her inability to transfer to the Royal Marines
as a chef.
New Zealand: The military balance: 2000-2001(8)
lists New Zealand as having 9,230 active military personnel of whom 1,340,
or 14.5%, are women. The NZ army has 550 women in a force of 4,450 (12.3%),
the women make up 430, or 15.3%, of the 2,800 positions in the air force,
and 360, or 18.8%, of the 1980 positions in the navy.
United Kingdom: Despite the UK Armed Forces being an equal
opportunities employer, servicewomen in the United Kingdom’s
armed forces currently represent only 7.9% of the total strength. 96%
of posts in the Royal Air Force, 73% of Royal Navy and Royal Marines posts,
and 70% of British Army posts are open to women, with a further 1300 posts
in army and navy specialist units attached to the Royal Marines to be
opened to women. Women are currently excluded from posts whose primary
role in battle is to ‘close with and kill the enemy’ and from
service on submarines and as naval clearance divers(9).
Field
trials were held in the northern autumn to test the feasibility of
women soldiers being allowed to serve in combat situations.
United States: A November 1998 US General Accounting Office (GAO)
study
on gender issues and the perception of gender inequalities in the
US armed forces states that women make up 14% of the armed forces, up
from less than 2% in 1973.
A September 1999 GAO study, Trends
in the occupational distribution of military women, reported that
as of September 1998, 90% of US armed forces’ career fields and 80%
of the 1,425,000 positions were open to women. Women remain excluded from
assignments to units below brigade level whose primary mission is to engage
in direct combat on the ground.
Since 1993 women have been able to serve on combat aircraft, and since
1994 on US combat ships except submarines. However, the GAO study identified
institutional barriers that limit the number of women going into occupations
which theoretically are open to them. For instance, some units are closed
to women because of departmental or service policies even though the units
contain occupations open to women. The study found that a large percentage
of women officers in the US armed forces continue to work in the areas
of health care, administration, personnel and supply occupations, however
women are beginning to enter non-traditional fields such as aviation,
surface warfare, air traffic control and field artillery.
The integration of women into the submarine community was recently recommended
by the Defence Advisory Committee on Women in the Services (DACOWITS).
A response
by a former Chief of Naval Operations to suggestions in a
recent article in the June 2000 issue of the United States Naval Institute
Proceedings journal which suggested that women should be allowed
to serve in US submarines demonstrates that the debate on the role of
women in the US military is by no means over.
As a 1995 study
demonstrated, women in the US forces face harassment
issues similar to those faced by women in the ADF.
Selected key publications
- Australian Defence Force. Report of the review into policies and
practices to deal with sexual harassment and sexual offences at the
Australian Defence Force Academy. Canberra, Director of Publishing
and Visual Communications, Department of Defence, 1998. (the Grey Report)
- Burton, Clare. Women in the Australian Defence Force: two studies.
Canberra, Department of Defence, 1996.
- Quinn, Kathryn. Sexual
harassment in the Australian Defence Force. Canberra, Department
of Defence, 1996.
- Spurling, Kathryn & Greenhalgh, Elizabeth (eds). Women in uniform:
perceptions and pathways. [Canberra], School of History, Australian
Defence Force Academy, 2000.
Useful Internet sites
Defence Equity Organisation:
a part of the Australian Department of Defence.
DACOWITS: United States Defense
Advisory Committee on Women in the Services.
H-Minerva: women in
the military, women and war discussion network.
Women
and combat bibliography: a centenary of women in the Australian Army
1 Department of Defence. Defence
annual report 1999-2000. Canberra, [the Department], 2000. P.292. http://www.defence.gov.au/budget/99-00dar.htm
2 Verbal advice from the Defence Equity
Organisation, 11 December 2000.
3 Garcia, Sarah. ‘Military
women in the NATO armed forces’ in Spurling, Kathryn & Greenhalgh,
Elizabeth (eds). Women in uniform: perceptions and pathways. [Canberra],
School of History, Australian Defence Force Academy, 2000. P.229.
4 Defence annual report op cit,
p.83.
5 Department of Defence, Report
to the Senate on the Elimination of Sexual Harassment in the Australian
Defence Report. December 1995, cited in Anderson, David. The
challenge of military service: defence personnel conditions in a changing
social context. Department of the Parliamentary Library. Background
Paper No.6 1997-98.
6 Australian Defence Force.
Report of the review into policies and practices to deal with sexual
harassment and sexual harassment and sexual offences at the Australian
Defence Force Academy. Canberra, Department of Defence, 1998.
7 Readers outside Parliament
can access these figures in Doherty, Megan. ‘Willing to be warriors’,
Canberra Times, 7 May 2000. For a review of the situation in NATO
see Garcia, Sarah. ‘Military women in the NATO armed forces’
in Spurling, Kathryn & Greenhalgh, Elizabeth (eds). Women in uniform:
perceptions and pathways. [Canberra], School of History, Australian
Defence Force Academy, 2000. P. 196-229.
8 International Institute for
Strategic Studies. The military balance: 2000-2001. London, Oxford
University Press, 2000. p.209-210.
9 http://www.mod.uk/index.php3?page=532
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