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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