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EspañaDefensa,

El nombramiento de Patricia Ortega como primera general de las Fuerzas Armadas es un paso más en la integración plena de las mujeres en nuestros Ejércitos y Armada Española.

Lejos queda ya la incorporación en 1988 de aquellas 26 pioneras, las cifras así lo avalan. A día de hoy, el número de mujeres (alumnas incluidas) en las Fuerzas Armadas españolas es de 15.519. Dejando a un lado a las alumnas, el número de mujeres es de 14.974, lo que representa el 12,7% del total.

Todas ellas demuestran que, por encima de los riesgos que acompañan a la milicia, tienen el firme compromiso de servir a la paz y seguridad internacional con la máxima entrega que se puede exigir a un militar, su propia vida.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoÁfrica, ,

In 2000, U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325 emphasized that women’s “equal participation and full involvement” is important to promoting peace and security. More than a decade of research since then supports the link between gender equality and peace — and has helped drive reforms aimed at increasing the number of women in security institutions, as well as embracing gender diversity.

There is also considerable evidence that security sectors dominated by men tend to undermine women’s security. So where do things stand, and why is revising the security sector’s approach to gender — “regendering” it, if you will — proving difficult?

Here’s what happened in South Africa

Our recent research on the South African Army shows that high hopes about gender integration in the military aren’t enough to make change.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoOriente Próximo, , ,

La decisión de Arabia Saudita de permitir el ingreso de mujeres a las fuerzas armadas (parte de su programa de reforma económica Visión 2030) fue celebrada en todo el mundo como un avance hacia la igualdad de género, en un país notoriamente desigual. Pero cuando empiecen a enrolarse mujeres, la batalla por la verdadera igualdad dentro de las fuerzas armadas apenas habrá comenzado.

Además de las restricciones explícitas que se prevén (es probable que las mujeres deban obtener autorización de sus tutores masculinos, y tal vez se las excluya de los puestos de combate) también habrá que desmantelar el rígido sistema patriarcal de las fuerzas armadas.…  Seguir leyendo »

The Caracal battalion, two-thirds of whose members are women, was established in 2004. Amir Cohen/Reuters

MundoOriente Próximo, ,

In one sense, women are making great strides in the Israeli Defence Force (IDF). In October, the army declared it was examining the possibility of allowing women to serve in new combat positions, including in tank crews.

In the same month, Major Reut (whose last name is not allowed to be published for security reasons), was promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel and made commander of the Sky Rider battalion, becoming the second Israeli woman to be appointed commander of a combat unit. The first was Major Oshrat Bachar, who was appointed in 2014.

Such news may give the impression that the IDF is persistently advancing, if somewhat slowly, towards a decisive goal of gender equality.…  Seguir leyendo »

Female and male US Marine recruits listen to instructions during boot camp at MCRD Parris Island. Photo by Getty Images.

EuropaUnión EuropeaDefensa y Seguridad, ,

Prime Minister David Cameron announced at the recent NATO summit in Warsaw that the ban on women serving in ground close combat roles in the British armed forces is to be lifted. The announcement follows a recommendation from Chief of the General Staff General Sir Nick Carter and extensive research into the physiological risks to women serving in such roles, and brings the UK in line with its major allies.

While the decision is a welcome one, it marks the beginning of what will need to be a well-managed process to ensure that the integration of women into ground close combat roles is a success.…  Seguir leyendo »

Female officer cadets at the Sovereign's parade at Sandhurst. Photo by Getty Images.

EuropaUnión EuropeaDefensa y Seguridad, ,

Canada has recently appointed their first female general from the combat arms trade. The UK meanwhile is yet to take the decision to allow women to serve in ground close combat roles, and while a decision is expected in 2016, it is still yet to actually be made. When that decision is finally taken, it will mark an important milestone for the British army, as it continues to adjust to meet both the operational requirements of today and the values and expectations of the society it serves.

There are clear advantages to broadening the recruitment pool, as without a diverse pool of talent from which to draw, the army risks being hampered by how effectively it can engage and operate at all levels.…  Seguir leyendo »

Then-U.S. Army 1st Lt. Kirsten Griest, center, and fellow soldiers participate in combatives training during the Ranger Course on Fort Benning, Ga., in April. (Spc. Nikayla Shodeen/U.S. Army/Reuters)

MundoAmérica, ,

Last week, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter directed that all jobs in the U.S. military be opened to women. The announcement provoked strong reactions, but all sides concurred that we cannot let our standards fall or force quotas on our combat units. As an Army officer, a combat veteran and one of the first three women to graduate from U.S. Army Ranger School, I strongly agree.

The critics worry about strength and stamina, often comparing infantry units to professional sports teams. But just as a successful football team needs a smart quarterback, fast receivers, strong linemen and talented special teams, our war fighters must dominate all aspects of the battle space.…  Seguir leyendo »

A Victory for Women at War

MundoAmérica, ,

The announcement this week by Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter that all combat roles in the United States military would officially be open to women is, without question, a victory. News of the decision was a thrill for me and thousands of other women who have served and continue to serve over the past 14 years in “support” roles in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of whom enthusiastically volunteered, as I did, for positions that put us in the middle of conflict.

In Iraq, I was attached as a turret gunner to a military police unit that specialized in convoy security, during a period of high risk for I.E.D.…  Seguir leyendo »

The Real Barrier for Women Marines

MundoAmérica, ,

In her role as leader of the Marine Corps’ all-women boot camp at Parris Island, S.C., Lt. Col. Kate Germano was known as a demanding and at times blunt commander. She was also effective. Under her leadership, performance in physical fitness and rifle tests improved significantly, and so did retention rates for female recruits. Colonel Germano drove her recruits based on the belief that women would not be taken seriously as Marines until they could meet the same performance standards as men. That belief is widespread, and it is ingrained in Marine culture.

But on June 30, after complaints from some recruits about her aggressive leadership tactics, and conflicts with her own commanders, Colonel Germano was removed by her superior, Brig.…  Seguir leyendo »

When Black Hair Is Against the Rules

MundoAmérica, ,

America has always had trouble with black hair. The United States Army is only the latest in a long line of institutions, corporations and schools to restrict it. On March 31, the Army released an updated appearance and grooming policy, known as AR 670-1. It applies to all Army personnel, including students at West Point and those serving in the R.O.T.C. and the National Guard.

No distinctions are made for race or ethnicity, only gender, in that the regulations regarding hair are divided between women and men. But it’s not hard to infer that certain sections pertain specifically to black women, since they refer to hairstyles like cornrows, braids, twists and dreadlocks, severely limiting or banning them outright.…  Seguir leyendo »

EuropaUnión EuropeaDefensa y Seguridad, ,

Of all the hard-gotten rights that have been, or are about to be, granted to women, I'll confess that the ability to kill an enemy at close quarters is not one that has preoccupied me much. Joining the army was never on the agenda, and in general my friends' interest in soldiering is limited to the sexual – "I'm one marine away from joining a choir," said one recently, though I'm not sure if Gareth Malone's singing military wives would accept the unmarried and promiscuous. Nevertheless, there are thousands of women who want to be soldiers who will be pleased that their options may be about to expand.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica,

The injury wasn’t new, and neither was the insult. Rebecca, a combat veteran of two tours of duty, had been waiting at the V.A. hospital for close to an hour when the office manager asked if she was there to pick up her husband.

No, she said, fighting back her exasperation. She was there because of a spinal injury she sustained while fighting in Afghanistan.

Women have served in the American military in some capacity for 400 years. They’ve deployed alongside men as soldiers in three wars, and since the 1990s, a significant number of them are training, fighting and returning from combat.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica, ,

At his confirmation hearing on Jan. 31, Chuck Hagel, President Obama’s nominee for defense secretary, stated unequivocally, “I will work with the service chiefs as we officially open combat positions to women, a decision I strongly support.”

The word “officially” was illuminating: a subtle acknowledgment, whether intended or not, that women have already been fighting, and dying, in combat roles.

As an Army veteran — I left in 1990, with an honorable discharge — I was struck by the close, if indirect, association between the role of women in the military and that of gays.

More than 20 years ago, when President-elect Bill Clinton first announced that he would lift the ban on gay men and lesbians serving in the armed forces, I wrote an essay for the Op-Ed page of this newspaper, urging that women be permitted to serve in ground-force combat duty in the Army and the Marines, with “tough but fair physical and mental standards” that men and women alike would have to reach.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica, ,

In the coming years, lifting the ban on women in combat, announced Thursday by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, might prove particularly challenging in the most iconic of military occupations -- the infantry, among the most physically demanding and tradition-bound branches of the Marines and the Army.

Determining the best path forward to integrate women into this elite group will require hard-nosed honesty, careful management and compelling leadership.

For the 65 years that women have enjoyed a permanent place in the United States military, they have been subject to restrictions. One rationale is the notion embedded in our culture that women should be shielded from great physical risks.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica, ,

On Thursday, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta announced that the Obama administration would allow women to be placed in positions that will expose them more directly to fighting with enemy ground forces. It is said that this will allow women to fill hundreds of thousands of combat roles from which they are currently excluded. Substantively, this is a poor idea. Furthermore, the decision-making process used to bring this change about is deeply flawed.

America's ongoing war against terror-supporting states and terror networks, commenced after 9/11, has seen an increased combat role for women in the U.S. armed forces. According to recent news accounts, more than 800 have been wounded and more than 130 have died.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica, ,

Ten years ago, as I prepared to take part in the invasion of Iraq, I never thought women would be allowed to serve in combat jobs in the U.S. military, at least not in my lifetime. To be honest, I wasn’t even sure it was a good idea.

Some of my male comrades in the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) had even clearer thoughts on the question. They told me, sometimes to my face, that I didn’t belong in the military at all, much less in a combat zone. Women serving in the infantry was simply anathema to them.

Then we crossed the berm into Iraq and drove into Baghdad.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica, ,

Top defense officials are grappling to find a unified position on whether to allow women in direct ground combat, as the Pentagon prepares a landmark report to Congress on the military's coed future.

In the wake of two wars in which women have exchanged fire with the enemy, the Pentagon is being pressed to scrap the ban on women serving below the brigade level in units whose main mission is direct ground combat. That means women may not be infantry members or Green Berets.

"It is the subject of ongoing discussions but not yet fully resolved," a senior Pentagon official said when asked whether Army Gen.…  Seguir leyendo »

MundoAmérica, ,

By this time next year, U.S. troops will have been in Afghanistan longer than the Soviets were. The United States has been engaged in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq longer than in any previous war. Not factoring in the increase in soldiers going to Afghanistan that President Obama announced last week, some 220,000 American women have engaged in combat operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In the past eight years, more than 2 million U.S. servicemen and servicewomen have served together in situations and for durations that have never existed in previous conflicts. Whatever issues remain to be resolved, the feared "disasters" did not materialize.…  Seguir leyendo »

ReflexionesSocial,

Everyone in the country must have been touched and saddened last week after Corporal Sarah Bryant’s death on duty in Afghanistan by photographs all over the media of her wedding day three years ago. She looked luminously young and pretty, in a fairy story wedding dress, with her handsome soldier husband beside her and her life ahead of her.

The death of any soldier is a terrible loss; all the massed photographs of the young men and women who have died have been painful to look at, as has the news footage of coffins coming home and families struggling with their grief at funerals all over the country.…  Seguir leyendo »

EspañaDefensa,

Este trabajo examina la incorporación de las mujeres en las Fuerzas Armadas (FFAA) españolas. Desde un punto de vista teórico, el estudio se enmarca dentro de las discusiones acerca de la participación de las mujeres en las instituciones militares y de las diversas teorías sobre los factores que influyen y explican este proceso. Además, el examen empírico del caso español se contextualiza en términos comparados con información general relativa a la feminización de las fuerzas militares de los países de la OTAN y más particularmente del caso de EEUU. A la luz de la política de incorporación femenina a las FFAA españolas se concluye que desde un punto de vista institucional el proceso se encuentra básicamente completado y además con un porcentaje de feminización de los más altos entre los países miembros de la OTAN.…  Seguir leyendo »