Military women: Justice and governments leverage action – 02/03/2024 – Power

On January 2, 2001, a group of 244 women entered the German Armed Forces with an opportunity that had never been seen before in the country: to train in the military to perform combat roles, those responsible for the front line in armed conflicts.

The possibility of them taking up arms occurred after the European Court of Justice, in Luxembourg, decided, the previous year, that the German Basic Law (equivalent to the Federal Constitution) should be reassessed in the sections in which it prohibited the participation of women in functions. military combatants, such as Infantry and Cavalry weapons.

Four years after removing bans on women in the Armed Forces, Germany approved the Soldier Equalization Law, whose initial objectives were to guarantee the presence of at least 15% of women in each career in the German forces and above 50% in the health service.

International experience shows that the inclusion of women in combat roles (in military jargon called weapons), with advances consolidated since the 2000s, was promoted by political decisions by governments or legal processes.

In Brazil, the Armed Forces have the freedom to define which weapons women can serve and how many positions they can apply for. In view of the discussion on the topic in action opened in 2023 at the STF (Supreme Federal Court), the Army has defended the veto of women in combat arms because “female physiology, reflected in the execution of specific tasks in the combat zone, can compromise the military performance in combat operations depending on the operational environment.”

The Brazilian Army prohibits women from entering arms such as Cavalry, Infantry, Artillery and Engineering. The soldiers who enter these roles are responsible for occupying the front line in the event of a battle, bringing weapons and armor into the confrontation, or supporting actions with cannons and building improvised bridges.

The Air Force maintains vetoes on female participation in the Infantry, responsible for ground combat. The Brazilian Navy does not have formal vetoes, but systematically prevents women from entering certain careers by not opening up places for them in courses, such as marines.

In the United States, in 2013, then-president Barack Obama overturned a ban imposed by the Pentagon that prevented women from serving in the Armed Forces’ first line of combat.

“By opening positions in military ground combat units to women today, our Armed Forces took a historic step toward leveraging the talents and skills of all our citizens,” Obama said in a statement issued by the White House at the time.

The American Forces already had 15% of women in its force of around 1.4 million people. Even with the doors open, they faced a series of restrictions, such as the ban on being combatants.

The change only came into effect in 2016, when places were opened at military academies to train women in the Infantry, Artillery and Cavalry weapons, as well as careers in the Special Forces and Marines — despite resistance from the chief of the Marines, General Joseph Dunford, who claimed that co-ed units were not as capable as all-male units.

Currently, the USA has female generals in high positions in the military hierarchy. General Laura Richardson, for example, is the first woman to head the United States Southern Command — the unit responsible for carrying out military operations in South America, Central America and the Caribbean.

President Joe Biden also chose Admiral Lisa Franchetti to command the United States Navy in 2023, making her the first woman to join the elite group of military officers that make up the country’s Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The United Kingdom, one of the 30 nations that make up NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization), even carried out studies to exclude women from close combat roles between 2002 and 2010. During this period, female participation was prohibited in infantry arms. of the Regiments of the Royal Armed Corps.

In 2018, the then Minister of Defense, Gavin Williamson, a civilian politician and member of the Conservative Party, announced the British government’s decision to authorize women to join the Infantry, removing the last imposed gender barrier.

“From today, for the first time in its history, our Armed Forces will be determined by their ability alone, and not by their gender,” said Williamson when announcing the overturn of the veto.

The most emblematic case is that of Israel. The country is one of the few in the world that recruits women at the age of 18 for mandatory military service. The issue of women serving on the front lines pitted ultraconservative rabbis and religious soldiers against feminists and secularists.

Israel has experienced decades of decisions from its Supreme Court that challenged the military high command to balance operational needs with the principles of equal rights and opportunities.

For Lieutenant General Herzi Halevi, Chief of Staff of the Army, the war against Hamas has been a demonstration that there is no longer any point in defending arguments against female participation on the front lines of combat.

“Action and struggle speak louder than words,” Halevi said after the October 7 terrorist attacks, according to a report in The New York Times. .

The Israeli Army opens 90% of its positions to women. They remain excluded from front-line combat roles in the main infantry units and other more elite command units, which usually operate in enemy territory during war.

In recent years, women have represented about 18% of the Army’s combat force. “Everyone is using the phrase ‘the debate is over,'” said Idit Shafran Gittleman, director of the military and society program at Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies, also in a report by The New York Times.

“Women contribute to security, they do not diminish security.”

The government of Cristina Kirchner, in Argentina, ordered the Armed Forces in 2011 to suspend the ban on women joining the Infantry and Cavalry arms — excluding the last vetoes that persisted against the female presence in the military.

“It’s almost ironic that I am the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces and that women cannot join certain weapons due to their gender status,” Kirchner said at the time, during a ceremony at Argentina’s military academy.

The president’s decision culminated in a resolution by the Army’s Chief of General Staff, which eliminated gender restrictions for all weapons, and women’s entry was allowed in 2013.

Since 1992, Portugal has accepted that women enter military academies to compete for positions in all arms and services, as officers and enlisted personnel; France authorized their entry in 1983 for the first time, and female participation and recruitment percentages grew from 1985 onwards.

China maintains vetoes against women, especially in senior military ranks and elite groups of the Armed Forces. In 2018, Wei Huixiao became the first female captain in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy, responsible for commanding crews.

South Korea, which is in a permanent state of conflict alert with North Korea, gradually removed the last restrictions on the entry of women into combat arms as of 2017.

The country even promoted debates in 2021 on the inclusion of women in mandatory military service, after presidential candidate Park Yong-jin suggested that it would only be possible to promote gender equality if women were forced to serve the country militarily.

“The debate about women serving in the Armed Forces has not come from trying to achieve gender equality, but from voices that are calling on women to experience the same disadvantages as men,” said then-Gender Equality Minister Chung Young- there to the Bloomberg agency.