Women in Military in Europe and Asian - Research Paper Example

? Women in Military in Europe and Asian When it comes to women and military service, European countries is said to have had unstable policies concerning the participation of women in the military force. While most of the countries allow their women to be involved in military services, some of countries are beginning to awake on the value of having service women when the World War began as they started losing unexpected number servicemen. It is said that most of them starting accepting women as clerks, then it evolved to drivers, and after some years, they started to be involved in large artillery operators. Presently almost all the European countries accept their women to take part in fulltime active duty, barely with any restrictions at all. This paper looks into a few countries in Europe who accepts women in their military. Denmark While other delayed to employee their women in military force, Denmark employed women in the Danish armed forces as early as 1934 with the Women’s Army Corps, Ground Observer Corps, and Danish and Naval Corps in the year 1946 and the Women’s Air Force as at 1953. During the early1962, Danish parliament enacted a laws allowing female gender to volunteer in the basis Danish armed forces only if they failed to serve in departments requiring direct combat. However1971 saw most women enlistment as un-commissioned officers, with most military academies in the country accepting females in 1974(Holm 83). Based on the research findings in 1978, women were accepted in virtually all sectors of the Danish armed forces, alongside combat trials during the 1980s making use of the ability of female in combat. It however become clear in 1998, from the government who passed a law allowing women to trial military life similar to the enrolled men, though devoid of being entirely open to recruitment. Female in the Danish military were under the command of Chief Defense (Bello 136). As t the year 2009 July, the highest rank ever attained by a female gender in the Danish armed forces was Colonel, Susanne Bach Bager, Telegrafregimentet, having with it at least 5.3% (842) females serving: 503 privates; 154 officers, and 186 NCOs, exclusive of women serving as conscripts (Solaro 43). Compared to other European nations accepting female gender in their armed forces, with Denmark the basis of evaluation of females as fit for the military job is very different, that is the basic physical necessities for women and their male counterparts in their military forces, nonetheless the necessities are a little bit more physically demanding than just the sex of the person in service. Finland According to Commemorative Coin Program, (78) the Finnish Defense Forces, did not conscript women. but, during the 199os, women aged between 18 and 30 years, were accepted as volunteers to undertake the military service both in the Defense Forces and in the Border Guard. Women were however not given any special treatment instead they served under the same physical conditions as their men counterparts, the only expectation was that, as for the women, They were given an option to leave the forces within the first 45 without any consequences. Failure of which, they had to finish the service that took at least 6 months to one year. Thereafter the women would face the same military duty as their male counterparts. Should a woman in service at the national service experiences any meticulous catastrophe, preventing her from competently doing her military reserve obligations, the women would be reshuffled to another civilian service, which lasted for at least one year 12(Shin 167). It was clear that virtual all the units and services both Finnish Border Guard and the country’s defense accepted females. However while in the garrison environment, women had separate rooms supplied with separate bath facilities and toilet. While in aboard ships and exercises, females were lodged with men. As an incentive, the females in the military service are given an extra allowance of up to €0, 50 per diem to cater for their smallclothes and sanitary articles. The women in service are more often well motivated and at least 59% of them more often than not receive a reserve officer training or NCO. According to () every year, at least 500 females do complete their voluntary military service, whilst around 30,000 men clear the obligatory conscription France During the 1800s, French was mainly composed of women only responsible for preparing food for the soldiers, (Cantinieres). Women sold meals to the military outside that which was given as rations. They earned commissions from their respective regiments and administrators, and it was a requirement for them to be married to a combatant of regiment. Women however served close to the front lines on very energetic campaigns, in fact, most of them served for more than 20 years (Assessing Readiness in Military Women 86). According to Assessing Readiness in Military Women (657) the females in the French military had grow in the year 1914 with the conscription of most of them as medical personnel. And in the year 1939, women got the authority to enroll with armed service and in the year 1972 the women status elevated to sharing similar ranks with the men. However, women were still not allowed to join the combat units or being aboard with the submarines of French navy. It is however evident recently that, women comprise of at least 14% of the entire service personnel in the combined department of the military. It has observed that women are around 12% for the Navy 10%,50% of the Medical Corps, 12% of the Army forces, and 21% of the Air Force, Making it the highest proportion of female in the military in the whole Europe (Donaldson 190). In Asia on women were not utilized until the World War II, which of cause saw about 300,000, women served in the military. They performed a variety of roles, including medical and administrative jobs, as well as being pilot, truck drivers, plane mechanics, air traffic controller, naval air navigators, metal smiths and electricians (Donaldson 96). The importance and reverberations of involving women in this decision would be felt throughout the twentieth century. Service policy and subsequent legislation explicitly prevent women from volunteering for performing combat roles, or, in the case women in the World War II navy, from serving in the overseas combat areas. The army however thought the letter was permissible; many WACs were assigned to job overseas during the World War II(Nolan 187). Rather than engaging combat herself, it felt that the important role in the military in the World War II was to “free a man a fight”; that is to perform a support role in the military so that a man could be release to perform combat role. This particular belief had actually began with the first use of uniformed women in line specialties two decades earlier, but it come into its own during the world war II and was a frequently used recruiting technique until its effectiveness was undercut by resentment on the part of both men and women. Even though its overt use was discounted, the idea itself persisted (Blank 143). Meanwhile, the issues about women and the draft continued to surface. The Soviet Union and the great Britain, Korea, Japan, and some Asian countries were conscripting women as well as men and were using both in combat roles. At that same time, Asian men were being drafted for the armed forces under selective training and service Act of 1940 while women in the Asian armed forces were volunteers (Assessing Readiness in Military Women 896). With the “free man fight” strategy, the impetus was not utilizing women in combat roles, but using them to fill personnel shortages in the other areas, especially in the medical and support roles. Attempts to address severe needs in these areas were reflected in three formal proposals for a draft of women; in 1942 within the war department (to draft a half a million women per year for the next three years); in 1944 when the legislation was introduced into the congress to draft unemployed single women of the age 20 to 35 rather than draft older married women (fathers in specific); and in 1945 when the nurses selective Bill passed the house (Holm 87). Even though there appeared to be public support for the idea, about 78% of the Asian believed that single women ought to be drafted before any more fathers were drafted, and even single women agreed by three to one majority, this legislation however was not enacted (Shin 67). Fueled by the Berlin crisis in 1948, the major piece of legislation regarding women and their roles within the military that did not become law during this period came after the close of the World War II. Despite the record of women’s service, the debate in the congress continued over their status “vis-a-vis” the military (Nolan 87). The major ideology breakthrough regarding women and the military that come about during the World War II were that women could be in the armed forces, in fact be in uniform and have military ranks, and their contribution could be important and continuing ones. Though, this institutionalized and continued contribution of women contained an important caveat; their numbers and roles in the military were to be limited. What was needed was a small group of Asian a women, established and on board in all military services, which could serve as the basis for expansion of womanpower in the event of another national emergency (Blank 43). The Integration act of the year 1948, by the Public Law, the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act, was thus an important legislative and ideological turning point in several ways, whatever the reason behind it, a mobilization base for womanpower was a primary idea, the law established for the first time a permanent role of women in the nation’s armed forces. This institutionalization of the roles meant that women would never again be mobilized and then immediately discharged following a war or crisis while men continued to serve at all times (Donaldson 90). Yet while this act established the role of women in the military as a continuing one, it also set the boundaries of that role. It imposed a 2 percent ceiling on the number of women line colonel or Navy Captain, excluded women entirely from flag rank, general or admiral, established that women’s promotion list would be separate from men’s for all services except air force, set differing enlistment standards and dependency entitlement for men and women (Bello 36). Although the idea of women as generals and admirals was not an entirely new one, it was not a particularly popular one at the time. Public Law 90 -130 nevertheless allowed for increased promotional opportunities, and the first promotion of women to brigadier general happened in 1970. The total number of woman who has been promoted to general admirals since the law first permitted in 1967 has been minuscule. Works Cited Shin, Gi-Wook. Rethinking Historical Injustice and Reconciliation in Northeast Asia: The Korean Experience. London: Routledge, 2007. Internet resource. Blank, Stephen. Central Asian Security Trends: Views from Europe and Russia. Carlisle, Pa: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College, 2011. Internet resource. Bello, Valeria. A Global Security Triangle: European, African and Asian Interaction. London: Routledge, 2010. Print. Donaldson, Robert H. The Soviet Union in the Third World: Successes and Failures. Boulder, Colo: Westview Press, 1981. Print. Nolan, Janne E. Global Engagement: Cooperation and Security in the 21st Century. Washington, D.C: Brookings Institution, 1994. Print. Holm, Jeanne. Women in the Military: An Unfinished Revolution. Novato, CA: Presidio Press, 1992. Print. Commemorative Coin Program: Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation, Inc. Washington, D.C. (P.O. Box 37050, Washington, D.C. 20013: The Office, 1997. Print. Assessing Readiness in Military Women: The Relationship of Body Composition, Nutrition, and Health. Washington, D.C: National Academy Press, 1998. Internet resource. Solaro, Erin. Women in the Line of Fire: What You Should Know About Women in the Military. Emeryville, CA: Seal Press, 2006. Print. Read More