by Christine Olsson

A selection of studies have proved that women in armies, in comparison to men, obtain more physical injuries while undergoing training and mental illness have occurred more frequently while serving. Whether female soldiers are equally suitable for serving in combat as men has become a controversial topic.

The British army is practicing a gender free policy which was adopted in 1998, meaning that men and women applicants undergoes the same physical training and the women are expected to reach equal fitness level as men during the same amount of time. A study carried out of the army occupational physician Lt Col Ian Gemmell, showed that the percentage of women with overuse injuries such as, stress fractures, tendonitis and back pain, rose from 4.6% (1997-1998) to 11.1% (1998-1999) while such injuries remained below 1.5% in men. 

Furthermore, studies in the United States made by the US Ministry of Defense claim that there has been a higher rate of women with mental health illness. Of the 868 patients who served in Iraq or Afghanistan and was treated between October and December 2007 double the amount of women than men suffered from mental disorders.

Alongside these facts are researchers who are saying that it is still too early to say whether these numbers are related to gender. The Iraq war is the first war where their has been a significant number of women in the armed forces. Due to this, the time passed after serving abroad and the time to readjust to the life in the home country is crucial to be able to evaluate the statistics of female soldiers serving in the above-mentioned countries, says researchers. 

However, additional studies have found that commonly occurring sexual abuse and harassment within the army might result in mental illness. Entering a male dominant work place, women face unanticipated challenges. In the army it is sexual molestation which has become a serious problem. Sexual violations come to be a big threat while in captivity, which furthermore, has also occurred from fellow soldiers. 11% of the US army are female, out of these, nearly a third of the veterans say they were sexually assaulted or raped while in the military and 71% to 90% say that they were sexually harassed by the men they served with. Sexual abuse by it self increases the risk and intensity of post traumatic stress disorder. A study showed that female soldiers who were sexually assaulted were nine times more likely to show symptoms of this disorder. 

In Britain before the first World War most women worked in the home or within occupations that were considered “women’s work,” such as, domestic service, textile manufacturing industries or clothing trades. However, women became a necessity during World War I and II since a large population of men were on battle fields. The shortage of workers within various industries that were not considered “women’s work” became dependent on the work of women. Women also worked for the army in munitions factories, offices and large hangars that were used to build aircraft also knitting socks and preparing hampers for the soldiers on the front. Nursing was the main occupation that exposed women to the horror of war.

It has been a long journey for women fighting for equal rights and opportunities in our society. In some cases the differences have been more justified, for example in the Olympic games and other sport events, where women and men are segregated due to gender. This matter is self-evident to many while several armies around the world; not only countries that has armed forces serving in the war in middle-east, but also nations such as, New Zealand, Germany and several of the Scandinavian countries, have women to fight on equal levels with men in combat. The discussion whether women has the sufficient physical strength is disputed. The center for Military Readiness stated that, “Female soldiers are on average, shorter and smaller than men, with 45-50% less upper body strength and 25-30% less aerobic capacity, which is essential for endurance.”

Israeli Dan Halili, 19, does not believe that the army stands for equality between men and women in spite the equal treatment and training. She fought against the national army when she refused to attend the compulsory military service based on feminist rejection of militarism. “The army is an organization whose most fundamental values cannot be brought in harmony with feminist values,” Halili wrote in her request for exemption. Furthermore, she argues that: “military service is incompatible with feminist ideology on several levels; because of hierarchal, male favoring army structure; because the army distorts gender roles; because of sexual harassment within the army; and because of an equation between military and domestic violence.”  

Halili got acquitted on the basis that holding such views within feminism, she would be unfit to serve in the military.

Other feministic beliefs has been brought into the light by Kim Gandy. Gandy is president of the National Organization for Women, NOW. NOW is one of the largest feminist groups in the US. They are aiming to bring women into full participation in societies and to fight for equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities as men. “There is no job that women should be excluded from because of their gender. If you can do the job, you should have an opportunity to get the job. If you can’t, you shouldn’t be there, male or female,” says Gandy.