TORONTO (CP) - Canadian women can take up arms, fight alongside male colleagues and as was learned tragically this week in Afghanistan die in combat, but experts say that's not the case around the world.
"In Western countries, for example, there have always been roles for women," said David Rudd, president of the Canadian Institute for Strategic Studies.
"Mostly these have been confined to things up to and including what are called combat-support roles."
In Canada, the roles of women began to expand in 1971 and the military gradually opened up opportunities in such non-traditional areas as military policing and firefighting.
In 1989, a human-rights tribunal ordered the military to remove any remaining employment restrictions based on sex, with the exception of submarine duty.
Today, Canadian women can enter any combat occupation and serve in any environment.
"I'm not sure if many other Western countries allow women into the army combat arms," Rudd said in an interview Thursday.
"We do. They don't in the States and they don't in the United Kingdom."
Historians and military experts note that the Soviet Army employed a large number of women during the Second World War, including Rudd said, all-female units.
In Israel, conscription for women is compulsory but Galen Perras, a University of Ottawa history professor, said "they're very loathe to put women in combat units."
"That went back to some bad experiences in the War of Independence when some female soldiers were killed, raped and mutilated," said Perras, who also taught at the Royal Military College in Kingston and worked as a strategic analyst at National Defence Headquarters.
There are currently 7,990 women in Canada's military and another 4,800 with reserve units - about 15 per cent of the 62,087 total forces.
Among them was Capt. Nichola Goddard, who became the first female Canadian soldier to die in a front-line combat role when she was killed Wednesday during a firefight with Taliban fighters west of Kandahar.
The United Nations says, traditionally, women have not been active in armed forces and in some countries are often denied the right to enlist. Perras said those countries are largely in the Middle East.
"You have countries like Saudi Arabia that don't allow women to drive without their husbands or fathers in the car," said Perras. "They would not have women in the military."
The UN noted a number of countries have taken steps to increase the number of women in their armed forces.
In Denmark, legislation has been enacted to allow women to be recruited under the same conditions as men. Norway introduced specific targets for the recruitment of women into the armed forces.
As recently as March 2006, the UN's gender adviser for the Department of Peacekeeping Operations said only one per cent of all military personnel in peacekeeping were women - or 746 women and 63,862 men. Women comprised only four per cent of the police in peacekeeping, or 314 worldwide, as compared to 7,418 men.
The department was asking countries to both recruit more women and deploy more of them in their services, but Perras said that could be slow to come.
"Militaries are very conservative organizations - they don't change easily," said Perras.
http://start.shaw.ca/start/enCA/News/NationalNewsArticle.htm?src=n0518125A.xml
15 may not be alot to some, it may be alot compared to what the occupation is but this is a good sign compared to alot of militaries western, Islamic or otherwise even the U.N who don't come close.
Anyone else have comments??
"In Western countries, for example, there have always been roles for women," said David Rudd, president of the Canadian Institute for Strategic Studies.
"Mostly these have been confined to things up to and including what are called combat-support roles."
In Canada, the roles of women began to expand in 1971 and the military gradually opened up opportunities in such non-traditional areas as military policing and firefighting.
In 1989, a human-rights tribunal ordered the military to remove any remaining employment restrictions based on sex, with the exception of submarine duty.
Today, Canadian women can enter any combat occupation and serve in any environment.
"I'm not sure if many other Western countries allow women into the army combat arms," Rudd said in an interview Thursday.
"We do. They don't in the States and they don't in the United Kingdom."
Historians and military experts note that the Soviet Army employed a large number of women during the Second World War, including Rudd said, all-female units.
In Israel, conscription for women is compulsory but Galen Perras, a University of Ottawa history professor, said "they're very loathe to put women in combat units."
"That went back to some bad experiences in the War of Independence when some female soldiers were killed, raped and mutilated," said Perras, who also taught at the Royal Military College in Kingston and worked as a strategic analyst at National Defence Headquarters.
There are currently 7,990 women in Canada's military and another 4,800 with reserve units - about 15 per cent of the 62,087 total forces.
Among them was Capt. Nichola Goddard, who became the first female Canadian soldier to die in a front-line combat role when she was killed Wednesday during a firefight with Taliban fighters west of Kandahar.
The United Nations says, traditionally, women have not been active in armed forces and in some countries are often denied the right to enlist. Perras said those countries are largely in the Middle East.
"You have countries like Saudi Arabia that don't allow women to drive without their husbands or fathers in the car," said Perras. "They would not have women in the military."
The UN noted a number of countries have taken steps to increase the number of women in their armed forces.
In Denmark, legislation has been enacted to allow women to be recruited under the same conditions as men. Norway introduced specific targets for the recruitment of women into the armed forces.
As recently as March 2006, the UN's gender adviser for the Department of Peacekeeping Operations said only one per cent of all military personnel in peacekeeping were women - or 746 women and 63,862 men. Women comprised only four per cent of the police in peacekeeping, or 314 worldwide, as compared to 7,418 men.
The department was asking countries to both recruit more women and deploy more of them in their services, but Perras said that could be slow to come.
"Militaries are very conservative organizations - they don't change easily," said Perras.
http://start.shaw.ca/start/enCA/News/NationalNewsArticle.htm?src=n0518125A.xml
15 may not be alot to some, it may be alot compared to what the occupation is but this is a good sign compared to alot of militaries western, Islamic or otherwise even the U.N who don't come close.
Anyone else have comments??
