Not only do the roles of women in the armed forces need to change — the forces themselves must adapt to meet the needs of the times.
The Army is to reconsider its restriction on allowing females to fight as infantry soldiers, according to its chief, General Sir Peter Wall.
Canada, Australia, the US and Germany now allow women in combat infantry. In the British Army, females can join frontline units as part of the engineers, artillery, intelligence and medic teams. Sometimes it has taken them into the forefront of battle.
Their service has been recognised with awards for gallantry. The RAF and Royal Navy have lifted restrictions on women’s service almost across the board: female fighter pilots have seen action for years now, and the first women submariners are about to go on active duty.
To imagine that the principal fruit of Sir Peter’s rethink will be women Grenadiers guarding Buckingham Palace, or female Paras or SAS troopers, would be to miss the point. The notion of what is and isn’t the frontline has become blurred, says Sir Peter. The balance between units with high technical skill and the general infantry is changing rapidly.
There is a huge demand for specialists in cyber-warfare, for which the Army is now actively recruiting women. It has been argued that women lack the upper body strength for combat infantry skills such as bayonet use. For similar reasons they have been restricted from commando and special forces. It has also been claimed mixed gender combat teams tend to be less cohesive. But women have fought and worked alongside men in desperate and dangerous situations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Army knows its recruiting and training must reflect British society today. After Iraq and Afghanistan, it is going through a huge restructuring, also brought on by government cuts. Much will depend on a much greater, more equal role for women. In proposing we need to get on with this, Sir Peter is surely right.
