(For the sources of the information in this part of the lesson, see the bibliography at

the end of this unit.)

Introduction
Women in the military have a history that extends over 4,000 years into the past,
throughout a vast number of cultures and nations. Women have played many roles in the
military, from ancient warrior women, to the women currently serving in conflicts.
Amazon warriors
The Amazon women warriors were often considered a myth. In these stories it was said
they mated randomly and raised only healthy female children. Riding horses they galloped to
war against Greeks.. Evidence has been found these warriors did exist. Recent burial finds in the
Don River area seem to confirm the accounts of Herodotus an ancient historian.
Queen Boudicca
Queen Boudicca ruled the Icini tribe in Britain at a time the Romans invaded the island.
The Celtic queen gathered an army of over one hundred thousand do drive the Romans out. The
warriors following Queen Boudicca included both men and women. She attacked the towns
under enemy rule and slaughtered the inhabitants. When she faced a great battle against the
Romans, her army became caught between the enemy and the chaos of carts, milling horses, and
cattle. Her army was slaughtered.
Women Gladiators were common from the time of Nero until 200 AD. They owned the
finest weapons and trained diligently at martial arts. Some came as slaves hoping to win their
freedom; while others were upper-class Roman women looking for excitement.

Figure represents a type of Roman gladiators – woman “Venator”

Joan of Arc was a seventeen year old peasant girl who lived in the village of Domremy
France. She rode forth from Chinon with a convoy of six thousand troops. Striking swiftly and
hard against the English forts, she raged a siege on Orleans and proceeded to Reims where
Charles was to be crowned king of France.
Despite various roles in the armies of past societies, the role of women in the military,
particularly in combat, is controversial and only recently women have begun to be given a more
prominent role in contemporary armed forces. As increasing numbers of countries begin to
expand the role of women in their militaries, the debate continues.
Female allowance to serve active duty
From the beginning of the 1970s, most Western armies began to admit women to serve
active duty. Only some of them permit women to fill active combat roles, including New
Zealand, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Israel, Serbia, Sweden and
Switzerland. Other nations allow female soldiers to serve in certain Combat Arms positions, such
as India.
Turkey used female officers in combat flying (bombardment) missions over Northern Iraq
and in ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) patrol missions in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Pakistan employs women in Air Force and has used female fighter pilots in search, monitoring
and bombardment operations in her war against militancy.
Arguments for and against women serving in the military
Several points have been put forward by those in favor of women serving in combat
conditions as well as those against the idea.
Physical concerns
The female skeletal system is less dense, and more prone to breakages. There was also
concern that, in aviation, the female body is not as adept at handling the increased g-forces
experienced by combat pilots; in fact, there is now evidence that the male body is less able to
handle the g-forces than the female body: women are less likely to black out due to shorter blood
vessel routes in the neck. Furthermore, health issues regarding women are argued as the reason
that some submarine services avoid accepting women, although mixed-gender accommodations
in a small space is also an issue. The traditionalist 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”.
However, an article in the Army Times, July 29, 1996, states that some women do possess
the physical attributes suitable to become combat soldiers.
Psychological concerns
The disruption of a combat unit’s esprit de corps is cited as another reason for women to be
banned from front-line combat situations. Indeed, many soldiers have stated that they could not
trust a woman to perform her duties in a place where trusting their fellow soldier would be
critical.
There is a secondary concern that romantic relationships between men and women on the front
lines could disrupt a unit’s fighting capability and a fear that a high number of women would
deliberately become pregnant in order to escape combat duties.
There is also the argument that by not incorporating women into combat, the American
government is failing to tap into another source of soldiers for military combat operations. This
argument claims that the government is creating a military that treats women as second-class
citizens and not equals of men. Other observers state that without women, the military would
have numerous manpower shortfalls they would not be able to fill.
Tactical concerns
In On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society, Lt. Col.
Dave Grossman briefly mentions that female soldiers in the Israel Defense Forces have been
officially prohibited from serving in close combat military operations since 1948. (However, in
2001, subsequent to publication, women did begin serving in IDF (The Israel Defense Forces)
combat units on an experimental basis.) The reason for removing female soldiers from the front
lines is no reflection on the performance of female soldiers, but that of the male infantrymen
after witnessing a woman wounded. The IDF saw a complete loss of control over soldiers who
apparently experienced an uncontrollable, protective, instinctual aggression.
Grossman also notes that Islamic militants rarely, if ever, surrender to female soldiers. In
modern warfare where intelligence is perhaps more important than enemy casualties, every
factor reducing combatants' willingness to fight has to be considered. Similarly, Iraqi and Afghan
civilians are often not intimidated by female soldiers. However, in such environments, having
female soldiers serving within a combat unit does have the advantage of allowing for searches on
female civilians, and, in some cases, the female areas of segregated mosques, while causing less
offense amongst the occupied population. A notable example of this would be female United
States military personnel who are specially selected to participate in patrols and raids for this
purpose. One example of this type of unit is the USMC (United States Marine Corps) Lioness
program, which used female Marines to search females at checkpoints both on the Iraq-Syrian
border and inside urban areas. Another example is the US Army Cultural Support Teams (CSTs).
These units, designed to accompany special operations teams and work alongside them in
deployed environments, are intended to provide access to the information and needs of local
community women in communities where contact between male soldiers and civilian women is
culturally fraught.
Cultural Support Teams are all-female Soldier teams who serve as enablers supporting
Army Special Operations combat forces in, and around secured objective areas.
Their primary task is to engage female populations in objective areas when such contact may
be deemed culturally inappropriate if performed by a male service member.
CSTs directly support activities ranging from medical civic action programs, searches and
seizures, humanitarian assistance, and civil-military operations.
Primarily, CST training will focus on basic human behavior, Islamic and Afghan cultures,
women and their role in Afghanistan, and tribalism. As a CST member, the total commitment to
the program is approximately one year.
Melody Kemp mentions that the Australian soldiers have voiced similar concern saying
these soldiers “are reluctant to take women on reconnaissance or special operations, as they fear
that in the case of combat or discovery, their priority will be to save the women and not to
complete the mission. Thus while men might be able to be programmed to kill, it is not as easy to
program men to neglect women”.
Women on submarines
In 1985, the Royal Norwegian Navy became the first navy in the world to permit female
personnel to serve in submarines, followed by the appointment of a female submarine captain in
1995.The Danish Navy allowed women on submarines in 1988, the Swedish Navy in 1989,
followed by the Royal Australian Navy in 1998 and thereafter Canada and Spain, all operators of
conventional submarines.
Social obstacles include the perceived need to segregate accommodation and facilities,
with figures from the United States Navy highlighting the increased cost, $300,000 per bunk to
permit women to serve on submarines versus $4,000 per bunk to allow women to serve on
aircraft carriers.
Recent United States Navy policy allowed three exceptions for women being on board
military submarines: (1) female civilian technicians for a few days at most;
(2) women midshipmen on an overnight during summer training for both Navy ROTC (Reserve
Officers’ Training Corps) and Naval Academy; (3) family members for one-day dependent
cruises submarines
Representations in popular culture
In the late 20th century and early 21st century, there have been a significant representations
of “women warriors” in popular culture, occasionally including women in the military, such as
the films G. I. Jane and Down Periscope.
Non-fiction
In 2007, author Kirsten Holmstedt released Band of Sisters: American Women at War in
Iraq. The book presents twelve stories of American women on the frontlines including
America’s first female pilot to be shot down and survive, the United States military’s first black
female combat pilot, a 21-year-old turret gunner defending a convoy, two military policewomen
in a firefight and a nurse struggling to save lives, including her own. Her second book, The Girls
Come Marching Home: Stories of Women Warriors Returning from Iraq details the lives of
women who served in combat after they come home.
Fiction
In the People’s Republic of China, one of the Eight Model Plays was Red Detachment of
Women, which concerns female units in the Maoist military.
Science fiction
A notable tendency of science fiction since the 1940s is to place women in dominant
military roles. These are often command positions, in some cases for the express purpose of
having a woman in command (as was the case for Captain Kathryn Janeway, where the ship
having a female captain was used as a selling point). In some cases, this is accompanied by a
complete desegregation of the sexes, such as in Starship Troopers, where no one showed any
compunctions about undressing, showering, etc. in front of the other gender.
Another example, from the Stargate franchise, is Major (later Colonel) Samantha Carter,
an air force officer who was placed in command of a front-line unit.
Women openly serve in both frontline infantry and special operations units in Halo:
Combat Evolved, Halo 2, Halo 3, and Halo: Reach, as well as the game series Mass Effect.
In numerous games, such as Starcraft, women appear as fierce warriors.
Women in the American Army
In 1973 the male draft ended. The All Volunteer Force began and the percentage of women
among United States military personnel has increased dramatically, from 1.6 % in 1973, to 8.5 %
in 1980, to 10.8 % in 1989.
Today, over 229,000 women serve on active duty in the military services of the
(Department of Defense): the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force. About 15 % of these
women are officers. This is about the same percentage as that of military men overall. Only in
the Marine Corps are the women noticeably less likely than the men to be officers (7% vs. 10 %).
A substantial proportion of all military women are minority women. Minorities account for
a considerably larger percentage of military women than of military men (38 % vs. 28 %).
Minority representation is larger among enlisted women (41 %) than among women officers (19
%). The disparity is less than for men (minorities account for 31 % of enlisted men, 11 % of
male officers).
The military population is an educated one. The standards for women are generally higher
than those for men. 99.8 % of the enlisted women are high school diploma graduates. The
percentage for enlisted men is slightly lower (98 %). Enlisted women are noticeably more likely
than enlisted men to have attended college (27 % vs. 21 %).
 Nearly all officers have at least a college bachelor's degree. An increasing number of
women are graduates of service academies. 1990 marked the 10 th year women have graduated
from the military academies.

Women in the British armed forces

In total, there are 187,060 members of the British armed forces, 9.4 % of them – some
17,620 – are female. Of those women, 3,760 are officers. The Ministry of Defence describes the
contribution of all women as “essential”, and says recent awards of medals for gallantry to
women during operational deployments show they are serving in more demanding circumstances
than ever before. Some reports suggest about a fifth of the 8,000 service personnel in
Afghanistan are female, even though they make up just a tenth of total military numbers.

Woman in the British military

Maria Rosetti 
Maria Rosetti (born Marie Grant; 1819 – February 25 [O.S. February 13] 1893) was
a Guernsey born Wallachian and Romanian political activist, journalist, essayist, philanthropist
and socialite. The sister of British diplomat Effingham Grant and wife of radical leader C. A.
Rosetti, she played an active part in the Wallachian Revolution of 1848. She was also noted for
her enduring friendships with the painter Constantin Daniel Rosenthal and with Pia Brătianu, the
wife of National Liberal politician Ion Brătianu. The Rosettis were parents to eight children.
During the 1848 revolution, her husband played a prominent part in rallying the
Bucharest populace to the radical cause, and sat on the Provisional Government.
As Ottoman troops entered the country, crushing the rebellion and arresting its leaders, he was
himself taken into Ottoman custody and, together with other prominent participants, transported
by barge from Giurgiu, on his way to the Austrian-ruled Sviniţa, near the Danube port
of Orschowa. With the Jewish Constantin Daniel Rosenthal, Maria followed the ships on shore;
upon arrival, she pointed out to the local authorities that the Ottomans had stepped out of their
jurisdiction, persuading the mayor of Sviniţa to disarm the guards, which in turn allowed the
prisoners to flee. The Rosettis then made their way to France. Her role in this last stage of the
revolution was celebrated by French historian Jules Michelet in his 1851 essay Madame
Rosetti, and by her husband, who compared her to Anita, the Brazilian-born wife
of Italian insurgent Giuseppe Garibaldi.
Around 1850, Rosenthal completed one of his most celebrated
paintings, Româniarevoluţionară ("Revolutionary Romania"). A national
personification showing a woman in Romanian folk costume, it was also a portrait of Maria
Rosetti. 
Upon her death, a large obituary was published in the National Liberal
newspaper VoinţaNaţională, who proclaimed her one of the most outstanding Romanian women
of her generation. Her writings of the 1860s were collected in an 1893 volume carrying
Michelet's introduction. She is also one of the characters in CamilPetrescu's novel Un om
întreoameni. A street in central Bucharest, nearby BulevardulMagheru, was named in her honor
—it constitutes the eastward extension of C. A. Rosetti Street; a school in
the Floreasca neighborhood of the city was also named after her. Several monographs on her life
were published during the communist regime years.
EcaterinaTeodoroiu
EcaterinaTeodoroiu; born CătălinaToderoiu; (January 15, 1894 – September 3, 1917) was a
Romanian heroine who fought and died in World War I.

EcaterinaTeodoroiu

In Romanian history, EcaterinaTeodoroiu is placed in the context of gendered experience

of the Great War on the Eastern Front, on the same pedestal as Queen Maria of Romania.
She was born in the village of Vădeni, in the region of Oltenia. After studying for four
years in Vădeni and Târgu Jiu and graduating from the Girls’ School in Bucharest, she was to
become a teacher when the Romanian Kingdom entered World War I on the Entente side, in
1916.
In October 1916, Ecaterina joined the Romanian Army during the first Jiu battle when
General Ion Dragalina’s 1st Army rejected the 9th German Army offensive.
A Scouts’ member, she had initially worked as a nurse but she subsequently decided to become a
front-line soldier, being deeply impressed by the patriotism of the wounded and by the death of
her brother Nicolae (Sergeant in the Romanian Army). It was an unusual decision for a woman
of that epoch, so she was sent to the front rather reluctantly. However, soon she proved her
worthiness as a symbol and as a soldier. She was taken prisoner but managed to escape by killing
two, or perhaps three German soldiers. In November, she was wounded and hospitalized, but
came back to the front where she was soon decorated, advanced in rank to Sublocotenent
(Second Lieutenant) and given the command of a 25-man platoon.
For her bravery she was awarded the Military Virtue Medal, 1st Class.
On September 3, 1917, she was killed in the Battle of Mărăşeşti, where she was hit in the
chest by German machine gun fire. According to some accounts, her last words before dying
were: “Forward, men, I’m still with you!”She was buried in the city center of Târgu Jiu, and her
grave is honored by a monument.
Bibliography:
The information in Women in the Military was taken and adapted from the following
sources:
Presentation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_the_military (04.08.2011)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecaterina_Teodoroiu 15.12.2011
http://sunstone40.tripod.com/womenwarriors/id1.html, 17.05.2013
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/23/pentagon-overturn-ban-women-combat,
18.05.2013
http://www.armyparatrooper.org/dropzone/showthread.php/27001-CST-Cultural-Support-
Teams, 17.05.2013)
http://feminism.eserver.org/workplace/professions/women-in-the-military.txt (4.11.2011)
Bone, Victoria, Women in the British armed forces, http://news.bbc.co.uk/
2/hi/uk_news/7463636.stm, 18.05.2013)
http://www.cenusadetrandafir.ro/ecaterina-teodoroiu-eroina-de-la-jiu,15.12.2011
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecaterina_Teodoroiu, 17.05.2013)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruise_missile_submarine, 17.05.2013
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Rosetti 17.03.2020

The photos in Women in the Military were taken from the following sources:
http://sergeypopovichenko.blogspot.ro/2012/12/venator.html (06.09.2013)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Sampson, 20.05.2013)
http://www.mostwantedblog.org/2012/09/21/romania-este-wanted-13-ecaterina-teodoroiu/