Blog 5: Australian military lets women into frontline roles

A monumental change for women serving in the Australian military occurred this week. All of the ranks in the armed forces have opened up to women, allowing them to fight on the frontline beside male recruits. Over the next five years the Australian army plans to cease the gender impediments that restricted women from being in positions that were thought of as of being too dangerous. Australian defense minister has described this shift to be,” a significant and major culture change.” He also stated that the people who are put on the frontlines will be the soldiers that are the most competent having, “the right physical, psychological and mental attributes to be able to do the job”,as oppose to just being based off of sex. Even though this is a monumental event for women, The Australian Defense Association are concerned about having disproportionate female casualties to men. Another concern is the difficulty of women achieving higher statuses in the armed forces due to the demands of having a family. Even though there is some debate about women going on the frontline, this movement is providing more job opportunities for females and encouraging more women to join the military.

I believe that this is a step towards women gaining more equal opportunity to men. Women were only allowed to partake in 93% of roles in Australia's armed forces, excluding the 7% of jobs just because of sex. As these jobs have opened up for women, this is an encouraging movement for more women to be a part of all positions within the armed forces. As the gender barriers are starting to breakdown in some of the armed forces, this could become a global contingency with other jobs that are prevented for women to uphold based on their sex. In Japan many women are able to maintain jobs that their male counterparts have. This leads to the women there being economically stable and independent. Enabling women the same job opportunities as males could also help in closing the gap of glass ceiling. Allowing women to achieve higher statuses in the workplace will ultimately endorse women to not be restrained from holding certain positions because of their sex, and helping women attain the equal rights they deserve.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/27/australian-military-women-frontline-roles