Women in the Australian military

Female service in the Australian military began in 1899 when the Australian Army Nursing Service was formed as part of the New South Wales colonial military forces. Army nurses formed part of the Australian contribution to the Boer War, and their success led to the formation of the Australian Army Nursing Reserve in 1902. The role of Australian women in World War I was focused mainly upon their involvement in the provision of nursing services. More than 2000 members of the Australian Army Nursing Service (AANS) served overseas during World War I as part of the Australian Imperial Force. At the end of the war the AANS returned to its pre-war reserve status.[4] In addition to the military nurses, a small group of civilian nurses dubbed the "Bluebirds" were recruited by the Australian Red Cross Society and served in French hospitals.[5]

The leaders of the female branches of the Australian military in 1942

Australian women played a larger role in World War II. Many women wanted to play an active role, and hundreds of voluntary women's auxiliary and paramilitary organisations had been formed by 1940. These included the Women's Transport Corps, Women's Flying Club, Women's Emergency Signalling Corps and Women's Australian National Services.[6] In Brisbane alone there were six different organisations providing women with war-related training in July 1940, the largest of which was the Queensland-based Women's National Emergency Legion.[7] The Federal Government and military did not initially support women being trained to serve in the armed forces, however, and these organisations were not taken seriously by the general public.[6]

A shortage of male recruits forced the military to establish female branches in 1941 and 1942. The RAAF established the Women's Auxiliary Australian Air Force (WAAAF) in March 1941, the Army formed the Australian Women's Army Service (AWAS) in October 1941 and the Australian Army Medical Women's Service in December 1942 and the Women's Royal Australian Naval Service (WRANS) came into being in July 1942.[4] Dennis (2008)</ref> In 1944 almost 50,000 women were serving in the military and thousands more had joined the civilian Australian Women's Land Army (AWLA). Many of these women were trained to undertake skilled work in traditionally male occupations in order to free servicemen for operational service.[6] Women were also encouraged to work in industry and volunteer for air raid precautions duties or clubs for Australian and Allied servicemen.[8] The female branches of the military were disbanded after the war.[4]

Manpower shortages during the Korean War led to the permanent establishment of female branches of the military. In 1951 the WRANS was reformed and the Army and Air Force established the Women's Australian Army Corps (WAAC) and Women's Royal Australian Air Force (WRAAF) respectively.[4] The proportion of women in the services was initially limited to four percent of their strength, though this was ignored by the RAAF.[9] The quota was lifted to 10 percent in the RAAF and RAN during the 1960s and 1970s while the Army recruited only on a replacement basis.[10]

As a result of personnel shortages in the late 1980s the restriction against women in combat-related positions was dropped in 1990, and women were for the first time allowed to serve in warships, RAAF combat squadrons and many positions in the Army. Women were banned from positions involving physical combat, however, and were unable to serve in infantry, armoured, artillery and engineering units in the Army and clearance diving and ground defence positions in the RAN and RAAF respectively.[10]

The ADF was not sufficiently prepared for integrating women into all units. Integration was hindered by entrenched discriminatory attitudes, sexual harassment and a perception that less demanding standards were applied to women.[4] This led to a number of scandals, including allegations of sexual harassment on board HMAS Swan, and the RAN's mishandling of these complaints.[10] These scandals did great harm to the ADF's reputation at the time when it most needed servicewomen.[4] The Defence Equality Organisation was established in 1997 in response to these problems, and it developed frameworks to facilitate the acceptance of women throughout the ADF.[11]

Women have been eligible for flying roles in the RAAF since 1987, with the RAAF’s first women pilots awarded their ‘Wings’ in 1988. In 1995, the majority of restrictions were lifted allowing women to train as fast jet pilots. In 2016, 42 women in the RAAF had graduated the pilot's course and gained their "wings", flying planes such as C-17 Globemasters, C-130 Hercules and Wedgetail airborne early warning and control planes. Women have also qualified as fast jet aircrew, with the first F-111 navigators graduating in 2000. In December 2017, the first two female RAAF fighter pilots graduated, having completed 'High Sierra'- the three week intensive exercise that marks the culmination of 2OCU’s six-month long ‘opcon’ operational conversion course on the F/A-18 Hornet. [17] [18] [19]. A 2016 Australian Human Rights Commission report found that "the absence of female fast jet pilots is remarkable" given that the air forces of many comparable countries have had female fighter pilots since the 1990s. The report judged that there was no single factor responsible for this, rather, there are a series of structural and cultural factors that have prevented the progress of both female and male pilots in the Air Force.[20] The majority of the recommendations from this report were accepted and as of February 2019, women make up 38 of 752 pilots in the trained permanent Air Force (around 5.05%), and 126 of 498 Officer Aviation Cadets under training (25.3%).

Women had been recorded as having passed the physical selection tests for the Army's elite Commando Regiment over 20 years before the announcement of allowing women in combat roles. These women were barred from joining due to their gender, including notable Lieutenant Colonel Fleur Froggatt. In January 2012, Senior Defence sources said that while several women had recently passed physical entry tests for special forces, they had prevented further advancement due to 'injury concerns'. In refusing to provide the numbers of women who had passed entry tests for the SAS or commandos, or when they passed, Defence cited security concerns.[21]

A common misconception is that women are not as able to complete the physically and mentally demanding initial-entry training, and this may lead to their smaller overall employment rate. This is demonstrably incorrect. The 2016-17 Women in the ADF report states completion rates for women and men in initial training have been comparable since 2011.[26]

In fact, initial-entry training completion for females in 2017-18 were slightly higher than the males, with general entry (other ranks/ non-officer) 91.9 per cent for women; 90.2 per cent for men. Similarly, the 2017-18 officer trainee completion rate in the Navy and Airforce were at 87.8 per cent for women; 81.9 per cent for men, and the Army officer trainees at 66.7 per cent for women; 65.8 per cent for men.[3]

Each of the Services has set female participation targets to be achieved by 2023. These are 25 per cent for the Navy, 15 per cent for the Army and 25 per cent for the Air Force.

In August 2016 the Chief of Army Lieutenant General Angus Campbell AO, DSC, in an address to the Defence Force Recruiting Conference stated that his “number one priority.. with respect to recruitment is increasing our diversity; with a focus on women and Indigenous Australians”, and that “My aim is that women will make up 25% of the Army – based on analysis of best practice across like work environments globally (military and appropriately related industries). I want and need the Army to benefit from the full talent of the other half of our citizens.” [27] Since the Chief of Army has changed as of the 2nd of July 2018 to Lieutenant General Rick Burr AO, DSC, MVO, it is unknown whether he will strive to achieve the larger 25% target as his predecessor did.

Specialised media campaigns aimed at women and reduced initial minimum period of service (IMPS) contracts (eg. 2 years instead of 4 years for certain roles) has reportedly attracted more women in each branch.

The ‘Gap year’ program, aimed at younger women with only 1 year IMPS existing across each branch of ADF excels in female recruitment. Although small in number, 2018 recruitment rates of women were at 55% (Navy), 47% (Air force), and 34% (Army).[3]