EGALITARISM AND THE CHANGE OF WOMEN's ROLE IN THE NATIONAL ARMIES Legal advisor, Romanian Ministry of Defence (original) (raw)

The feminist trend has influenced the way in which it is discussed and applied the principle of the equality among the genders. Nations are not at the same level in terms of diversity, integration or personnel policies and the egalitarian policies are slowly promoted into traditional societies. The international support policy of the role egalitarism is argueing it through the fact that we are all created the same way and not all the men are strong nor all the women are weak. The policy is supporting the necessity of unique standards in a way that the selection to be fair for both genders. The leadership and communication roles with the civilian population, especially with the women from traditional societies are encouraging asumming those roles, they are generating progress into negociation and are serving as examples for other women. The aim of this article is to offer a detailed socio-cultural perspective over the women participation within the national military forces. The economic changes, the way in which the legislation and the national cultures are determining changes in the women's role, had generated effects in their attitude towards they are treated by the society. The financial independence has offered them trust inthe choice possibilities and the wish to extend their roles in different national armies. Until recently it was well spread the bias that the "War" is exclusively men's domain. The presence of women in different wars is not new, from the Russian women fighting batallions (mentioned in the First World War documents), to the light cavalry units, the first aid, medical care, signal or logistic units and office activities. Traditionally, women's role in the society was very clear defined and that is reproduction, sensibility and the care for the family. This seems to be in antagonism with the integration and the trust of the group and is creating the idea that introducing women in the fighting groups is atracting a group cohesion breaking. The evolution of the way the social role of the women is perceived from the victims of the conflicts, the persons that are taking care of the disabled persons towards equal members of the society that are participating into all the aspects of the social life, is politically supported at the international level. This is the new "egalitarism model" promoted and supported internationally at the political and the financial levels. The feminist trend has influenced the way in which it is discussed and applied the principle of the equality among the genders. The reservation into women'sadmittance into close combat and within the Special Forces is routed in traditional societies in which the social, religious, and cultural factors are restricting women's rights and offer them special roles. Those factors are are put into serious doubt by the developed societies. For example, a study of the Canadian Institute for Military Leadership related to the operational efficiency of the mixed combat groups has demonstrated that the gender diversity is not affecting the operational efficiency [1].