OPINION:In 30 years, women have gone from being secretaries and drivers to fully equal members of the Defence Forces, writes TOM CLONAN
THIS YEAR marks the 30th anniversary of the enlistment of women to the Irish Defence Forces in 1980. While Irish women fought in the 1916 Rising and were combatants in the War of Independence and Civil War, they were largely excluded from the newly formed Free State Army of the 1920s. Dr Bridget Lyons Thornton was an exception to this rule and was commissioned as an officer with the rank of lieutenant in 1923. She was demobilised in 1924, and aside from the Army’s Nursing Service, the Defence Forces were to remain an all-male preserve for almost 60 years.
The men-only status of the Defence Forces – which was very much out of step with international trends in the 1970s – came under increasing scrutiny from the government as the equality agenda took root in wider Irish society during this decade. By 1979, the Defence Amendment Act (No 2), providing for the enlistment of women, was passed.
The first cohort of female officer cadets entered the Defence Forces in March 1980. For these women, entering the all-male environment of the Army was something of a culture shock. Initially, there was strong resistance to the concept of female soldiers from within.
In a 1978 memo, the secretary general of the Department of Defence informed the chief of staff that female soldiers would simply “release male soldiers from certain duties in order that [men] fill more active military functions”. To this end, Irish women soldiers were to be confined to clerical duties and the driving of light vehicles.
It was not intended at this point that women would be fully integrated as combat troops. Furthermore, the military authorities, in a confidential 1978 report on the enlistment of women, stated, “the basic pay of members of the Women’s Service Corps should be less than [men’s]”.
The then military authorities also frowned upon pregnancy and stated in paragraph three of the same report: “We are aware that pregnancy is not a ground for termination of service in the Ban Garda and the public service generally. Nevertheless . . . we recommend that pregnancy be . . . a reason for automatic termination of the service of . . . both officers and other ranks.”
The 1975 Anti-Discrimination (Pay) Act, the 1977 Employment Equality Act and the 1981 Maternity Protection of Employees Act, however, put paid to these negative aspirations for women and pressure mounted on the military authorities for the fullest integration of women into the Irish Defence Forces.
For the women officer cadets of 1980 and 1981 the challenges were daunting. The military authorities initially drew up separate female training programmes. For women officers, this meant that instead of doing heavy weapons training on mortars, machine guns and anti-tank weapons, they were given an intensive course on dress and deportment. In one case they were instructed to walk up and down the drill shed in the Curragh camp balancing books on their heads.
According to one female officer, “it did wonders for Lancôme. The day before we were commissioned they sent us loads of samples. I’ve stayed with them since.”
Another female officer added: “We did a grooming course. It’s a pity the guys didn’t do it as well. I know some who needed it.”
As more and more women were enlisted during the 1980s, female soldiers exerted more and more pressure on their superiors for greater equality in terms of their training, deployment and promotion within the Army. The general staff began to respond – slowly – and by the early 1990s, women were no longer trained separately in single-sex recruit platoons and female officer cadets were undergoing precisely the same syllabus of training as their male counterparts.
Gradually, all of the barriers to the fullest participation of women began to crumble. There were many significant turning points.
The election of Mary Robinson as president in 1990 led to the participation of female soldiers in ceremonial duties and guards of honour. Initially prohibited from participating in such duties on the basis of their sex by the military authorities, Robinson’s status as commander in chief of the Defence Forces ensured that female soldiers would henceforth be fully represented.
The early 1990s also saw female officers commissioned into the Air Corps with female pilots flying hazardous search and rescue missions at sea during the latter half of that decade. The first female Naval Service officers were commissioned in 1997.
In 2000, a study into the status and roles assigned to Irish female soldiers was published. This led to an acceleration of the equality agenda for both men and women in the forces. Since then, there have been a profound and rapid integration of women soldiers, aircrew and sailors into all of the frontline and combat roles both at home and abroad. The numbers of female personnel has also grown rapidly in the last decade and women now comprise almost 6 per cent of the Army’s current strength.
In 2004, the Defence Forces published an equality mission statement and comprehensive set of equality policies that are considered a model for best practice among the international military. In many respects, the Defence Forces have taken the equality agenda further than many of their EU and Nato counterparts.
Unlike the British and US military for example, all frontline combat roles within the Irish Defence Forces are open to women. The most senior serving female member of the Defence Forces is Lieut Col Maireád Murphy who is attached to the general medical hospital in the Curragh. In terms of what the Army calls line officers, females have to date achieved the rank of commandant.
Today, from a standing complement of 9,577 members of the Defence Forces, 566 are women: 464 of them serve in the Army; 31 in the Air Corps; and 71 in the Naval Service. Of those, almost 260 are recruits, apprentices or privates; 167 are non-commissioned officers. Among the higher ranks, apart from Lieut Col Murphy, there are 65 lieutenants, 55 captains and 20 commandants.
From dress and deportment classes in 1980, Irish women soldiers now serve as snipers, pilots, ship’s captains and infantry commanders throughout the Defence Forces. In this regard, over three decades, Irish women soldiers have become world leaders in international peacekeeping and peace enforcement operations.
Tom Clonan is Irish TimesSecurity Analyst. He is a retired Army officer. The 2000 study referred to in this article was his own doctoral thesis. tclonan@irishtimes.com