Women find place in Dutch military

Press, 5 March 1988, Page 32

Women find place in Dutch military

By GALINA VROMEN NZPA-Reuter The Hague When the Dutch military police launched | a recent recruitment drive for Royal Guards, they were in for a surprise. More women than men signed up. I ; It was one sign that a ■ five-year-old policy aimed at increasing the number of women in the Armed || Forces is beginning to ; work, though women still i make up only 3.1 per cent ! of the professional mili- H tary corps. I The military is trying to bring them in, and has instituted two-year con-B tracts for women to? at- , tract those unwilling to i make the six-year com-1 mitment once demanded i of volunteers. ; To reduce the foot trouble women have suffered in basic training,; they are now issued their boots a month before their service begins so they have a chance to ; break them in. ; i I There have been sue- j cess stories. In spite of ; initial military reluctance ! to bring women in,l they i have proved particularly j useful in aircraft control ; rooms. ; “When it comes to de-1 tailed work, women are better. When they monitor! security checking systems'

j— for fighter planes for example — they notice the changes quicker and respond to them faster,” a defence spokesman said. 1 Their presence in the i military also seemed to reduce rowdiness. “Where ■ there are women, there is ; less of a macho atmosphere," he said. • In 1982 the separate i women’s corps in the . Dutch military was disi banded and integrated ■ into the rest of the Armed i Forces. The change led to basic ' training with men and placing women in jobs they never had before; helicopter pilots, platoon commanders and radar ’ communication monitors, I among others. j “It is much harder now, I than when I joined,” said I Lieutenant Colonel Emma I Staf, who joined the Army i in 1954 and is its highestj ranking woman officer. Ministry of Defence ■ officials j are proud that - the military is now atj trading an average of 25 ! women a month. Their i number has grown from . 1331 in 1981 to 1721 in j { 1987. ; ; But the 3.1 per cent of i the Armed Forces they I represent is still far less 1 than the 10 per cent women have in the United {

I | ! States military or the six per cent? in France and Belgium J (The Government wants to see s{per cent women iii the military by 1989 and 8 per cent by 1993.

{ "In fact, most men would rather have an all male foijce,” said Lieutenant Staf, who heads the Army’s Women’s division. ‘[The decision to integrate women {was imposed by politicians." I “The Armed Forces could easily go on without women except in the jobs they have traditionally had, as{ nurses, secretaries {and in communications,” she said.

Certainly, their inroads in the military have led to some problems. At first, ! some navy wives protested against their hus- { bands’ going off for weeks I on ship duty with women aboard. One j woman volunteer said {hat her boyfriend broke with her when she joined the Army, convinced she would be unfaithful to him if she lived among men soldiers.

{ There were problems of j pregnancies and housing, i Lieutenant Staf said. But i the biggest difficulty remained the physical demands of four to six | months of basic training.

In addition to blisters from their boots, women in particular suffer hip injuries from strenuous marches and arm injuries from some exercises.

“We lare considering more gradual training for women. {Where we have done it, I the results have been better,” Lieutenant Staf said.

One example has been the introduction of gymnastic weight-lifting equipment. Women were encouraged to use it in their free time to strengthen their arms and avoid injuries. ; The equipment helped so much, it is now also used to train men.

Two I women corporals said that they had few complaints about their basic training. “It is not so difficult,” said Monique Vos, a driver,! aged 22. “The only thing was, the guys felt ashamed if I did better than them.”

Corporal Anita Cordie, aged 20, also a driver, said her problems at first were { more social than physical.

“The attitude of the guys jwas: what are you doing here?” she said. But once they realised she did not shirk the exercises, she became accepted, she said.