Off Limits: The Cults of the Body and Social Homogeneity as Discoursive Weapons Targeting Gender Integration in the Military

Carreiras, Helena; Kümmel, Gerhard

doi:10.1007/978-3-531-90935-6_2

Cited by 14 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…Amongst military scholars, soldiers' bodies have been argued to be paramount to military work, or even constitutive of the entire profession (Richman-Loo & Weber, 1996;Carreiras, 2006;Lande, 2007;Carreiras & Kümmel, 2008;Mc-Sorley, 2015). Ascribing such importance to the body of the soldier, its capabilities, endurance and strength becomes pivotal for professional success -or even for simple admittance, as injuries and illnesses might lead to one being deemed unfit to serve at all.…”

Section: Embodying the Military Professionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Letting the Right Ones in. Gendered Boundary Work in the Military Profession

Sløk-Andersen¹,

Persson²

2021

Transformations of the Military Profession and Professionalism in Scandinavia

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Section: Embodying the Military Professionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Letting the Right Ones in. Gendered Boundary Work in the Military Profession

Sløk-Andersen¹,

Persson²

2021

Transformations of the Military Profession and Professionalism in Scandinavia

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“…Here, the military most likely have a sense of professionalism more deeply rooted in masculinity than any other, as they until very recently have excluded (and some places still do exclude) women from taking part of much of the work (Carreiras, 2006;Carreiras and Kümmel, 2008;Kronsell, 2012;Mackenzie, 2015;Totland, 2009). This has been argued to be one of the main reasons why national military organizations still to a high degree are defined by a masculine ideology that sanctions expressions of femininity (Carreiras, 2006;Totland, 2009) and (if not formally, then) informally exclude women from parts of the work performed in national defenses all over the world.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, these arguments are very questionable in the light of the high number of women voluntarily signing up for military service in Denmark; a service they could easily avoid without any questions asked. Equally relevant, studies on the actual performance of military work carried out by women and men in the military has shown no clear evidence that women who take part in military work should be less competent than their male colleagues (Mackenzie, 2015;Carreiras and Kümmel, 2008) [1]. Nevertheless, there are plenty of stories being told about why so few women are part of the military profession, yet few feasible explanations as to why this is the case.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exclusion and inclusion in the Danish Military

Muhr

Sløk-Andersen

2017

JOCM

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The purpose of this paper is to examine why and how past stories of women's insufficiency for military work survive and how they come to form a gendered organizational narrative dominant in constructing current opinions on women in the military. Design/methodology/approach: The analysis is based mainly on archival data, but supported by interview material as well as participant observation data. We do this from the assumption that the culturally constructed notion of the ideal soldier is based on a historically constructed professional narrative. Findings: We show how a historically produced gender narrative-based on (fictional) stories on what women can and can't do-is perceived as true and thereby casts women as less suitable for a military career. Thus, despite the current equal legal rights of men and women in the military, the power of the narrative limits female soldiers' career possibilities. Originality/value: The paper is unique as it in drawing on archival data is able to trace how an organizational narrative comes to be and due to its ethnographic data how this creates limitations for women's careers. This narrative is stronger and much more powerful than management is aware of. The paper therefore adds crucial knowledge about the ideological influence a historically produced organizational narrative can have on current change initiatives.

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“…Rones (2015) argues that soldiers who are unable to live up to the ideal military body, but still serve, are presumed to jeopardize the symbolic value of the uniform. Given the traditional focus on male bodies, women serving strive to fulfill the requirements of the ideal and chosen military body in order to become one of the guys in an awareness that acceptance relies on the ability to hold the qualities of the ideal soldier (Rones 2015;Carreiras 2004;Carreiras and Kümmel 2008;Mathers 2013). Notwithstanding, other gendered bodies and in particular female bodies stand out in a military setting and are subject to gendered narratives, which sets them aside as atypical and in opposition to the "ideal" soldier body.…”

Section: The Complexities Of Military Bodiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As I discuss above, female soldiers with their bodies automatically come to present the 'other' (Carreiras 2006;Carreiras and Kümmel 2008). The female physique embodies otherness in the military in a visual way, which is difficult for female soldiers (as well as male) to disregard (see also Thidemann Faber 2008 on female Danish police officers for similar tendencies).…”

Section: Women Disrupt the Military Culturementioning

confidence: 99%

“We Don’t See Gender, Only Soldiers!” - Negotiating Military Identities in Narratives on Gender, Peace, and Security

Bennike¹

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October 31. 2000 marked a significant date in work on gender, peace, and security. Until then, women's experiences, perspectives, and the particular consequences of conflict and war for women were more or less absent from military work in peacekeeping and peacebuilding missions. However, this was about to change, as the Security Council on this date adopted United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 (UNSCR 1325) on Women, Peace, and Security, which marked the first of nine UN resolutions as of 2021 that have the intention of bringing gender perspectives to international peacekeeping (and peacebuilding) missions. With UNSCR 1325, gendered implications of conflict, peace, and security, which had been part of feminist activists and Feminist International Relations scholars' agenda for decades (Cohn 2004;Schott 2013;Shepherd 2008;Gibbings 2011) began to gain influence in UN military missions, and later NATO missions, and grew into an element of peacekeeping and peacebuilding missions, which today is difficult for member states to disregard.Being part of the ´friendly´ and cosmopolitan-minded North in terms of military work and politically manifesting a commitment to international military work through alliances with NATO and the UN, Denmark situates itself as a military force that albeit it relatively small size, is an active player on the international area and stresses a commitment to UNSCR 1325 i.e. by being the first country in 2005 to adopt the resolution. Nonetheless, despite articulating a national and institutional position as a frontrunner in regard to gender and military work, Denmark has faced critique from the UN, as well as scholars and practitioners. One of the main points has been the lack of focus on domestic issues with gender equality in the Danish Armed Forces as well as the lack of concrete actions to combat discrimination. (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defence, and Ministry of Justice 2014). In the National Action Plan (NAP) from 2020, which covers the period 2020-2024, the Ministries have taken this critique into account and presents an ambition to "walk the talk" (Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defence, and Ministry of Justice 2000).These contradicting national and institutional narratives of being a frontrunner on gender equality and at the same time face critique for this particular point in regard to how the Danish military works internally create certain conflicting narratives on military work and military identities within the Danish Armed Forces. These conflicting narratives have the potential to influence the everyday lives of Danish soldiers and their understandings of their military identities, military work, and duties. It also leads to challenges in the negotiations over military identities including the incorporation of other gendered bodies into the force, let alone adapting to management policies at the local level and the potential discrepancies between practice and policy.

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Off Limits: The Cults of the Body and Social Homogeneity as Discoursive Weapons Targeting Gender Integration in the Military

Cited by 14 publications

References 11 publications

Letting the Right Ones in. Gendered Boundary Work in the Military Profession

Letting the Right Ones in. Gendered Boundary Work in the Military Profession

Exclusion and inclusion in the Danish Military

“We Don’t See Gender, Only Soldiers!” - Negotiating Military Identities in Narratives on Gender, Peace, and Security

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