GENDER INTEGRATION IN THE MILITARY: GENDER-NEUTRAL STANDARDS AND COED SPORTS
Abstract
This paper focuses on the socio-cultural aspects of gender integration in the Armed Forces, arguing for gender-neutral standards. It begins with a detailed literature review relevant to women’s integration in the military, subsequently focusing on Greece, and in the final analysis arguing that coed military sport participation and exercises serve as a means of bridging the gender-divide and eliminating gender harassment. Though coed sport (mixed-gender teams) as a tool for women’s inclusion and integration in the military seems to be part of the solution, it is a topic on which research is scarce (Kefi Chatzichamperi, 2018, 2019). This study does not examine physiologic attributes: biological and anatomical differences or research on sex hormones and how they affect the nervous system and physical strength, and subsequently soldier performance (Tenan, 2017). Using a qualitative theoretical approach, it discusses the social dimensions of evidence-based research on why and how gender integration is relevant. It includes current and ongoing studies presented at the 14th Conference of the European Research Group on Military and Society (ERGOMAS), hosted by the Hellenic Army Academy in Athens, indicating that a main challenge in the military today is to ensure a gender balance through women’s inclusion, active engagement and retention. Research emphasizes the need for change in the military culture on all levels—legal and organizational—including gender-awareness and diversity training, especially on the complimentary skills that both genders bring to the table as opposed to the "wastage of talent" (Kamberidou, 2013). Certainly, establishing gender-neutral standards to eliminate sexism, and promote inclusion and integration is a complex and multifaceted process, the reason researchers in the social sciences use a variety of theoretical approaches (Patsantaras, 2015, 2013; Seagrave, 2016). The results indicate that the gender participation gap continues in all current military organizations: Hungary holding the highest female participation rate (19.3%) and Turkey the lowest (0.8%).
Article visualizations:
Keywords
Full Text:
PDFReferences
Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble. Feminism and the supervision of identity. New York: Routledge
Cohen, A. & Melton, N. (2014). Investigating a Coed Sport's Ability to Encourage Inclusion and Equality. Journal of Sport Management, 28, 220-235, http://dx.doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2013-0329
Collins, P. (2017). Australian Military-Institutional Abuse. How can it be addressed? The 14th Conference of the European Research Group on Military and Society (ERGOMAS), hosted by the Hellenic Army Academy, Athens, Greece, 26-30/06/2017.
Da Silva, C. R. (2017). "If you were a man, you would be a military": Ethnographies of Gender in the Brazilian Armed Forces. The 14th Conference of the European Research Group on Military and Society (ERGOMAS), hosted by the Hellenic Army Academy, Athens, Greece, 26-30/06/2017.
Dvorakova, M. (2018). Summary of National Reports of NATO Member and Partner Nations to the NCGP. Presentation at the 2018 NCGP Annual Conference NNHQ, Brussels
Georgiou, Y. S., Patsantaras, N., & Kamberidou, I. (2018). Homophobia predictors–A case study in Greece: heterosexual physical education student attitudes towards male and female homosexuality. Journal of Physical Education and Sport, 18, 1209-1216. DOI:10.7752/jpes.2018.s2180. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/326827164_Homophobia_predictors_-A_case_study_in_Greece_heterosexual_physical_education_student_attitudes_towards_male_and_female_homosexuality
Harris, R. J., McDonald, D. P., Sparks, C. S. (2017). Sexual Harassment in the Military: Individual Experiences, Demographics, and Organizational Contexts. Armed Forces & Society, Sage Journals https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X16687069
Hayrynen, H. (2017). The Meaning of Military Leadership Training to Young Women´s Leadership Competency: A Narrative Viewpoint. The 14th Conference of the European Research Group on Military and Society (ERGOMAS), hosted by the Hellenic Army Academy, Athens, Greece, 26-30/06/2017.
Hertting, K & Karlefors, I. (2013). Sport as a context for integration: Newly arrived immigrant children in Sweden drawing sporting experiences. International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 3, 18, 35-44 http://www.ijhssnet.com/journals/Vol_3_No_18_October_2013/4.pdf
Hlatky, S. (2017a). Nurse or Warrior? The role of Gender in the Armed Forces. The 14th Conference of the European Research Group on Military and Society (ERGOMAS), hosted by the Hellenic Army Academy, Athens, Greece, 26-30/06/2017.
Hlatky, S. (2017b). The UN links the number of women in peacekeeping to operational effectiveness, but it’s the institution’s broader culture that needs a gender perspective. Gender and Peacekeeping, Policy Options Politiques, November 8, 2017 https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/november-2017/gender-and-peacekeeping/ (accessed June 25, 2019).
Kamberidou, I. (2017). Gender, Volunteerism and Military Hospitals: War Nurses, Educators and Philanthropists of the Nineteenth-Century. The 14th Conference of the European Research Group on Military and Society (ERGOMAS), hosted by the Hellenic Army Academy, Athens, Greece, 26-30/06/2017.
Kamberidou, I. (2013). Women Entrepreneurs: We cannot have Change Unless We Have Men in the Room. Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, A Springer Open Journal. 2(6). https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186%2F2192-5372-2-6.pdf
Kamberidou, I. (2012). New Realms of Agency: Promoting Peace Education and Gender Equity through Sport. Sport Science and Physical Education, [Ed. Luminita Georgescu], Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), Eolss Publishers, Oxford, UK. Developed under the Auspices of UNESCO. https://pergamos.lib.uoa.gr/uoa/dl/object/2342552
Kamberidou, I. (2011). Athlete Activism and Peace Education: Bridging the Social Inequality Gap through Sports. NEBULA 8.1, a Journal of Multidisciplinary Scholarship, 168–180. Copy at http://www.tinyurl.com/yysv296s
Kamberidou, I. (2009). "The Anachronistic Gender-Sport Imbalance: The Construction of Identities, or Beyond the Glass Ceiling to the Glass Escalator". Proceedings of the 16th IAPESGW World Congress: Practice and Research in Physical Education and Sport in the spirit of Ubuntu, Stellenbosch, South Africa 16-19 July, 97-100. Copy at http://www.tinyurl.com/jow3pp3
Kamberidou, I. (2007). The Social Gender and Sport Identity: A bio-socio-cultural interpretation. Chapter in Kratzmuller, M. Marschik, R. Mullner, H. Szemethy, E. Trinkl (Eds.), Sport and the Construction of Identities, 584–591. Vienna: Verlag Turia & Kant. Copy at http://www.tinyurl.com/zwfgvmt
Kefi Chatzichamperi, E. (2019). Sport Activities as a Means of Inclusion for Women in the Hellenic Higher Military Training Institutions. Doctoral dissertation, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens: School of Physical Education and Sport Science (work in progress).
Kefi Chatzichamperi, E. (2018). Military sport’s contribution in creating social capital in the Hellenic Higher Military Training Institutions. Journal of Philosophy & Education, 24 (77-78): 48-50 [in Greek].
Kimmel, M. S. (2004). The gendered society. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kouri, S. (2017). Female Officers’ Narratives on Career Choice and Finding their Place in the Military Community. The 14th Conference of the European Research Group on Military and Society (ERGOMAS), hosted by the Hellenic Army Academy, Athens, Greece, 26-30/06/2017.
Lape, E. O. (2016). "Gender Awareness Training: A Comparison of U.S. Military Units to NATO/PFP Military Units". Doctoral dissertation, Education Foundations & Leadership, Old Dominion University, DOI: 10.25777/jakn-6372 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/efl_etds/32 https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1032&context=efl_etds
Leinonen, M. (2017). Intersectionality and Organizational Change in the Finnish Defence Forces. The 14th Conference of the European Research Group on Military and Society (ERGOMAS), hosted by the Hellenic Army Academy, Athens, Greece, 26-30/06/2017.
Lyras, A. & Hums, M. (2009). Sport and Social Change: The case for gender equality. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 80, 1, 7-21. https://doi.org/10.1080/07303084.2009.10598256
Messner, M. A. (2002). Taking the field: Women, men and sports, Minneapolis, MI: University of Minnesota Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/j.ctttssgq
Messner, M. A. (2009). Sports and male domination: The female athlete as contested ideological terrain. Sociology of Sport Journal, 5(3), 197-211. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/e36d/e96e6a918efdae959473dc95aae0c8b14a35.pdf
Moebius, P. J. (1908). Uber den physiologischen Schwachsinn des Weibes. Halle.
Moelker, R. (2017). The Transgendered Family. The 14th Conference of the European Research Group on Military and Society (ERGOMAS), hosted by the Hellenic Army Academy, Athens, Greece, 26-30/06/2017.
NATO (2016). Summary of the National Reports of NATO Member and Partner Nations to the NATO Committee on Gender Perspectives (NCGP), third edition: 3-278.
Pasricha, A. (2017). Women: A Bridge Builder and Peacemaker. The 14th Conference of the European Research Group on Military and Society (ERGOMAS), hosted by the Hellenic Army Academy, Athens, Greece, 26-30/06/2017.
Patsantaras, N., & Kamberidou, I. (2017). Virtual Bodies and Sport Activities: The case of the Avatars in Second Life Fitness Club. 13th Conference of the European Sociological Association: (Un)Making Europe: Capitalism, Solidarities, Subjectivities. Session: Science, Technology, Innovation & Society II, Panteion University of Social & Political Sciences, 01 Sept. 2017, Athens Copy at http://www.tinyurl.com/y64lfysu https://pergamos.lib.uoa.gr/uoa/dl/object/2773152
Patsantaras, N. (2013). Using Global Sport Ceremonies for Activating Human Rights. International Sports Law Review Pandektis (ISLR), 10 (1-2), 30-50.
Patsantaras, N. (2015). Cosmopolitanism an alternative way of thinking in the contemporary Olympics. European Journal for Sport and Society, 12 (2), 215-238. https://doi.org/10.1080/16138171.2015.11687963
Patsantaras, N., Kamberidou, I., & Panagiotopoulos, P. (2009). Sports: Social Inclusion or Xenophobia. Pandektis International Sports Law Review (IASL), 7(3), 394-404. Copy at http://www.tinyurl.com/y2k4aq74 and https://pergamos.lib.uoa.gr/uoa/dl/object/2775383
Pazarzi, E.N. and Vilara, K. (2017). ARTEMIS–EQUAL: The Organization of Support Centers in the Greek Armed Forces. The 14th Conference of the European Research Group on Military and Society (ERGOMAS), hosted by the Hellenic Army Academy, Athens, Greece, 26-30/06/2017.
Pomerantz-Zorins, L. (2017). Being a mother in the military. The 14th Conference of the European Research Group on Military and Society (ERGOMAS), hosted by the Hellenic Army Academy, Athens, Greece, 26-30/06/2017.
Resteigne, D. (2017). On Masculine Domination in Military Organizations. The 14th Conference of the European Research Group on Military and Society (ERGOMAS), hosted by the Hellenic Army Academy, Athens, Greece, 26-30/06/2017
Rones, N. (2017). The Queen Bees and the Women’s Team. A Study of the All-Female Special Reconnaissance Platoon in the Norwegian Armed Forces. The 14th Conference of the European Research Group on Military and Society (ERGOMAS), hosted by the Hellenic Army Academy, Athens, Greece, 26-30/06/2017.
Sandow, E. (1898). "Should wives work?" Physical Culture: Sandow’s Monthly, pp 298-299.
Seagrave, J. O. (2016). Challenging the gender binary: the fictive and real world of quidditch. Sport in Society, 19:8-9, 1299-1315, DOI: 10.1080/17430437.2015.1067783
Smith, D. and De Angelis, K. (2017). Strange Bedfellows or New Family Patterns? Organizational Responses to Same-Sex Couples and Non-Traditional Family Structures. The 14th Conference of the European Research Group on Military and Society (ERGOMAS), hosted by the Hellenic Army Academy, Athens, Greece, 26-30/06/2017.
Smith, D. G., Rosenstein, J. E. and Nikolov, N. (2017). Prejudiced Backlash in Subjective Performance Evaluations: Military Women’s Lack of Fit in the Military Profession. The 14th Conference of the European Research Group on Military and Society (ERGOMAS), hosted by the Hellenic Army Academy, Athens, Greece, 26-30/06/2017.
Snoubar, Y. (2016). Impact of Wars and Conflicts on Women and Children in Middle East: Health, Psychological, Educational and Social Crisis European Journal of Social Sciences Education and Research 6(2):211-215 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26417/ejser.v6i2.p211-215
SOFMET (2014). Special Operations Forces Mixed-Gender Elite Teams (SOFMET): Examining socio-cultural dynamics of SOFMET. The Joint Special Operations University’s Center for Special Operations Studies & Research https://dod.defense.gov/Portals/1/Documents/wisr-studies/SOCOM%20-%20JSOU%20Study%20on%20Special%20Operations%20Forces%20Mixed-Gender%20Elite%20Team3.pdf (last access 30/06/2019).
Stura, C. (2019). “What makes us strong” – the role of sports clubs in facilitating integration of refugees, European Journal for Sport and Society, DOI: 10.1080/16138171.2019.1625584
Tenan, M. (2017). Gender integration is just an application of human variability: biological aspects of gender integration on military performance. Journal of Science and Medicine, vol. 20, supplement 2, Published by Elsevier Inc. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2017.09.035
Theodorakoudis, A. (2017). The Integration of Women in the Greek Army (Problems-Perspectives), 14th Conference of the European Research Group on Military and Society (ERGOMAS), hosted by the Hellenic Army Academy, Athens, Greece, 26-30/06/2017.
Tzogani, H. (2017). The Status of Women Pilots in the Hellenic Air Force. The 14th Conference of the European Research Group on Military and Society (ERGOMAS), hosted by the Hellenic Army Academy, Athens, Greece, 26-30/06/2017.
Walseth, K. & Fasting, K. (2004). Sport as a means of integrating minority women. Sport in Society: Cultures, Commerce, Media, Politics, 7,1, 109-129. https://doi.org/10.1080/1461098042000220218
Walseth, K. (2008). Bridging and bonding social capital in sport. Experiences of young women with immigrant backgrounds. Sport, Education and Society, 13, 1, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/13573320701780498
Webster, F. A. M. (1930). Athletics of today for women: History, development and training. London & New York: Frederick Warne & Co., Ltd.
WEF (2018). The Global Gender Gap Report 2018. Insight Report. World Economic Forum (WEF), 1-367. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2018.pdf
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejpe.v0i0.2566
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
Copyright (c) 2019 Irene Kamberidou
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright © 2015 - 2023. European Journal of Physical Education and Sport Science (ISSN 2501 - 1235) is a registered trademark of Open Access Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
This journal is a serial publication uniquely identified by an International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) serial number certificate issued by Romanian National Library (Biblioteca Nationala a Romaniei). All the research works are uniquely identified by a CrossRef DOI digital object identifier supplied by indexing and repository platforms. All authors who send their manuscripts to this journal and whose articles are published on this journal retain full copyright of their articles. All the research works published on this journal are meeting the Open Access Publishing requirements and can be freely accessed, shared, modified, distributed and used in educational, commercial and non-commercial purposes under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
