Gender Discrimination in Uniformed Organizations Worldwide

Traditionally, the notion or concept of uniformed organizations such as the armed forces, navy, airforce and Police forces is marked with a strong masculine culture. In short, the presence of male dominance is often defined by the culture of patriarchy.

The result of this chauvinistic attitude is negatively affecting the female personals in uniformed organizations.

According to an annual publication 'Sexual Offences in the Service Justice System 2018' by the Ministry of Defence, U.K provides statistics proving There’s been a 35% rise in the sexual offense investigations over the past two years – with 60% of those in the British Army. These figures, published earlier this year by the UK government, show that 153 investigations were conducted in 2018. Of these, 18 were for historical offenses – and the most common form of the investigation was for sexual assault, followed by rape against women.

Indeed, after the #MeToo campaign, the 2018 Army Sexual Harassment report found that 73% of women questioned reported inappropriate and unwelcome comments and that 20% had experienced inappropriate sexual touching. It also found that 8% of women had been involved in a serious sexual assault and 3% reported being raped. Only 10% of these women made a formal complaint – and of those complaining 70% said they were dissatisfied with the outcome.

Thus it is unambiguous that extreme masculinity suppresses the female voice and the issues faced by women in force remain unheard of.

Patriarchy Culture is defined and recreated in the past two decades to analyze the origins and conditions of men’s oppression of women (Kamarae, 1992). Originally used to describe the power of the father as head of household, the term ‘patriarchy’ has been used within post-1960s feminism to refer to the systematic organization of male supremacy and female subordination (Kamarae, 1992; Stacey, 1993; Aina, 1998; etc.). The term has been defined as a system of male authority that oppresses women through its social, political and economic institutions. Such a culture emphasizes the single, male culture to the exclusion of the female identity or culture. Such an attitude is described as discriminatory, chauvinistic and extremely unfair/partial.

With this in mind, this research paper attempts to discuss the issues of discrimination in four major defense forces namely Air Force, Army Navy, and Police. To facilitate a better understanding of the issue at a global platform, references are drawn from the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Singapore, and India- 2 of which are modern and secular states while India and Singapore represent Asian countries with Diverse culture and racial backgrounds.

EVIDENCE: USA

Article1:

Journal of Psychology Nursing, 2013, U.S.A contains the article 'Military Sexual Trauma- A silent Syndrom'. This article deeply examines an age-old problem- sexual assault- through the lens of its occurrence within the military culture. Over the course of the past 2 decades, a slightly different and perhaps even more concerning version of sexual assault has emerged in the culture. Military Sexual Trauma.

Since the early 1990's there has been an increase in the number of sexual abuse cases reported and documented by active-duty military personnel ( Valente and Wight,2007). Military Sexual trauma is defined by the U.S Department of Veterans Affairs as 'repeated threatening, sexual harassment or physical assaults of a sexual nature (U.S. Department of Defence [DoD],2011).

Approximately 1.4 million of the 2.3 million service members deployed to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have already left active duty and begun their transition to civilian life (Veteran Affairs Office of Public Health and Environmental Hazards,2010). A Rand Corporation study 'Invisible Wounds of War (Tannielian and Jaycox,2008) estimates that 300,000 or 20% of these returning military soldiers have major depression or posttraumatic stress disorders (PTSD). One particularly troubling statistic is the number of active military members who have experienced MST. According to the Department of Defence, U.S.A (2011), 3,198 incidents of sexual assault were reported throughout the entire military in 2011; however Defence Secretary Lion Panetta said he believed that number was underreported and estimated that the actual number was probably more in the 19,000 range. Specifically, 1 in 5 women and 1 in 500 men are reported to ahead experienced some form of Military Sexual Trauma in active military service.

Thus one cannot avoid the fact suffering happens to both men and women in the military yet Women are the only once who suffer more.

The first military pledge to crack down on sexual harassment took place in 1992, in the wake of a scandal that surfaced at the Navy Fliers' 35th annual Tailhook Association Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. More than 4,000 attendees- active, reserve and retired personnel-participated in a 2-day debriefing on Operation Desert Strom. In a Department of Defense(2011) report, 83 women stated that they had been victims of sexual harassment and assault during the Tailhook meeting. At the convention, it was reported that Navy aviators surrounded unsuspecting female guests, including 14 female Navy officers, and passed them down a gauntlet, grabbing at their breasts and buttocks, attempting to strip off their clothes while jeering and taunting them the entire time. ( Valente and Wight,2007).

But, in 1996 another scandal occurred at Maryland's Army Aberdeen

Proving Grounds, where assault charges were brought upon against a dozen male officers for sexual assault of female trainees. Soon there were new measures in place to protect the victims of Military Sexual Trauma, yet another incident occurred in 2010- 2011 at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas. Four male instructors were charged with having sex and in one case, raping female trainees. One Air Force instructor was convicted of 20 counts of rape and aggravated sexual assault against women.

From the brief history of Military Sexual Traumas, it can be seen that female personals are the ones who face the problems in the majority of the cases. These problems remain unchanged despite attempts of the Department of Defense to curtail hypermasculinity and provide service to the women.

EVIDENCE: USA

Article2:

The nature of gender discrimination in the Navy.

Gender discrimination has little to do with sex, but a great deal to do with power. According to Reskin (1988), gender discrimination results from men's desire to preserve their disadvantages. Men hold dominant positions in organizations where women are attempting to gain a foothold and men take the rules regarding hiring, promotion, and assignment. On a cognitive level, most men do not oppose equality for women. However, they resist the change that threatens their domination status, be it social, economic, or hierarchical.

To prove the above hypothesis true on gender discrimination in the Navy here is a real-life incident of Jennifer Smith an Airforce Sergeant of the United States of America.

WEB ARTICLE 'Investigate Air Force for Openly Violent, Sexist and Hostile Environment to Women' BY NANCY PARRISH

Active duty Air Force Technical Sergeant Jennifer Smith is a patriot. She has honorably served the U.S nation in Iraq, Kuwait, Korea, and Germany with stellar performance reviews. But for 17 years, under different commanders and on different bases, she endured an environment of denigrating hate speech, violent and misogynistic behavior, and sexual assault.

The administrative complaint filed by attorney Susan L. Burke contains extensive exhibits [PDF] detailing a wide range of sexual harassment, “including, but not limited to, verbal slurs and inferences, nonverbal gestures, pictures and notes, unwanted physical contact, unwanted touching, and physical advances.”

According to the complaint, Jennifer recently told a commanding officer of an assault she endured in Iraq and asked that violent pornographic Air Force songs, videos, and photos be removed from government computers at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina, where she and others see the material when they log onto a computer. At the time of the administrative filing, the offensive and degrading materials were still on government servers.

The materials are indisputably hostile to women and make clear that these Air Force officers view these materials as part of a “tradition” and mock those who object to this “tradition.” For example, the song entitled “The S&M Man” [*Beware Graphic Content] containing violent, hate-filled language.

At the end of the song, the Air Force officers openly mock those who would complain about the hostile environment, stating “Note: If offended refer to blanket apology letter, and if your not a fighter pilot, then beat it...”

This misogynistic culture is promoted and extended to new fighter pilots joining squadrons through the songs, handbooks.

Some of the most disturbing content included in the complaint has been stored in collections of Songbooks from the 55th, 77th, and 79th Fighter Squadrons {PDF], which have been used to record traditions and songs. They contain obscene, violent and misogynistic language and pornographic images, including the “Fighter Pilot Songs - Combat Songbook; F..k Songs and Trash Tunes.”

Another document, a so-called “Hook Up Manual,” that is countenanced by the command structure, has explicit instructions on how perpetrators’ “Wingmen” have the responsibility to divert the victim’s friend (battle buddy), so that the perpetrator through the use of alcohol, drugs or whatever can abuse the victim. It describes the role of a “Wingman” as someone who is “willing to throw himself upon the cruel mercies of a brazen man-hater, just so his buddy can hook up.”

(add a photo of handbook for this link) (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/air-force-sexual-assault_b_2129880?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cucmVzZWFyY2hnYXRlLm5ldC8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANDskfZlvugJmZ1mvLpJwvcImK_twmqRhx5OR-evPwkkzzRczRoDMjiCM1dRWxrZl52CzpT6c0Wa848FwxZ8AXNup5gnRgky16QSR9LMIWTqQaFtZ7u68MHiyHEJ0WE5t6tBUjiJjE940-yTzthxq4URkNVe4xBk64pxhGPihl0M)

Such an attitude is described as discriminatory, chauvinistic and extremely unfair/partial. Jennifer Smith is just one of the women out of masses who have been silently suffering from male domination in the Navy.

EVIDENCE: INDIA

Article3:

In an Article ' Model Policy for women in Police India' by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative it is fluid that Police organizations in India are mandated to take all the measures to eliminate discrimination against women and ensure equality between men and women. As with any other state institution each police organization is bound to guarantee the rights of equality, non-discrimination and equal opportunity promised by the constitution of India. The constitution Preamble strives to provide all citizens non-discriminatory status and equal opportunity; Article 14,15, and 16 give effect to these principles in the constitution's text:

Article 14:

Equality before law.

Article 15:

Prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them.

Article 16:

Equality of opportunity in public employment.'

Despite having all the required laws in place discrimination against women ad girls in India is widespread and starts in the womb- boys are often seen as more desirable than girls. The rate of violence against women is high, and laws bringing perpetrators to account for their actions are rarely reinforced.

Having said that, the hardships a woman in Indian Police faces are beyond one's imagination.

If you ask a child how a police officer in India looks like you are likely to hear some or all of these phrases: a prominent mustache, serious and grim expression, loud and coarse voice, tall and muscular, aggressive body language, one who doesn’t listen, but orders. A stereotypical image reinforced by popular media.

How many police officers fit this description? How many women in police fit this description? How are the women going to navigate through this system? And in turn, how would they be altering or modifying this system, if at all?

In an article written by Alankrita Singh an IPS officer of the Uttar Pradesh cadre, India where she illustrates the manifold challenges faced by a woman in Police as well as the level of treatment she receives/ has received being a female officer.

'when in uniform, female officers are more likely to be discussed for their manner of walking, talking, laughing, dressing and marital status, rather than professional competence. They are likely to be complimented as 'well-done boys!' They are likely to be interrupted more often in meetings as compared to their male counterparts. Female police are likely to assess less competent and considered less suitable for positions with a high level of responsibility and challenges. They are likely to be sexually harassed by superiors and colleagues and to be held responsible for it.'

Although the constitution of India and its Preamble lists down the guidelines against discrimination and inequality no government has attempted to conceptualize a comprehensive policy to make the police service more inclusive in the real sense. Unfortunately, the drafters do not seek to address any of the concerns and needs. Merely creating policies that promise security and dignity does not ensure that the male dominancy is counterattacked in favor of women. Any government that comes to power must create a level-playing field to truely open up opportunities and cater to the requirements od diverse selections of the society. We must remember that the policing needs women for the values and quality that they bring in, and it is not the other way round.