Weak floor in a strong army
The last century of the outgoing millennium has significantly changed many stereotypes of public consciousness. In particular, the place and role of women in society and the Armed Forces have been seriously rethought. Warfare has ceased to be the lot of men only. An age-old tradition
However, the participation of women in military formations of various states, as evidenced by historical documents, has a long tradition and is not a phenomenon of the XXI century. Women were part of the military organization not only in the Middle Ages, but also in the era of classical antiquity. Already in the IV century BC in Athens and Sparta, women were present in the armed formations of the Greek forces. The first information about female warriors, reflected in historical literature, is associated with the Amazons. Mention of them is already in the works of the ancient Greek historian Herodotus (c. 490-425 BC).
The geography of the spread of "female military settlements" is quite wide: from South America to Libya and from Persia to New Guinea. On the territory of present-day Russia, according to the ancient Greek geographer and historian Strabo (63-23 BC), the Amazons lived in the districts of the Rostov region, Pyatigorsk and the foothills of the Caucasus near the Terek River. With regard to European armies, the initial period of women's participation in military campaigns can be attributed to the times of the Peloponessian (431-404 BC) and Corinthian (395-387 BC) wars. The written sources of the ancient civilizations of Greece, India and Rome mention that among the Celts, Germans, Sarmatians and other Indo-European peoples, women directly participated in hostilities, exerting a purposeful moral and psychological impact on male soldiers. Some of them even led military units.
In Homer's Iliad, dedicated to the Trojan War, one of the heroes, the legendary Achilles, "defeated the men of Amazons in the third feat."
As the historical analysis shows, the participation of women in military formations was due to their socio-economic status and the development of the level of military affairs in a particular society. In the same Iliad, Homer reflected public opinion on the issue of women's participation in military activities that existed in antiquity: "Walk, my dear, into the house, take care of your own affairs: we make, yarn take care of, and the war of your husbands will concern."
The ancient Greek philosopher Plato noted that belonging to the male-female sex is by no means the only criterion that determines a person’s place in socially useful activities. "Doesn’t another woman have the ability to ... military affairs?" - Plato asked the opponents of the feminization of the army, not only allowing, but considering it necessary joint military activities of men and women, so that "they stand guard over the state, since they are capable of it." Plato rightly believed that such a "possible and useful."
In the European armies of the fair sex for the first time acquired the status of full-time military personnel in the period 1560-1650. When entering the military service, a contract was already concluded with women, which clearly outlined their functional duties in accordance with the military specialty and determined the amount of pay. For example, according to English law in each company it was prescribed to have no more than six women. Similar regulations were introduced in the French and other European armies.
Homeland feminized army is England. It was here in 1653 that the first women's military hospitals appeared, consisting of wives of soldiers and designed for 350 wounded. They had on their staff 29 women. And in 1917-1919. The Royal Armed Forces, the Royal Auxiliary Corps of the Navy and the Women's Legion of the Vehicle Section in the number of 100 thousand people were formed as part of the British armed forces.
For the first time in the world, women, along with men without professional restrictions, joined the ranks as full-fledged servicemen with corresponding status in Canada at 1895. It was at this time that they began to be accepted into military service in peacetime, not only in support services, but also in combat units as full-fledged military personnel. And it is not by chance that the traditions of the feminized army in Canada are maintained: from 33 officer specialties, women are represented in 29.
The Second World War caused an increase in the number of women in military formations. In the British army there were up to 225 thousand women, in the American - 450-500 thousand, in the German - about 500 thousand, more than 800 thousand women - in the Soviet Army, of which 80 thousand officers. 16 American women who served in the women's service of the ground forces were awarded the highest purple heart medal in the US for injuries sustained during the war, and 27 women were awarded the Bronze Star for direct participation in hostilities.
Historically, society sought to protect women from the dangers and difficulties of military service, taking into account the importance of her reproductive function and her role in raising children. However, serious changes in the professional employment of women at the turn of the 20th century and the active development of the feminist movement in the USA, Canada and France became one of the main reasons for the active participation of women in military professional activities as a form of life and social self-realization.
In 1989, after conducting a series of experiments to study the possibility of women's participation in the combat units of NATO, Denmark, Canada, the Netherlands and Norway completely removed all restrictions on the military activities of women. US 99% allowed women in combat Aviation and warships, except for submarines.
There are women in Russian villages
In Russia, the image of a woman warrior has a long historical tradition. Nikolai Karamzin in The Tradition of Ages notes that already in 626 AD ancient Byzantine chroniclers testified: during the siege of Constantinople they found women in armor between the killed Rusichs. Vasily Nemirovich-Danchenko in his book “On Russian Women” writes that “the primitive Slavs unexpectedly scared enemies during the battle, frantically, bursting with swords in their hands between those fighting”. Princess Olga had her own squad in Kiev and successfully carried out military campaigns against the disobedient neighbors. An employee of the Institute of Military History, Yulia Ivanova, in the legends of the Rostov princes, managed to find references to women who valiantly fought with men on the Kulikovo field: Princess Feodora Puzhbolskaya and Daria Rostovskaya, daughter of Prince Andrei Fedorovich.
The first document concerning the service of women in the army units was recorded in Russia in the Petrine era. It was at this time that the right of women to serve in the army in military hospitals was enshrined in the Military Charter of 1716.
However, until the middle of the XIX century, women in Russia for the most part did not take an active part in the military operations of military units and did not wear weapons. The exception was the ostentatious formations of women, reflecting the whims of the Russian empresses. In 1787, for the visit of Catherine II to Tavria in the Balaclava-Greek battalion from 100 "noble wives and daughters of gentlemen officers" on the orders of the Most High Prince Grigory Potemkin, an Amazon company commanded by Elena Ivanovna Sarandova was formed. But this formation was more exotic than military.
Due to the fact that women were not allowed to serve in combat units, many of them, for patriotic reasons, “broke through” into the army under male names and surnames. Thus, at the end of the 18th century, under the name of the murdered brother Alexander, the lancer was commanded by Sasha Tikhomirova, who served in the cavalry for 15 years. The first Russian female officer, the daughter of a hussar captain, Nadezhda Durova, entered 1807 as a cadet in the Konno-Polsky Ulansky regiment under the name of Sokolov.
Russian women who were awarded the Order of St. George during the First World War received this opportunity only because they pretended to be men. So, Elena Tsebrzhinskaya was listed under the name of Tsetnersky as a medical assistant of the 186 Aslanuza Infantry Regiment; Olga Shydlouskaya - as a hussar of the 4 of the Mariupol regiment Oleg Shidlovsky; Antonina Palshina, a cavalier of two St. George's crosses, fought in the 9 th hundred cavalry regiment of the Kuban division and the 7 th Infantry Sevastopol regiment under the name of Anton.
In Soviet times, the question of the need for military service by women was actively discussed. Nikolay Podvoisky and Alexandra Kollontai considered the military work of a woman a means of ensuring her actual social equality. "With the appeal of women to the troops, the idea of her as an equal and equal member of the state is finally fixed," Kollontai, who was the head of the political department of the Crimean Army during the Civil War, stressed. Many women actively participated in the fighting on the fronts of the Civil War. For example, Rosalia Zemlyachka was the head of the political department of the 8 and 13 armies. Who held the same position in the 15-th Sivash Division of Alexander Yanyshev, awarded the Order of the Red Banner, together with the vanguard in 270, the man stormed the Crimean bastions of the White Guards in the Crimea. The assistant chief of the political department of the 6 and 9 armies was fought by Valentin Suzdaltsev. Larisa Reisner, who served as the prototype commissioner for the "Optimistic Tragedy", was the commissar of the Main Naval Staff.
In the interwar period, many women studied at military academies. Before the Great Patriotic War, more than 250 women graduated from the Academy of Chemical Protection, Mechanization and Motorization, military-political, naval, military-air, electrical engineering, artillery, etc. During the period of hostilities during the war, they successfully applied their knowledge in practice, skills.
An unprecedented event in world history of wars is the combat activity of three female aviation units at once during the Great Patriotic War — the 586 Fighter Regiment (commander - Lieutenant Colonel Tatyana Kazarinova), the 587 Regiment of diving bombers (before the death in 1943, commanded Major Marin Raskova) and 588 of the night bomber regiment (commander - Major Evdokia Bershanskaya). 28 pilots and navigators of these regiments were awarded the highest award of the Motherland - the title Heroes of the Soviet Union, and you are Nvadezh Zhurkina, and you are 2, and you are XnUMX, and you are 99. battles, became a full gentleman of the Order of Glory. Olga Yashchikova after the war became the first woman in the world to master a jet fighter.
Over the years of the war, for the exemplary performance of their duties, the courage and heroism of 86 women were awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, 150 thousand women were awarded military orders and medals, more than 200 became holders of the Orders of Glory of 2 and 3 degrees. The four defenders of the Fatherland became full holders of the Order of Glory: sniper of the 284 Infantry Regiment Sergeant Nina Petrova, who died on May 2 1945 in the battles for Berlin; the gunner-radio operator of the 99 Guards separate reconnaissance aviation regiment of the guard foreman Nadezhda Zhurkina; machine gunner of the 167 rifle regiment of the 16 Lithuanian Klaipeda rifle division Sergeant Danute Staniliene (Markauskene); medical instructor of the 100 Guards Rifle Regiment of the 35 Guards Rifle Division of the Guards Sergeant-Major Matren Necheporukov (Nozdrachev).
Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgy Zhukov spoke with great appreciation of the participants of the Great Patriotic War: "The heroism and resilience of our women as nurses, nurses, doctors are unforgettable. They carried soldiers and officers from the battlefield, nursed them. Snipers, telephone operators, telegraphists were different from the battlefield Many of them were 18-20 for years. Despising danger, they fought bravely against a hated enemy. "
Were there any women in the world like our heroes from the female aviation regiments? Admittedly, quite a bit. In Hitler's Germany, there was only one such woman. Her name was Hanna Reitsch. She received the two highest awards of the Third Reich - the Iron Cross - personally from Hitler's hands. In 40-s. Reitsch under the guidance of the famous rocket designer von Braun as a pilot conducted air tests of V-A projectiles. Hitler instructed her personally. In addition to the Iron Cross 1 degree, Reich had the title of captain of the Luftwaffe. She successfully tested and became the only woman - a fighter pilot among the fascist aces on the Eastern Front, who received the 2 degree Iron Cross. 26 April 1945, it was she who broke into an air battle in Berlin, already surrounded by Soviet troops, and delivered to Hitler’s headquarters the new Wehrmacht Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force, field marshal von Grime, after the betrayal of Hermann Göring.
Serve il not serve?
Modern armed forces of most countries are unthinkable without the fair sex. The society is revising the patriarchal stereotypes associated with the social activity of women. The former chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General John Vessey, described the feminization of the army as a unique trend: "For our Armed Forces," he stressed, "this is a more important event than the invention of nuclear weapons." The feminization of the American army intensified even more after the adoption by Congress in March 1972 of an amendment to the Constitution "On Equal Rights", prohibiting any discrimination on the basis of gender in all areas of professional activity of US citizens. At the beginning of 2000, the number of women in the US Armed Forces was 18% and continues to grow.
In 1976, under 38 US President Gerald Ford, it was decided to allow women to enroll in military academies. After the first graduation of women at West Point in 1980, by the beginning of 2000, over 2 thousand female officers had finished this elite military school. As a result, there are already ten women generals in the US Army, and Lieutenant General Carol Matter is the Chief of Staff of the Marine Corps. In 1972, for women, most of the restrictions on combat specialties were lifted, and on 28 on April 1993, the US Department of Defense decided to allow women to participate in aviation sorties and serve on most warships. "We can no longer go to war without women," - American General Collin Powell was forced to admit in 1991 before the start of Operation Desert Storm. In 1986, an unprecedented breakthrough in the world took place in the US strategic nuclear forces: after lengthy inspections, women were admitted to the holy of holies of national defense - as part of combat crews of launching the Minuteman and MX intercontinental missiles. Numerous inspections of their activities in extreme situations have shown that the fair sex cope with their duties no worse, and in some situations even better than men. Therefore, most Americans have taken for granted the appointment of the commander of the Space Shuttle to charming Elin Collins, the colonel.
For the majority of developed countries with a combat-ready army, the issue of discrimination against women in a military career is largely removed. From 1997 in the Norwegian Navy the torpedo submarine "Cowben-C-318" is commanded by captain of the third rank Solveig Cray. In the Royal Navy of Great Britain, two women command warships. Brigadier General Ori Adato is at the head of the women's corps of the Israeli armed forces ("Hale Ours"), numbering over 36 thousand people. At the same time, she is Assistant Secretary of Defense for the issues of women's military service. From 46 years of his life 27 years Adato regularly serves in the Armed Forces.
The feminization of foreign armies continues. In countries where women have traditionally been barred from serving in the army, bans have been lifted in recent years: for example, in 1997, this was done in Italy. Moreover, in January 2000, the country's military department announced that three military academies at once — the Air Force, the Navy and the Ground Forces — would now admit women to their ranks. Representatives of the weaker sex can make up to a third of students of these academies. All restrictions in a military career have been lifted for them: after graduating from the academy, graduates will have the opportunity to rise to the commander of a warship and air squadron, and if desired, the chief of the General Staff.
It must be admitted that the points of view of sociologists and researchers on gender issues regarding the recruitment of women to military service are often the exact opposite. Some argue that women don’t have a place in the army, arguing that they disorganize the adjusted structure of the army service, degrade the discipline, provoke sexual activity of men. Others, on the contrary, argue that women are not worse, and in some respects better than men, they fulfill their duties and may even help strengthen the discipline and ethical standards of inter-sex communication.
Opinions about the location of women in the area of hostilities are also mixed. So, even Plato noted that the presence of women on the battlefield is a means of psychological support for warriors: in front of his beloved, Plato argued, the fighter would be unable to retreat, show cowardice and, moreover, desert. The famous Russian psychiatrist Nikolai Popov in the last century claimed the opposite: "An army without women is always heroic. Women in the army are permissible only when there is no need for the manifestation of heroism." This thesis was supported by the Russian psychologist Elena Senyavskaya. She considers the very notion of "female soldier" unnatural. “Women give life,” Senyavskaya writes, “the more unnatural the combination of“ woman bringing death ”seems. There are quite a few supporters of this position abroad as well. For example, in the Israeli army with the outbreak of hostilities, the military command takes women from these areas, believing that captivity can affect troops in a demoralizing way, but if the units are assigned a combat mission, female military personnel are temporarily removed from its composition.
In 1982, a survey was conducted in the United States about the possibility of women's participation in combat zones. The overwhelming majority of respondents approved this idea: 94% supported women’s participation as nurses, 73% as pilots of jet transport aircraft, 62% - fighter aircraft pilots, 57% - crew members of warships, 35% - possible melee fighting.
A Yugoslav researcher Jarana Papic, after analyzing the actions of women in the area of hostilities during the Balkan crisis in 1999, concluded that "in extreme situations and conditions of hostilities, women's activity should be aimed at supporting the heroic efforts of men." World experience shows that the participation of women in hostilities is governed by the specifics of their combat missions, and there can be no definite recommendations.
Currently, there is a feminization of the Armed Forces of Russia. If before 1985, the number of female servicemen in our country did not exceed 5%, then over the subsequent 10 years it increased 10 times and amounted to 1996 thousand people in 350. Taking into account the downward trend in the Armed Forces at the beginning of 2000, 115 thousand women served in the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation (9,5% of the total number of military personnel). The rank of colonel today are 14 women, 75 - the rank of lieutenant colonel, more 300 - majors, the rest - junior officers. In the Federal Border Service of Russia, there are more than 12 women military servicemen. Thousands of them are 625 officers (5,2%) and 5480 warrant officers (45,7% of the total). However, unlike the foreign armies in the Armed Forces of Russia, there is still no woman in the general's uniform. True, several Russian women still served to the rank of general, but two of them have been retired for several years (the first woman cosmonaut Valentina Nikolaeva-Tereshkova and Galina Smirnova, the former head of the 12 department of the KGB of the USSR), two serve in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Tatyana Moskalkova - Head of the Legal Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia and Svetlana Perova - Deputy Head of the Main Directorate of Internal Affairs of Moscow), and one in the FSB (Natalya Klimova - 1 Deputy Head of the Military Medical Directorate of the FSB of Russia). In the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the general’s position of a woman is still “vacant”. Is there no worthy?
Eternal problems
On the other hand, the process of feminization of the army creates certain gender problems for women. In the American army, a violation of the statutory relationship with respect to female military personnel is expressed in various forms of psychological and physical (including sexual) violence. In 1991, after the end of the annual conference of the US Navy, drunken military men created the conditions when their female counterparts were forced to literally “through the ranks” around 200 men who were squeezing them and trying to tear off the elements of clothing. During the trial, 26 women soldiers recognized themselves as victims of sexual violence, half of whom were officers.
After the recent scandal over the sexual harassment of sergeants to women subordinates at the training ground in the city of Aberdeen (pc. Maryland), the army command is fully determined not to allow this to happen again. Two sergeant instructors and the commander of the training company were charged with raping two female cadets. All three received various prison sentences.
As shown by studies of American psychologists conducted in 1994, 73,3% of women serving in the US Army have been subjected to various forms of abuse. And in most cases (54,5%) - from their immediate superiors or equal in position. At the same time, 5% of respondents reported having been raped or attempted to rape; 16% stated that they are under constant psychological pressure due to gender; 58,3% admitted that they had to endure indecent jokes on the part of the military men. The official report of the United States Department of Defense for 1997, “On the situation of female military personnel,” has already noted that “sexual violence is becoming one of the most serious problems for the Armed Forces.”
At the same time, purposeful work on the elimination of discrimination against women in the American army has led to concrete results in the implementation of an egalitarian strategy of equal rights and equal opportunities for men and women. Among the most significant achievements in overcoming discrimination against women in the US Armed Forces are the following: the right of women to occupy command positions in mixed (consisting of men and women) units and units; the right to enter higher military educational institutions; the right to receive flight training in the Air Force; permission to marry during service; permission to continue serving pregnant women and women with small children; the introduction of equal pay with men for officers; the alignment of monetary and clothing allowances for men and women military personnel who are married; expanding opportunities for specialties and positions previously closed for women; alignment of requirements for entry into military service (excluding marines).
An open order of the RF Minister of Defense #235 from 15 in May 1998 was devoted to the analysis of gender problems in the Armed Forces of Russia "On the facts of violation of the rights of female military personnel." It draws attention to the need to create social, professional, medical, and housing conditions for military personnel determined by relevant Russian laws and international conventions. In 1998, according to the data of the Chief Military Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation, the rights of female military personnel were violated more than 2 thousand times. Given the existing professional experience of female military personnel, the age limit for their military service has been increased in accordance with Article 5. p.9 "Provisions on the procedure of military service" to 45 years.
According to the chief military prosecutor of Russia, Yuri Demin, the facts of sexual violence against female military personnel were recorded in 1997 in the Ural and Leningrad military districts, in the Pacific navy. Moreover, Demin himself admits that these are only the facts that became known with the consent of the victims themselves. In fact, there are significantly more of them, mainly violence extends to women of ordinary and sergeant composition. So, according to an anonymous survey of female military personnel conducted by the General Staff of the Navy in 1997 in the Northern Fleet, 21% of women confirmed the facts of various forms of sexual claims by their work colleagues.
Today, no one doubts the need to recruit women for military service as full-fledged subjects of military activities. Women can serve and may well compete with many men in such specialties as a doctor, psychologist, lawyer, educational officer, ACS operator, and others. Therefore, women’s breakthrough to military specialties is of some concern to their colleagues. It seems that the appointment of these specialties should be carried out not by gender, but by the general criteria of professional selection.
Let's ask ourselves the question: "Are we doing a lot for the professional support of women in military service?" I would like to quote in this connection the words of the great Russian writer Dmitry Pisarev: "Let's look back at ourselves: let's see what we are - people of business and people of thought - gave and give to our women? Let's see - and turn red with shame! Draw on the woman with grace of feelings, to charm her with the beautiful boldness of an honest impulse is our business, we are masters of it. And then, when it is necessary to support, protect and encourage this woman, we are in a backyard. " So let's support women in uniform! We will help them find a full life in military service. Moreover, many of them have proved the right to this through their many years of conscientious work in the military and their professional abilities.
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