Women in the military by country

[5] Women were first allowed as members of the regular armed forces of Algeria after president Houari Boumédiène signed an according decree in January 1978.

Three years later, Fatima Boudouani[8] became the second woman to be promoted to the rank of general in the PNA, and she was followed by three more women in 2015, therefore making Algeria the Arab country with the biggest number of high-ranking female army commanders.

[10] Ardjoune's promotion reflects a growing trend of Algerian women taking more prominent positions in the workforce, most notably in the police and military.

[9] Despite some women being promoted to high offices and the official decrees of equalization, the Algerian military still makes a sharp distinction between its male and female members: While men may serve combat roles and regularly gain high ranks, as of 2015 women were mostly excluded from those and even from a harder training regimen, as they were included in the armed forces to run health departments, do communications and data entry, and fill administration and teaching positions.

These classes included such subjects as weapons training for self-defense, antiriot procedures, traffic and crowd control, first aid, and fire-fighting.

[42] As of 2023, more than 10% of contracted service members in the Kazakh Armed Forces were female: Women served mainly in the positions of dispatchers, communications, medical and office professions.

Women's participation in technical service in the Nepali Army also expanded continually as follows: Nurses (1961), Para folders (1965), Medical doctors (1969), Legal (1998), Engineering (2004) and Aviation (2011).

These are only a few restrictions; female personnel have been tasked with many front line duties and attached to combat units such as paratroops, SLAF Regiment, as well as undertaken support services such as control tower operators, electronic warfare technicians, radio material teletypewriters, automotive mechanics, aviation supply personnel, cryptographers, doctors, combat medics, lawyers, engineers and aerial photographers.

With the escalation of the Sri Lankan civil war, many female personnel have come under enemy fire both directly and indirectly thus taking many casualties including fatalities.

[54] In early 2023, in light of increased military pressure from China, the Taiwanese Defense Ministry announced that it would allow women to volunteer for reserve force training for the first time in its history.

[75] However, this announcement was retracted one month later and blamed on a "miscommunication"; a spokesman confirmed the policy barring women from the Legion would remain unchanged.

[citation needed] That was generally regarded as a reaction to the deployment of young women at the end of World War II.

[81] Its equivalent in Southern Italy during World War II, was the CAF, Italian: Corpo di Assistenza Femminile, that was on the side of the Allies.

[86] Before the year 2000, women were employed in war only as voluntary nurses inside organizations Croce Rossa Italiana and Corpo delle infermiere volontarie dell'ACISMOM.

In present Poland a law passed April 6, 2004 requires all women with college nursing or veterinary degrees to register for compulsory service.

To psychologically energize morale Alexander Kerensky (leader of the Russian Provisional Government) ordered the creation of the Woman's Death Battalion in May 1917.

[101] Nene Hatun, whose monument has been erected in the city of Erzurum because of her bravery during the Ottoman-Russian War, was an early example of women participating in military combat in Turkey.

In 1938, the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) was created, with 20,000 women serving in non-combat roles during World War II, including as military police.

As well, 45,000 women served as support staff in every theatre of the conflict, driving heavy equipment, rigging parachutes, and performing clerical work, telephone operation, laundry duties and cooking.

In 1982 laws were passed ending all discrimination in employment, and ships, aircraft (pilots) and field units in the Canadian Armed Forces were opened for women, with the exception of the submarine service.

[127] According to the Virginia General Assembly, "in the revolutionary war, in the garb, and with the courage of a soldier, [Lane] performed extraordinary military services, and received a severe wound at the battle of Germantown.

[citation needed] This corps was formed in 1917 from a call by General John J. Pershing to improve the worsening state of communications on the Western front.

Not until 1978, the 60th anniversary of the end of World War I, did Congress approve veteran status and honorable discharges for the remaining women who had served in the Signal Corps Female Telephone Operators Unit.

They served stateside in jobs and received the same benefits and responsibilities as men, including identical pay (US$28.75 per month), and were treated as veterans after the war.

[141] Ordnance soldiers and civilians worked across the globe, ranging from Iceland, Iran, the Pacific Islands, Africa, and Europe, to the Middle East.

One Army nurse (Major Genevieve Smith) died in a plane crash en route to Korea on July 27, 1950, shortly after hostilities begin.

The 1991 Persian Gulf War proved to be the pivotal time for the role of women in the United States Armed Forces to come to the attention of the world media.

Also, Leigh Ann Hester received the Silver Star for her heroic actions on 20 March 2005 during an enemy ambush on a supply convoy near the town of Salman Pak, Iraq.

[150] This made her the first female U.S. Army soldier to receive the Silver Star since World War II and the first ever to be cited for valor in close quarters combat.

[171] During Independence wars, Bolivian Juana Azurduy was the first woman to receive rank, uniforme and wage and to fully participate in combate around 1816.