Women in the military in Europe

In 2015, Norway introduced female conscription, making it the first country in Europe as well as the first NATO member to have a legally compulsory national service for both men and women.

At first, the women without previous military training experienced rather large problems in the Finnish peace-keeping units, most remarkably in the Republic of Macedonia in the mid-1990s.

[23] However, this announcement was retracted one month later and blamed on a "miscommunication"; a spokesman confirmed the policy barring women from the Legion would remain unchanged.

The change in the law was prompted after a qualified female electronics technician argued her case to the European Court of Justice after her application to join the Maintenance-Recovery Service (Electronics) technical unit of the German Armed Forces was rejected in 1996, citing "it is barred by German law for women to perform armed services".

Women in the Irish Defence Forces may be assigned to "the full range of operational and administrative duties" and policy is to encourage increased female participation.

[32] Fianna Fáil's manifesto in the 1977 general election proposed "a Women's Service Corps, Cór na mBan"; when it formed the next government it duly passed the Defence (Amendment) (No.

[36] 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.

The enlisting of a woman seemed to be legally feasible because of the Italian law Legge 1963 n. 66, which allowed the enrollment of women in public positions, but Italy's State Council excluded the military because of biological differences between male and female human bodies.

[40] Nowadays women are present in all branches of Italian armed forces, including the police, and the Guardia di Finanza, and they are also employed for military missions abroad.

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

[44] On 26 January 2017, major general Tonje Skinnarland became the first-ever appointed woman to be the head of the Royal Norwegian air force.

Women have taken part in the battles for independence against occupiers and invaders since at least the time of the Napoleonic Wars - most notably Emilia Plater.

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 Russia of the Russian Provisional Government) ordered the creation of the Woman's Death Battalion in May 1917.

[citation needed] Colonel Gennady Dzyuba, of the Defense Ministry, said of the 2005 contest that "Those who have served, especially in hot spots, know the importance of women in the armed forces.

During the Second World War, the Soviet Union had a female military strength of over one million women [1] who served as snipers, machine gunners, and tank crew members.

The regiments, collectively known to the Germans as the "Nachthexen" ("Night Witches"), flew more than 24,000 sorties and won in total 23 Hero of the Soviet Union medals.

In 1967, the Soviet Universal Military Duty Laws concluded that women offered the greater source of available combat soldiers during periods of large-scale mobilisation.

In the Soviet Union civil universities, in addition to professional education, gave basic military training to the youth of both sexes.

[49] In the Military Article of 1798, the only women allowed to accompany the army was the professional unmarried female sutlers, in Sweden named marketenterska.

Nene Hatun, whose monument has been erected in the city of Erzurum (Eastern Turkey) because of her gallant bravery during the Ottoman-Russian War, constitutes a very good example of this fact.

[54] Current squadron leader of the aerobatics team Turkish Stars, Major Esra Ozatay assumed the role on 8 September 2016.

This change was started in 2016,[57] when the ban on women in ground close combat roles was lifted by the then prime minister, David Cameron.

[59] Plenty of female combatants can be found throughout Britain's military history,[60] including Queen Elizabeth II, who joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service in 1945 and trained as a driver and mechanic.

In the medieval period, Queens and noblewomen such as Ethelfleda of Mercia, Matilda of England, Isabella of France and Margaret of Anjou commanded armies in battle, although they did not fight themselves.

Women continued to lead armies or organise the defense of castles in the absence of their male relatives until the close of the English Civil War.

While as much as possible women were left in the camp, they sometimes accompanied forces in their baggage trains serving as cooks or nurses, and were occasionally caught in combat and killed or taken prisoner.

Similarly women accompanied men in ships of the Royal Navy, in combat being employed as powder monkeys or assisting surgeons.

In 1917 the Women's Royal Naval Service (WRNS) was formed, although then disbanded in 1919 It provided catering and administrative support, communications and electrician personnel.

Women members of the teams might sight and aim anti-aircraft guns and even give the command to fire, but the actual release of the trigger was always (officially at least) reserved for a male soldier.