Military Women

Excuse the late post, but yesterday was incredibly busy. Yesterday was also Remembrance Day.

Women have been involved in Canada’s military for more than 100 years.

The largest number of women served during the World War II and many performed non-traditional duties.

When the Navy, Army, and Air Force again let women enlist in the early 1950s, they were restricted to medicine, communication, logistics, and administration.

The Royal Commission on the Status of Women began pushing for greater military opportunities for women and in 1971 the Canadian Forces lifted the ceiling of 1,500, and gradually expanded women’s roles into the non-traditional areas (vehicle drivers and mechanics, aircraft mechanics, air-traffic controllers, military police, and firefighters)

In 1989 a Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ordered the Canadian Forces to fully integrate women into all occupations by 1999, including combat roles. 

Today Canadian women can enlist in all military jobs, except for submarine duty (the Oberon Class submarines that the CF currently uses cannot accommodate a mixed-gender crew) and Roman Catholic chaplaincy.

About 7,100 women are in the Canadian forces today, 10.6 per cent of the regular force. In the reserves there are 15,544 women representing about 18 per cent of the reserves.

In 2003 Major Anne Reiffenstein became the first woman to command a combat arms sub-unit.

In May 2006, Capt. Nichola Goddard was the first Canadian female soldier to die in combat since World War II.

Remembrance Day is a wonderful reminder to honour our fallen soldiers. Let’s hope people remember more than once a year to be thankful for those women and men who have served their country and the women who fought for the opportunity to fight for us.