British Army and its view of women

[Worldgonecrazy]

My daughter is considering joining the army. Obviously there are issues around bullying and sexual harassment, though those seem to be a risk in most jobs for young women these days.

I took a look on the army website at what roles might be of particular interest and google took me to a FAQ for women who are thinking of signing up.

The FAQ questions were sadly very predictable and all around appearance:

what are the rules around make up and hair
Can I wear hair extensions and weaves
Can I wear jewellery
Can I have fillers, limp plumbers or botox
Am I allowed to paint my nails
Can I wear a hijab

Do these questions tell us everything we need to know about how the army view women?

Nothing about safety, about addressing particular biological needs of women, just a lot of answers on how we can keep ourselves looking nice for the men.

Its wound me up and I have nowhere else to vent!

I do not agree that the sexist problems in the military are just the same as in every other job. I completely agree with you, OP

What biological needs to you need addressing in an FAQ section? These are probably the questions they got asked the most?

If I were a young woman thinking of joining up, I'd like to see information about:

• How you manage periods while on deployment
• Can you take the pill? Was very interested to learn from recent thread about Trump banning people with a trans identity from the military that normally you can't be on frontline duty if you have to take medication every day as it might run out and you would then be a liability for the rest of the team. Does the pill count in that way?
• How would your duties and progression be affected if you do become pregnant?
• What account is taken of the differences in physique in assessing fitness as part of the recruitment procedure and also while you are serving? They do exist, and I'd like to think the military has thought about this and reached a sensible approach that doesn't compromise anybody's safety but does allow women to be allocated roles they are perfectly capable of doing.

I can see for many teenagers the questions mentioned in the OP might seem more pressing but the ones above are things a young woman should be thinking about.

They're actually the most commonly asked questions at open days from young women.

Well those are the most commonly asked questions so they are answering them.

The fitness requirements for males and females are available online.

Medical questions re pill and other medications are covered when you go for the medical during recruitment.

Generally I'd point your DD towards the RAF rather than army as many of the roles are the same but as the newest branch doesn't have the same entrenched habits and stigma

How about these questions that you wouldn't get asked at an open day because of sheer embarrassment, but which matter a lot:

1. Will I be accommodated in a lockable space away from biological males during basic?
2. Will I be able to access sanitary towels or tampons during deployments and adventurous training?
3. Will I be able to get time off for my agonising endometriosis?
4. Will my uniform be designed to accommodate monthly bloating as well as my boobs which change size across the month due to water retention?
5. Can men identify into my accommodation?
6. Will I be adequately supported if I get raped by a serviceman?
7. Will I be adequately supported if I get raped by an officer whose career is deemed more important than mine?
8. Will I still be eligible for promotions if 6 or 7 happen or will I just be quietly sidelined with no explanation to me about why?

Just off the top of my head. 🤷‍♀️

imho, gender segregated units would be great improvement for most of issues.

as others have said, the clue is in the name. If those are the most frequently asked questions then that's what most women thinking of joining up are asking about, so it's completely appropriate for the army to answer (and publish) them, otherwise why bother having an FAQ section?

If anything, surely the army thinking "the questions women usually ask us are stupid, let's not bother answering them, we'll make up better questions we think they should be asking instead" is more derogatory, infantilising and paternalistic?

presumably there are also other avenues suggested on the website where anyone thinking of applying can contact the army to pose questions that aren't in the FAQ?

Besides which, any more complex questions are not going to be the type that can be answered easily in an FAQ. The answer to "what are my options if I have heavy periods" is going to be very different if you're on active deployment in Syria compared to collating intel in Warminster.

Sex segregated.

I was in the Army. My advice to young women: don't do it (my ex RAF mates say the same about the air force)

Why? Could you share more about the realities of life for women in the army?

It was sexist at best - rapey at worst in a lot of cases. It may have changed, I was (mostly) fine but my father was still serving and very senior.

You need a lot of backbone and to know when to pick your battles. Too many young people these days can't do that

It's highly likely that these are the questions young women are asking the recruitment staff when they join. Common sense dictates these should then be used in the FAQ section.

When I joined the RAF women recruits were warned not to sleep with the PT’s as they would have a book on us.

To be clear - women in a position of zero power being warned not to sleep with someone in power above them as it was common knowledge it would be bet on.

I would like to say it wouldn’t happen now, but given my overall experience I assume it still is.

Sorry to ignore the original post but I'm fascinated:
are you saying that FAQs are actually statistically the most frequently asked questions by the general public? I always thought they were 'madey-uppy' questions; this belief being reinforced by the fact that I rarely find the answer I want in FAQs🙄
Seriously though: are they literally real questions most frequently asked by genuine members of the public??

To return to the OP - if these genuinely are the authentic most frequently asked questions from women thinking of becoming soldiers - what an odd selection of concerns to have about a job where you may kill or be killed!

The army recruits heavily from working-class teenagers. Based on my experience these sorts of things are typically a major concern of the female members of that set.

I don't think anyone has ever claimed that the were "statistically the most" frequently asked questions, just that they are questions asked, well, frequently. Thus the name!

I find it fascinating you seem to think they were completely made up questions - what on earth would be the point in that?

There might be other questions asked as/more frequently that haven't been included (not just in this specific example but anywhere that uses the format), either because they can't be easily answered or because the info is available elsewhere, so they might not be exhaustive, but, yes of course they are literally real questions asked by genuine members of the public.

Why would any organisation bother making up and answering questions that had never been asked and that nobody would care about the answers to? Just to fill up space on their webpage?

As someone who occasionally has to write or edit FAQs for my company, if the army is in anyway the same then they are not in fact questions anyone has actually asked, frequently or otherwise, and are simply "questions we think people might have" that someone in the org has come up with...