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Women could be fighting on frontline in British Army (8 April 2014)

Date: 08/04/2014
Duncan Lewis, Personal Injury Solicitors, Women could be fighting on frontline in British Army

Women could soon serving on the frontline, after General Sir Peter Wall, the Army’s highest ranking officer, said it was time for the Armed Forces to “seriously consider” allowing women to fight in frontline combat roles.

The role of female serving Army personnel is due to be reviewed in 2018 and Sir Peter, Chief of the General Staff, said that he wanted to prove that the Army was an open and equal opportunities employer.

The Daily Mail reports that countries such as Australia are allowing women to serve in frontline combat from 2016. The US Army brought in frontline roles for women Army officers in 2013.

Speaking in an interview with the Army’s Soldier magazine, Sir Peter said:

“We’re not very good at making it easy for talented women who want to have a family and sustain a service career. If we were better at that, we’d have a better Army.”

He added that Britain was now in the minority of Western countries whose armies do not allow women to serve on the frontline.

The British Army currently has 7,500 serving female soldiers – some serve in frontline roles with the artillery and in the engineers. Women fighter pilots and submariners are also becoming common in the Armed Forces. However, women serving in roles involving hand-to-hand combat have yet to be allowed in the British Army.

Sir Peter said:

“This isn’t just about getting more females into the 30% of roles that are combat trades, but getting more of them into the Army.

He said that women in frontline positions, including women taking part in hand-to-hand combat, was “definitely something we need to be considering seriously”.

“Women need to see they have equal opportunities right throughout the organisation,” he added.

“Allowing them to be combat troops would make us look more normal to society – but there will always be people who say the close battle is no place for female soldiers.”

He added that offering women soldiers flexible working contracts could help boost the number of female recruits in the Army – and encourage mothers to return to their Army career after raising children.


A whole range of arguments for not allowing female soldiers to take part in hand-to-hand combat have been offered by critics of previous proposals – including the suggestion that women soldiers would distract men, who may feel protective towards them on the frontline, or be moved to help an injured female colleague during live combat.

Some critics have also cast doubt on whether women recruits would have sufficient physical strength for hand-to-hand combat on the frontline.

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For expert legal advice on Military Accident Claims or Claims Against MoD, contact Duncan Lewis Personal injury solicitors on 020 7923 4020.


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