By: Amanda Connolly, Global News
Women from the Canadian military are heading to Jordan within the next six months to help train a new team of all-female soldiers in the Jordanian army.
The Jordanian Armed Forces Quick Reaction Force Female Engagement Team is a new platoon made up entirely of female soldiers trained for rapid response in situations where male soldiers cannot realistically engage with women encountered by the armed forces.
That could include conducting physical searches of a refugee woman at a border crossing or responding to incidents at refugee camps, according to a post published last month on the Maple Leaf,a website run by the Canadian Armed Forces that publishes material on the work of the military.
A spokesperson for the military confirmed that a team will deploy within the coming months but did not provide details, citing security concerns.
“A small team of Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members (all female) will be deployed to Jordan later this year to provide training support to the Jordanian Armed Forces (JAF) Quick Reaction Force Female Engagement Team,” wrote Cpt. Christopher Daniel, public affairs officer with the Canadian Joint Operations Command.
“Their identity, exact numbers, and exact location will not be disclosed at this time due to operational security considerations. Also, they will not conduct media engagements at this time.
Female engagement teams were first used by the American military during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
They started out largely as an ad-hoc effort, using women already deployed on existing operations to speak and work with local women.
READ MORE: Canadian Armed Forces pushes for more women: ‘I’m a woman in the military and I love it’
Strict cultural norms prevented male soldiers from talking to local women and as a result, opportunities were missed to both provide and gain information.
The first full-time American female engagement team arrived in Afghanistan in March 2010.
They were quickly followed by a British team in October 2010.
According to a 2011 NATO presentation on the teams, their duties ranged from providing information on enemy activity back to their units, communicating messages meant to educate and influence the public through the women in local communities, conducting security searches of women and conducting medical outreach.
Daniel did not say what kinds of training the Canadian female soldiers will provide.
He did, however, note the training will focus on how the Jordanian female soldiers can take the lead in situations where men might not be able.
“The specific types of training are not ready to be discussed yet as they are still in the planning stages,” he said.
“The training will be geared towards enabling the JAF Quick Reaction Force Female Engagement Team to respond in a culturally sensitive and respectful manner to security tasks, enhancing operational effectiveness.”
Jordan, as a country that is relatively stable and among the most progressive in the Middle East, has been a key recipient of Canadian humanitarian and security support in recent years, particularly since the rise of the so-called Islamic State terror group.
A Jordanian pilot was murdered by ISIS in 2015 and in 2016, the Canadian government announced Jordan would be among the core recipients of an anti-ISIS training and support package worth almost $2 billion.
The power vacuum caused by the Syrian civil war provided fertile ground for ISIS to metastasize as the country fell to pieces.
Roughly 1.4 million Syrian refugees fleeing the violence of both the civil war and the fight against ISIS have arrived in Jordan, which operates camps to house the refugees as they await resettlement through the United Nations Refugee Agency.
The camps have been cited as a major source of concern because of the potential they hold for radicalization, human trafficking and sexual assault of those living in them.
The deployment later this year will not be the first time Canadian soldiers will be training Jordanian counterparts.
Since roughly the end of 2016, a Canadian training team has been working with the Jordanian military to help with things like soldier skills, building infrastructure in areas of concern like the border with Syria, and providing equipment like wet weather gear and searchlights.
Another team is also working with soldiers in Lebanon.
It is not clear, however, how long the deployment of the female training unit might last.
The current mandate for Operation Impact, which is Canada’s mission against ISIS through which the training and support are conducted, expires in March 2019.
Showing posts with label Female Soldiers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Female Soldiers. Show all posts
Friday, July 6, 2018
Friday, June 15, 2018
Bercuson: The challenge of Recruiting Women to the Canadian Armed Forces
By: David Bercuson, iPolitics
One of the innovative programs that grows out of the Strong, Secure and Engaged defence policy statement released a year ago is the Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) project launched by the Department of National Defence in April this year. The project promises $1.3 billion over ten years to be distributed to scholars, businesses and researchers generally who undertake competitive endeavors to help the government solve 16 defence and security challenges in many domains. The majority of the proposals the government is seeking help with are highly technical challenges but one – to achieve 25 per cent female participation in the Canadian forces within ten years – is most decidedly not.
Since 2000, women are eligible to serve in any branch of the Canadian Armed Forces in any capacity. Today about 15 per cent of Canada’s soldiers, sailors and air personnel are women. That number has been relatively static for some time. The government wants to see more women in the CAF for very good reasons, namely that female perspectives in the entire range of armed forces activities and defence-related matters is crucial and that any nation, company or military force that either excludes or does not encourage full participation of one half of humanity in its endeavours will be outpaced by those that do.
"But ‘manliness’ today is a concept much in dispute, as evolving gender roles have opened up large areas of society to female participation. Remember when the doctor was a kindly older man? Today there are more women than men in medical schools."
So what is the problem? The CAF offers a good career for young men and women who crave adventure in their lives, are physically and mentally fit, and who want to step out of the confines of an office or a factory assembly line. Benefits are generous, pay is at least equal to that in the private sector and Canadians today pay a great deal of honour and respect to those who serve.
There is really no secret to increasing the number of women in the Canadian armed forces and it begins with security of the person. From time immemorial, soldiering was seen as a male endeavor. In historian Geoffrey Hayes latest book Crerar’s Lieutenants: Inventing the Canadian Junior Army Officer, 1939-45, much emphasis is placed on that quality called “manliness” that dominated thinking about what would make a good junior officer in the Second World War. The concept itself is not new and other historians have written about “manliness” as an essential quality going back to the days of the Canadian militia. But “manliness” today is a concept much in dispute, as evolving gender roles have opened up large areas of society to female participation. Remember when the doctor was a kindly older man? Today there are more women than men in medical schools.
If women do not feel secure, at ease and totally comfortable as themselves, in uniform, why would they think of a career in the military forces? It’s hard to say if sexual harassment is any more prevalent in the military than in industry, broadcasting, entertainment or education, but those fields have become as traditional for women as they once were for men. And within those areas of employment, women are increasingly vocal in their fight to be treated as human beings. In the military, with its hierarchical chain of command, fighting city hall is much harder.
The other task, no less important, is to fight that still prevalent belief among males that women may be good civil-military relations folks, but poor trigger pullers, by ensuring from the word go — in training at all levels — that the female person standing beside you is just as qualified in her field of military occupation as you are and will have your back, as necessary.
Easy to say, but the challenges, even in the early 21st century, are immense.
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David Bercuson is Director of Programs at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and Director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary.
The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics.
One of the innovative programs that grows out of the Strong, Secure and Engaged defence policy statement released a year ago is the Innovation for Defence Excellence and Security (IDEaS) project launched by the Department of National Defence in April this year. The project promises $1.3 billion over ten years to be distributed to scholars, businesses and researchers generally who undertake competitive endeavors to help the government solve 16 defence and security challenges in many domains. The majority of the proposals the government is seeking help with are highly technical challenges but one – to achieve 25 per cent female participation in the Canadian forces within ten years – is most decidedly not.
 |
| In this undated photo provided by Canadian Armed Forces Capt. Ashley Collette, poses for a photo with children during a patrol in Afghanistan. During her 10-month deployment, Collette led a 50-strong all-male infantry unit providing security to villagers. The Department of National Defence has set the goal of 25 per cent of the Canadian forces being women in the next 10 years. (AP Photo/Capt. Ashley Collette) |
"But ‘manliness’ today is a concept much in dispute, as evolving gender roles have opened up large areas of society to female participation. Remember when the doctor was a kindly older man? Today there are more women than men in medical schools."
So what is the problem? The CAF offers a good career for young men and women who crave adventure in their lives, are physically and mentally fit, and who want to step out of the confines of an office or a factory assembly line. Benefits are generous, pay is at least equal to that in the private sector and Canadians today pay a great deal of honour and respect to those who serve.
There is really no secret to increasing the number of women in the Canadian armed forces and it begins with security of the person. From time immemorial, soldiering was seen as a male endeavor. In historian Geoffrey Hayes latest book Crerar’s Lieutenants: Inventing the Canadian Junior Army Officer, 1939-45, much emphasis is placed on that quality called “manliness” that dominated thinking about what would make a good junior officer in the Second World War. The concept itself is not new and other historians have written about “manliness” as an essential quality going back to the days of the Canadian militia. But “manliness” today is a concept much in dispute, as evolving gender roles have opened up large areas of society to female participation. Remember when the doctor was a kindly older man? Today there are more women than men in medical schools.
If women do not feel secure, at ease and totally comfortable as themselves, in uniform, why would they think of a career in the military forces? It’s hard to say if sexual harassment is any more prevalent in the military than in industry, broadcasting, entertainment or education, but those fields have become as traditional for women as they once were for men. And within those areas of employment, women are increasingly vocal in their fight to be treated as human beings. In the military, with its hierarchical chain of command, fighting city hall is much harder.
The other task, no less important, is to fight that still prevalent belief among males that women may be good civil-military relations folks, but poor trigger pullers, by ensuring from the word go — in training at all levels — that the female person standing beside you is just as qualified in her field of military occupation as you are and will have your back, as necessary.
Easy to say, but the challenges, even in the early 21st century, are immense.
----
David Bercuson is Director of Programs at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and Director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary.
The views, opinions and positions expressed by all iPolitics columnists and contributors are the author’s alone. They do not inherently or expressly reflect the views, opinions and/or positions of iPolitics.
Thursday, March 22, 2018
Female Soldiers to Be Central Part of Mali Deployment
The Canadian Press, published in The Guardian
Canada will deploy helicopters and troops – including female soldiers – to Mali in support of an ongoing UN peacekeeping mission, the government has announced.
The 12-month deployment will also include an infantry unit and military trainers.
A date for Canada’s first deployment in Africa since its troubled mission to Rwanda in 1994 and the exact number of troops that will be sent have yet to be decided.
The foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland, said the unit heading to Mali would include female soldiers.
“One of our priorities is to increase women’s participation in peacekeeping,” she said.
The announcement is less ambitious than the Liberal government of the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, had initially planned. Shortly after coming to power in late 2015, Ottawa had indicated it would send up to 600 troops to Mali.
Ministers later put the plans on hold amid fears of casualties, angering allies who said they felt let down, and prompting some to speculate the delay could hurt Canada’s bid for a non-permanent seat at the UN security council.
In recent months, jihadists have ramped up their activities in central Mali, targeting domestic and foreign forces in outbreaks of violence once confined to the country’s north.
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Four UN peacekeepers were killed and four wounded in late February when a mine exploded under their vehicle in central Mali.
The peacekeeping mission, known by the acronym Minusma, currently has 12,000 military personnel and 1,900 police.
They have been deployed in Mali since 2013 to counter the jihadist insurgency and general lawlessness.
The Canadians, according to Sajjan, will conduct reconnaissance, facilitate medical evacuations for the 57 UN partner nations already on the ground in Mali, and help plan missions in the country.
James Bezan, defence spokesman for the official opposition Conservative party, accused the Liberals of sending troops to a highly dangerous country for partisan promises.
“This is about Justin Trudeau’s selfish political ambition to win a seat on the UN security council, and he is using our troops as political pawns,” Bezan told reporters.
Canada is running for one of the council’s 10 non-permanent seats in an election that will take place in 2020.
Canada will deploy helicopters and troops – including female soldiers – to Mali in support of an ongoing UN peacekeeping mission, the government has announced.
 |
| An RCAF Griffon flies over a village in Iraq during OP IMPACT. Griffons will be deployed to Mali to provide escort to the Chinook transport helicopters. |
Defence minister Harjit Sajjan told reporters that Canada would deploy two Chinook transport helicopters and four Griffon attack helicopters to provide armed escort and protection in the fight against Islamist militants in Mali.
The 12-month deployment will also include an infantry unit and military trainers.
The foreign minister, Chrystia Freeland, said the unit heading to Mali would include female soldiers.
“One of our priorities is to increase women’s participation in peacekeeping,” she said.
The announcement is less ambitious than the Liberal government of the prime minister, Justin Trudeau, had initially planned. Shortly after coming to power in late 2015, Ottawa had indicated it would send up to 600 troops to Mali.
Ministers later put the plans on hold amid fears of casualties, angering allies who said they felt let down, and prompting some to speculate the delay could hurt Canada’s bid for a non-permanent seat at the UN security council.
In recent months, jihadists have ramped up their activities in central Mali, targeting domestic and foreign forces in outbreaks of violence once confined to the country’s north.
Advertisement
Four UN peacekeepers were killed and four wounded in late February when a mine exploded under their vehicle in central Mali.
The peacekeeping mission, known by the acronym Minusma, currently has 12,000 military personnel and 1,900 police.
They have been deployed in Mali since 2013 to counter the jihadist insurgency and general lawlessness.
The Canadians, according to Sajjan, will conduct reconnaissance, facilitate medical evacuations for the 57 UN partner nations already on the ground in Mali, and help plan missions in the country.
James Bezan, defence spokesman for the official opposition Conservative party, accused the Liberals of sending troops to a highly dangerous country for partisan promises.
“This is about Justin Trudeau’s selfish political ambition to win a seat on the UN security council, and he is using our troops as political pawns,” Bezan told reporters.
Canada is running for one of the council’s 10 non-permanent seats in an election that will take place in 2020.
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