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The Lived Experience of a
Commissioning Course 211 Officer
Cadet: A Female Perspective
This article has been compiled to explore the extent to which prospective and current female OCdts experience systemic barriers to recruitment and retention in the British Army, with a specific focus on what perceptions are reinforced or challenged at the Academy. Training attheRoyalMilitaryAcademySandhurst(RMAS) is necessarily arduous but we must avoid using this narrative to justify practices that create bar- riers for women. The Army reflects society and, if it wishes to hold itself to higher moral, ethical and professional standards, it must lead the way on issues including systemic sexism. Addressing these will always be uncomfortable and demands critical thinking as opposed to
OCdt Lord
Recruitment to Civilian Life’. To enable this, the Secretary of State for Defence, Ben Wallace, lifted a ‘gagging order’ on serving personnel. This allowed serving women to give testimony to MPs for the first time, regarding their experi- ences in the military. It is the hope of the MoD that the subsequent recommendations from the inquiry will enhance operational effective- ness and what Sarah Atherton MP has deemed “already an excellent career for women”.
Prior to joining the Army, female cadets had varying preconceptions. These predominantly stemmed from one of two sources; external
casual dismissiveness.
These campaigns promote a positive preconception
that the Army is a modern employer who actively encourages anyone to join regardless of gender, ethnicity and background
advertising, including wider media and the word of mouth and internal messaging including on pre-RMAS courses and webinars. The former includes the last three Army adver- tisement campaigns – ‘Snowflake’, ‘Confidence Lasts a Lifetime’ and ‘Fail. Learn. Win’, which have fea- tured women at the forefront. Not only do these campaigns place emphasis on friendship and comradery, but they also challenge the stereotype of the Army being a male-dominated environment. These campaigns pro- mote a positive preconception that the Army is a modern employer who
It is important to clarify what this
article is not. It does not claim
to have the answers to what are
complex societal issues. It is not
intended to be a list of complaints
offered without suggested solu-
tions. It does not seek to argue
that RMAS and, by extension, the
British Army are among the worst
institutions when it comes to sys-
temic sexism, it is noted that it is
at greater risk than most institu-
tions due to the perception of its
work and historical stereotypes. Finally, it must be emphasised that this article puts forward one perspective, that of the current female OCdts of Imjin Company; it is not absolute and should not be interpreted as such.
actively encourages anyone to join regardless of gender, ethnicity and background.
Inclusivity was also a key theme of the female focused events held prior to attending RMAS. The ‘Female Perspective Webinar’, hosted by a team of serving female army officers and career staff, is one example. Presentations were deliv- ered on topics that were of specific concern to female candidates such as professional devel- opment, women’s health and sport. The webinar was a great source of reassurance for female candidates and did well to negate any negative stereotypes. It was also clear throughout the ses-
The lack of female representation in the armed forces is documented; as of 1 April 2020, women make up only 10.9% of the UK regular forces with 13.6% of Officers being female. Accordingly, female recruitment and retention has become a key focus for the Ministry of Defence (MoD). In 2020, the Defence Committee launched an inquiry into ‘Women in the Armed Forces: From
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