The Status of Women in the Armed Forces

Abstract

The military service of female soldiers is now permanently embedded in the operation of the armed forces of many countries in the world. The availability of this form of professional activity for women was often only theoretical in many countries a few decades ago. Due to the gradual opening of the armed forces to women, international organizations, such as the UN, NATO or the European Union, have also begun to deal with this issue in the context of the protection of human rights, especially in the field of equality, the gender perspective or combating discrimination on the grounds of sex. A number of actions have been taken in the international arena to systematize this state of affairs and create appropriate models addressed at individual countries. This set of developed regulations in the form of documents, guidelines or recommendations constitutes the international standards for the protection of human rights in the field of military service of women in the armed forces. The purpose of this paper is to compare the Polish reality in which female soldiers serve, with these standards. A comparison of both spheres will allow conclusions to be drawn regarding the translation of these standards into the Polish army and to indicate mutual correlations in this respect. This will also give an indication as to the level of applicability of the latter in the terms of the specific guarantees they provide for female soldiers.