One Is Not Born, But Rather Becomes, a Fighter: Combat Aspirations and the Negotiation of Gendered Roles Among Young Women Joining the French Army

Abstract

Research on gender stereotypes and gender-based discrimination is central to the sociological literature on the slow feminization of military recruitment. Both have been identified as important causes of women's persistent underrepresentation in the military. They help explain macro-level patterns of gender inequality but are insufficient to understand the aspirations and service of military women who do engage in the armed forces, especially those in gender-atypical specialties and roles. To explore this issue, this article draws on interviews and observations conducted with aspiring servicewomen during the French Army's noncommissioned officer recruitment tests. We seek to understand the social properties that enable candidates who aspire to masculine-coded combat roles to sustain those ambitions amid persistent gender stereotypes and discrimination. By analyzing these young women's discourses on gender equality and efficacy against the backdrop of the experiences of women aspiring to gender-typical support roles, the analysis reveals how the individual negotiation of gender norms about appropriate roles entails the mobilization of specific dispositions, resources, and values. We conclude by discussing how the choices and discourses of aspiring servicewomen contend with, adapt to, and challenge the interactional processes that sustain gender inequality in the military.