This project arose out of a need to fulfill a lack of knowledge and practices regarding gender issues in European Military Institutions. Recent research conducted in several European countries (e.g. UK, Germany, Norway) has found consistent effects of hegemonic masculinity in military organisations, which is manifested more clearly in the largely asymmetrical percentages of male (high%) to female (low%) personnel. One of the observed outcomes being the recurrence of women’s disassociation from their gender identity, aiming for inclusion in military masculinity. In that regard, and responding to a lack of practical improvements in this area, it is important, and innovative, to investigate to what extent young cadets adapt (or not) to a military culture and to its hegemonic masculine environment. Another related concern is the level of peer acceptance when women take over leadership positions, which we believe is demonstrative of the institution’s views on gender roles.
By gathering data from different European Military Institutions we expect to undertake specific research under the field of Gender Studies. With this work we would contribute to a wider awareness on gender mainstreaming within the universe of European military Academies. By supporting the integration of a gender perspective into the preparation, design, implementation, monitoring and re-evaluation of policies in Military Institutions, we would be combating discrimination while promoting equality between women and men.
The project has four main objectives, which are, chronologically:
1 - to gather information from Army personnel, in each partner institution, regarding their views, and experiences with gender issues. This would be done in the form of questionnaires and interviews.
2 - to collaboratively create a Military Gender Studies module, in the form of a Military Gender Studies - Army Handbook. Through the handbook, implement a set of common contents to be taught, initially, in each partner institution, as a part of their curricular program.
3 - set up workshops with students (C1 + C2), using our Military Gender Studies handbook and teaching the importance of gender equality in the Armed Forces. Then, prepared with the students feedback on the materials, we would then train the professionals who would be teaching Military Gender Studies as a part of the curricular program at each Military Academy (C3 + C4). We consider the training sessions (LTT) of these two target groups to be of utmost importance in terms of knowledge dissemination and good practices sharing. 4 - disseminate our results and materials in both military and civilian academic circles. Through the organisation of a multiplier event at the end of the project we would be able to disseminate our results (i.e. Military Gender Studies module), hopefully having the opportunity to implement them in other Military Academies, and institutions (e.g. Colégio Militar, Escola de Sargentos do Exército, etc.). Also, through our participation in European Gender Studies conferences/congresses we would be able to disseminate our results in a civilian sphere, impacting the development of Gender Studies in European Societies.
Regarding the need for the project to be developed transnationally, we believe that only through the collaboration of Military Academies from countries with different socio-political realities would we be able to produce results that reflect a European standpoint on military gender issues. The synergies from the collaboration between the partner organisations
(Portugal, Italy, Romania, Bulgaria) in the creation of a Military Gender Studies module and accompanying handbook would widen the scope of our understanding of the existing gender issues in European Military Academies in ways that a national project never could. By transnationally expanding the range of our research, we would not only increase the richness of our empirical researc