Panel: 'Women Warriors' (All About Women 2015)

Fighting forces have been some of the last all-male workplaces. The Australian Defence Force will remove all gender restrictions on combat roles from 2016 onwards, but there are no women in the senior leadership group, and of all personnel serving now, women are only about 14%. Women have gradually infiltrated the ranks, but the hurdles have been high: from scandals about the treatment of women, to the particular challenges of work-life balance.

In 2013, a speech by the Chief of Army, Lieutenant General David Morrison went viral as he stood firm against outdated attitudes to female personnel. But what is it really like to be a woman in the military? How difficult is it for women to become soldiers or sailors or pilots? What motivates women to join, and what does their service mean to them?

Major Charmaine Benfield's most recent command position was as the Officer Commanding of the Logistic Support Company within the Combat Service Support Battalion in the 1st Brigade, Darwin. Her operational experience includes Operations Officer of the Force Support Unit - Seven in the Middle East in 2012-2013 for which she was awarded a Commendation for Distinguished Service.

Catherine Fox is one of Australia’s leading commentators on women and the workforce. She is co-chair of the Westpac/Financial Review 100 Women of Influence Awards and is on several advisory boards, including the Defence Force Gender Equality Advisory Board.

Commander Cath Hayes has served in the Navy for 23 years, she is a maritime warfare officer and air warfare specialist who has served in a variety of Command, leadership and staff roles ashore and at sea. Currently the Commanding Officer of ANZAC Class Frigate HMAS Toowoomba, in 2014 Commander Hayes was the first women to Command an Australian warship on operations in the Middle East.

Wing Commander Fleur James was a member of the first contingent of air traffic controllers to deploy to Mogadishu, Somalia in October 1993. In recent years, she has had two six-month deployments to Dili, East Timor and Kabul, Afghanistan and assisted Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick with her Review into the Treatment of Women in the Australian Defence Force.

Alex Shehadie is the Director of Cultural Reform in the Australian Defence Force at the Australian Human Rights Commission. Previously she was the Director of the Review into the Treatment of Women in Australian Defence Force. She was recently named in The Australian Financial Review's 100 Women of Influence for her work in this area.

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