Career Options
Women making their mark in militaryShe was the first woman to command a combat arms sub-unit with the Canadian Forces. Though she never imagined herself as a pioneer, Major Anne Reiffenstein is proud of what all women have accomplished in the military. LINDA WHITE |
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 [ 2006-05-03 ] |
Major Anne Reiffenstein (right) and Captain Nichola Goddard take part in artillery training in Shilo, Manitoba. Capt. Goddard is presently serving in Afghanistan.
"There is excitement about being unique in some sense. Did I see myself as a woman pioneer? I have been the first to do a number of jobs and I'm proud of that. The role of women has evolved significantly in the time since I joined."
Reiffenstein was in army cadets and reserves in Thunder Bay. The 1989 Human Rights Tribunal ruling allowing women into combat arms inspired her to join the Canadian Forces. One of the reasons she joined was to see the world. "I wanted to have an adventure. That's really what appealed to me. I wanted to meet interesting people and work at national and international levels."
She has served overseas in Cyprus and Central Africa (Uganda, Rwanda and Former Zaire) and in domestic operations in response to floods, ice storms and fires.
"I've seen and met a wide variety of people. When you get here, it's the great equalizer. You meet people from all walks of life ... and have a common vision, identification and a common sense of purpose. It's the same when you work with people serving in militaries from all parts of the world," Reiffenstein says.
The mother of two young children is a division commander at the Royal Military College in Kingston.
"Can you balance life and family? I don't think it's any different than any other woman with children and a career," Reiffenstein says.
Her husband is also in the military. "As someone in the military, you have to have expectations of moving ... It's part and parcel of life. It's part of the adventure and part of being a military family," she says.
Reiffenstein delivers military training to 350 officer cadets. "The young people are not here as a last resort. They could do anything," she says. "They believe in service to country, in community building and in something bigger than themselves. It helps keep me passionate about what I do."
Lieutenant Aida Gabriel joined the Canadian Forces part time in 1991, after recruiters visited her high school in Etobicoke. She began her career as an infantry private soldier and worked her way up to a sergeant.
SERVED IN BOSNIA
She served in Bosnia in 1996-97. "I went as a private, a rifleman. In the reserves, you apply to go and go through a competition. That was the first year they took five reserve infantry females into a theatre of combat."
As Diversity Officer at the Canadian Forces Recruiting Centre Toronto, Gabriel advises on employment equity issues, educates staff on diversification and does recruiting presentations.
Women make up 16% of the regular force, a number Gabriel would like to see increase even further, as per the direction of General Rick Hillier, CDS. "Women still tend to go for non-combative roles as medics and in research and administration rather than infantry (ground troops), armoured, artillery or engineers. That doesn't mean that the support positions are any less important. Basic training is the same for all."
Gabriel is proud of women's role in the military. "This has been paved through a long, long struggle. In the Second World War, women were driving trucks and fixing trucks, but there was wage discrimination implemented because they were paid less than men for the same type of work.
"Sixty years later, women can go into any role, into every single position," Gabriel says. "We are the only military in the world that offers that. We are just a reflection of society."
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QUICK FACTS
Women have served in Canada's military for more than 100 years:
- The largest number served during the Second World War, when many performed non-traditional duties.
- When the Royal Canadian Navy, the Canadian Army and the Royal Canadian Air Force allowed women to enrol in the 1950s, their employment was restricted to traditional roles in medicine, communication, logistics and administration.
- The roles of women began to expand in 1971. The Canadian Forces gradually expanded employment opportunities into such non-traditional areas as vehicle drivers and mechanics, aircraft mechanics, air- traffic controllers, military police and firefighters.
- In 1989, a human rights tribunal directed the Canadian Forces to remove any remaining employment restrictions based on sex, with the exception of submarine duty. That was successfully challenged in 2002.
-- Visit www.recruiting.forces.gc.ca to learn more.
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