Why women in the Russian army are not allowed to fight
After school, Svetlana wanted to work as a train conductor., but did not have time to sign up for a scheduled set. For a long time she could not find a suitable job, so the output was a military unit near her hometown. She turned right there, and it turned out that Svetlana was ready to take a dog handler, and sent a list of necessary documents. She loved dogs since childhood, so she immediately went to the military registration and enlistment office, underwent a medical examination and soon entered the service. Back in school, Svetlana played a lot of sports, so she easily passed through physical indicators. At first, she wanted to work out only one contract, and then still go to Russian Railways, but was delayed in the army for a long time.
Communication and security
Svetlana is one of 50 thousand women who serve in the Russian army under contract, and this is about 10-12% of the total composition. But recently there has been talk of increasing these numbers. The Russian ombudsman, Tatyana Moskalkova, offered to allow women to undergo military service at will. She said that she received letters from girls who want to serve in aviation, but they cannot, because only men are admitted to flight schools. The Ministry of Defense also announced that it plans to increase the number of female contractors by 2020 to 80 thousand people.
However, women can be found in a relatively small set of military fields. The most obvious is medicine, but women are still in cynology, providing communication (there are generally more women here) and paramilitary protection. "In the cynology, girls mostly work because they are more responsible and anxious about pets. Puppies need to be raised as small children, patiently teaching all the necessary skills," says Svetlana.
According to Elena, the mechanics of the platoon, even women in other positions are sent to signlers: "In fact, I have to repair all the equipment that we have in part, but women are simply not allowed to do this. So I was put on duty by communication on flights. I lead flights at the aerodrome — I take orders from the command and bring them to all military sites. "
Olga says the head of the guard that she and her colleagues are guarding military facilities and rocket fuel. “There are both girls and men in security, so the fact that I largely manage the process is calm,” says Olga. In general, there are women in the army, they are many, but their possibilities are limited.
Pushups and survival school
Maria managed to get into the army far from immediately, she attacked the military enlistment office with a request to find her a place, then she phoned the military units. After two months of waiting, she received a call and was offered a choice of two parts where signalers were required. As a result, I had to move.
Women from 18 to 40 years old enroll in contract service in the same way as men. The scheme seems simple: you first need to go to the military registration and enlistment office at your place of residence, fill out a form there and write a statement that indicates education, a brief autobiography and feedback from previous places of work or study. In the same place, the girl is given a referral for a medical examination, after passing which you need to go back to the draft board, pass tests for professional psychological indicators and prove a high level of physical fitness. In general, to demonstrate the speed of reaction, psychological endurance, run, shake the press and push. The requirements for physical training are quite humane: you will have to push for 12 times, and press the press 25 times. If it does not come out the first time, the tests can be completed in a month.
Based on the results of the medical examination and the delivery of the standards, the commission at the military registration and enlistment office decides whether a woman can serve. After that, it would seem, it remains only to wait for the order to enter the service, but often it turns out to be only a theory. In fact, the local military registration and enlistment office can say that there are no vacant positions at its disposal - women often hear this most often, because they are not being taken in all formations. In this case, there are three options: either wait (often several months), or try to independently find a military unit where people are required, or contact friends.
At first, Elena lived in the barracks - she learned to walk in the ranks, then she left the field - there were only tents and wooden toilets. She went through a survival school in the winter, so she had to disassemble the machines and run among the snowdrifts
“My dad is a soldier, so I just told him that I wanted to serve. He found out which parts of the conditions were better and offered me an option in the Moscow region. I was living in St. Petersburg at that moment, so I thought it was a normal option "- says Elena. According to her, the admission of women to the service does not work so well and smoothly, and along the way there are unexpected demands. Suppose a medical commission cost her 15,000 rubles, although it should have been free, and in the absence of secondary medical or secondary technical education, women should not even try to enlist for military service.
In the final selection of potential contractors, they are sent to the "school of survival", which becomes the last stage before entering the service. This is a six-week test course with constructions, running in gas masks and forced marches. Far from all military units in Russia are organizing a survival school, so this month is likely to be spent away from home. At first, Elena lived in the barracks - she learned to walk in the ranks, then she left the field - there were only tents and wooden toilets. She passed through the school of survival in the winter, so she had to disassemble the machines and run among the snowdrifts.
“I changed a lot after the Survival School, as if something was broken forever in my head. It was a terrible time when I felt moral pressure all the time,” says Xenia, she serves as a corporal in the security brigade. In general, at this time, the contract soldiers become ordinary soldiers, but not to withstand this test means either to say goodbye to the service, or, if the command of the unit allows, to go through a survival school again.
Airborne once in five years
But there is another way to get into the army - to enroll in a military college, graduating in the rank of lieutenant. So usually do the men who decided to build a career in the military sphere. The diploma allows you to advance in the service - as you know, without higher education, the title of ensign becomes the ceiling. But for women, things are a little more complicated; in most military universities, there is simply no female enrollment. For example, in 2015 in all of Russia only 223 girls received a chance to enter the military specialty (with a total number of places over 11,000).
In other words, military universities that accept girls can be counted on the fingers, because of this, the competition among female applicants is incredibly high, it can be compared only with top theater universities - an average of more than 30 people per place in 2015. Somewhere, the quota for women has since been increased: this year 130 applicants enrolled in the Ushakov Baltic Naval Institute, six of them girls. The competition among them was ten people per place, among the guys it is noticeably less - three people per place.
Possession of a parachute at the exit does not mean the possibility of flying fighters: graduates, most likely, will have to deal with the technical support of the troops
Admission to the university at the same time does not promise service in combat units. Girls, as a rule, study on specific technical specialties required for a certain kind of troops, medical business, meteorology, linguistics (military interpreters) and even economics. In general, rank and specialized education often do not eliminate the need to engage in paperwork.
Interestingly, while girls do not get rid of the need to jump with a parachute, shoot and engage in sambo. In the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School - the only university in Russia that prepares women for service in the Airborne Forces - girls are recruited every five years. But possession of a parachute at the exit does not mean the possibility of flying fighters: graduates, most likely, will have to deal with the technical support of the troops.
Special Forces in the colony and no submarines
"A woman will never be put in a tank and will not be allowed before the plane. In the army, it is generally accepted to give preference to men," says Elena. And in general, she is right. For example, women can not serve on submarines, and in the near future this is unlikely to change. Although, perhaps, by 2018, women will be allowed to work on warships - this applies to signalers, medical workers, as well as specialist logistic services. In general, we are talking about all the same technical support to which women already have access on land.
In 2014, the first female special forces appeared in Nizhny Tagil — they were created on the basis of correctional colony No. 6. In general, this unit has no relation to the army, but is part of the federal penitentiary service and keeps order in the colony. There is no similar analogue in the Russian military units.
The question of the right of women to become part of the combat units is not raised. Formally, there is no law that would prohibit women from being snipers or tank crews: in Russia there is no division into female and male military professions. However, there is a nuance, says the lawyer of the Citizen and Army Human Rights Initiative, Elena Koroleva, in the order of the President of the Russian Federation of 1999 it is indicated that only those positions that are considered to be replaced by female soldiers are available to girls. And their list is formed by the order of the Ministry of Defense. The last one was published in 2009 and, as Korolev says, is classified. However, according to experts and according to the information that gets into the media, it practically does not provide for posts related to contact combat, that is, neither in tanks, nor in airplanes, nor in submarines are women really allowed. Also, women can not carry items that weigh more than 7 kg - this is one of the reasons why they are not welcome in artillery.
Mortgage and salaries
Ksenia wanted to serve in the army while still in school, but came to the draft board only nine years later. She has neither children nor a husband, so she was given housing at a part, not in the village, like the others, and this is rather inconvenient. In the army, she received a chronic illness due to the fact that she was on guard in the cold. Despite this, Ksenia says that she is proud of her work and will not exchange it for anything, even if it is absolutely bad - it is important for her to serve her homeland. Now she is studying at the university in parallel with the service - the correspondence department allows you to combine. She hopes that this will help to advance in the service, although it is recognized that for women to get a new title is much more difficult.
But such a romantic mood among female military personnel does not occur very often. Many are attracted by benefits, for example, a military mortgage, thanks to which you can get an apartment (the state will pay for it if the person does not leave the army until the end of the payment period). Elena admits that her salary was higher, but in the military service she was attracted by free housing, rations and stability.
Often, militaristic aesthetics and thrill to thrill have little to do with the reasons for which women decide to serve, and the Soviet notion of stability in the army attracts not only men.
"Now my salary is 23 thousand rubles - this is an average amount. But in my technical field, a part can afford to hire civilian specialists. They can pay less and it is easier to dismiss, for example, if a woman goes on maternity leave. Civilian specialists receive 7-8 thousand rubles (there is an officially approved list of military posts that civilian specialists can replace. - Approx. Ed.), and at the same time do not have any benefits, "- she says.
When entering the service, Maria had to move 700 kilometers from home: “My life has completely changed, but I don’t regret anything. Of course, my salary is small, but I know for sure that I will always have a job. A big plus is free housing, but to get it, you have to get ready to give the army your whole life. It’s also cool that the state pays for vacation tickets if you travel within Russia. " In general, often militaristic aesthetics and thrill to thrill have little to do with the reasons for which women decide to go to serve, and the Soviet view of stability in the army attracts not only men.
Pornomist and special forces
While in Russia girls are afraid to let panic on submarines, in other countries they are expanding opportunities for female service with might and main. Restrictions, contrary to popular belief, exist even in Israel, where all women have compulsory military service — for example, not all positions in tank forces are available to them. However, this issue is being actively discussed, and soon Israeli women will be able to control all types of military vehicles - the first battalion has already begun training. There are no restrictions for women's services in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and in 2015 they were joined by the United States.
In some countries there are even special combat battalions consisting of only women. For example, the famous "Hunting squad" of special forces in Norway, where they take only women. One of the reasons for its creation was the fact that women are in better contact and go to explore in countries with a traditional way of life (we are talking about military operations in developing countries). In the same Norway, women are called into the army, but, unlike Israel, service in the country is voluntary.
One of the weighty arguments that the Russian military cites in favor of limiting women's service is the lack of infrastructure that would allow women to feel safe, that is, separate female barracks in military units and places of residence on ships. In mixed armies, there are frequent cases of sexual violence, it is enough to recall the last scandal in the US Marine Corps when it turned out that many women from the unit faced violence, harassment and even pornomnost - the infantrymen posted nude photos of their colleagues in a closed Facebook group.
The army is a toxic environment in which hazing, violence and humiliation of human dignity flourish, especially as regards military service. Nevertheless, it may not stop women (besides, it is more logical to ensure the safety of military personnel as a whole, so that no one was afraid to serve). In any case, it is up to the woman to decide - after all, a ban on service supports the stereotype of male defenders and weak women who are not capable of holding anything heavier than a frying pan.
Photo: nikkytok - stock.adobe.com, Alexandr Blinov - stock.adobe.com, alexstr - stock.adobe.com
