Smol: A woman as chief of the Defense Staff? Not yet, Canada

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Since joining the Canadian Armed Forces in 1980, I have served alongside female officers and NCOs, commanding and serving under women. Like the men I encountered in the service, there were some women I respected a lot and others I didn’t respect at all. I watched, dealt with, and at times was the target of harassment by male members of the Forces and, yes, female members as well.

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But the good, the inconvenient and the bad are an integral part of what it means to “normalize” gender equality and participation in the Forces.

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Women in the military have proven to be an integral and reliable part of wartime combat operations. In fact, when the next big war escalates, we will need strong, dedicated women to fight in combat and leadership roles. Fortunately, the days when war was the exclusive domain of men like me have long been relegated to the dustbin of history.

So why, if I fully support women in combat roles, am I opposed to a woman being the next Chief of the Defense Staff?

It is both right and inevitable that a woman should play that leadership role and also be allowed to succeed. However, the precarious political and administrative circumstances that the next CDS will have to face, combined with the overly optimistic expectations of the government and the public that, somehow, a CDS woman will be able to immediately clean, disinfect and scrub every corner perceived as dirty of Canadian territory. Armed Forces: all this will probably lead that woman to failure.

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It is a universal expectation of military leadership that the leader must accept ownership of one’s circumstances, regardless of who may be to blame for the problems, as if it were his or her own problem. If a woman is appointed CDS today, all the problems that her male predecessors faced (recruitment, harassment, procurement, training, retention) will become her problems. No longer will they be the problems of the failed litany of retired military personnel who preceded her.

We are still at the point where male generals and admirals can fail without a discriminatory or derogatory reference to their male gender. This is not likely to happen if the first female CDS is considered to fail, regardless of whether the circumstances were her fault or not.

The military remains, and unfortunately will remain for the foreseeable future, a male-dominated institution. Without a doubt, the first female CDS will have already proven herself to be a strong and capable leader. However, if she is appointed now, at a time of heightened institutional stress and crisis, she will have to balance the unstable male-dominated culture of the institution she represents with what will likely prove to be unrealistic expectations of politicians and the public. do everything. do the right thing immediately and make everyone (inside and outside the military chain of command) happy in every way, regardless of where the Forces are headed.

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All of this is happening in an institution that many Canadians are frankly and disturbingly allowing to continue to lose its way.

So when should the first female CDS be appointed? Let’s imagine a time in the not-too-distant future when the Canadian Armed Forces are enjoying a renaissance, rapidly expanding in numbers and morale is at an all-time high. One where Canadians realize the need to support the military. A future where the internal problems and complaints that dominate the news are becoming a distant memory. A time when much-needed new equipment quickly begins to be used. One in which those who recently left the Armed Forces are now eagerly queuing to re-enlist. A future where media critics like me, focused on Canada’s failed defense policy, have to start looking for other topics to report and comment on.

In short, a future in which there is growth, optimism and expansion, and there is not much “cleaning up” to do. Let today’s senior military do the cleaning first, before the first woman as CDS arrives.

These would be the political circumstances that would ensure that our first female CDS became more than just a curious dot of liberal social engineering on our historical graph. She and we deserve better.

Robert Smol is a writer and retired military intelligence officer who served in the Canadian Armed Forces for more than 20 years. He is currently completing a doctorate in military history.

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