Maskulinitetsstudier

tions and challenges as well as make sure an organization’s vision becomes visible and concrete. Through the
findings for this thesis it has become visible that the plans set out represent an understanding of the objective,
and is also an important tool towards the goal, if it is followed up as intended. The timeframe seem to have
played an important role for the implementation process in Canada with the real change starting already during
the 1970’s, with recommendations for broader inclusion of women (Canadian Forces 2011). Even though
women were still prohibited from serving in all occupations within the forces, this was an early start compared
to many other countries and women in Canada have been employed on equal terms as men for several years.
The process of integrating women into the military started early, and in 1994 a committee for increased participation
of women into the Canadian forces was established by the Chief of Defense Staff. This committee has
worked on various initiatives since then, where recruiting and retention of both women and men have been
put on the agenda as it also identified systematic barriers for both recruitment and retention in the armed
forces (Davis 1996:14).
As of initiatives taken directly towards recruiting more women into armed forces, Canada has faced challenges
to reach out as an employee of choice due to how the Canadian government embarked on budget reductions
during the 1990’s and changed to reach out to younger soldiers have had to be set in place. What is remarkable
in the case of Canada is how diversity is addressed through the Employment Equity Act where the internal
representation of employees in the forces needs to be comparable to the portion of the Canadian workforce
population that are qualified for the occupations (Holden 2003 in Syed et.al 2007: 2). Diversity in the Canadian
Forces is thus subject to Canadian legislation, while there seem to have been a lack of tools to enforce the
diversity in the Norwegian Forces.
While Canada clearly points out as a country where initiatives on the issue of armed forces and women have
existed for decades and female participation of women is enshrined in the legislation, Sweden has taken many
of the same actions, while this happened later. The rules for letting women participate in the armed forces
were first conditioned to their plans for a future career as officers within the forces, and occupations were for a
long time only reserved men. While all occupations were opened up to women in 1989, years had to pass before
women were given the possibility to undergo the same basic military training through initial military service
as men could do, and 11 years passed before the Swedish Armed Forces became an all-volunteer force
where women and men applies equally. As already presented, this has had positive effect on the percentage of
women serving in the Swedish Forces (Interview 2013).
As a comparative country, Sweden does however point out in terms of the use of action plans and implementing
a gender perspective and was together with Norway one of the first countries developing a national action
plan to follow up the obligations from the United Nations on women, peace and security through Resolution
1325. The initiatives for adoption have further been outlined by the European Security and Defense Policy,
where Sweden appoints gender advisors for military operations (Swedish Government 2009:7). The Swedish
government and Swedish Forces have used their action plans for emphasizing the necessity for action on both
the local, national and international level. Through the document analysis, the importance of a gender perspective
on all levels and within all occupations has become evident, as it is presented by the Swedish government
and the Swedish Forces. While action plans can be made without the proper tools to implement the objective
set out, Sweden has taken action in terms of implementing a gender perspective in operations by the establishment
of the Centre for Gender in Military Operations, which is an important milestone for the organizational
development, and the work of creating a culture for diversity rather than simply just focusing on a numeric
goal for female participation (Egnell et.al 2012).
The empirical findings from Norway have shown that the best intentions with regard to increasing the percentage
of women serving are present and have been for years. Norway is a world leader in terms of gender equality
and there is a wish outwards from political officials on the importance of an armed force who reflect the
diversity in the society. Much of the focus seems thus based on the findings to be directed towards welfare
issues. Several areas of action have been outlined including adjustments of physical requirements, work towards
establishing a systematic reporting system for occurrence of sexual harassment, gender advisors have
been appointed abroad, shared sleeping facilities for women and men at some locations and major initiatives
and politics directed towards families of soldiers. In these areas, Norway seems in line with the other countries.
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