- Author
- Letter Writer
- Subjects
- History - general, Letter to the Editor
- Tags
-
- RAN Ships
- HMAS Kanimbla II, HMAS Manoora II, HMAS Westralia II
- Publication
- June 1997 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
The article in the last issue of N.H.R. Vol. 17, No. 4, (Harmony at Sea) (December 1996) about the employment of women sailors at sea (R.A.N.) was not only revealing but also slightly unbelievable. Ships being altered to accommodate women, installation and maintenance of ‘proper support’ facilities, constraints placed on women with regard to what ships they can serve in and under what conditions, makes the present concept of women at sea in the Navy a very expensive, impractical and inefficient exercise.
The present practice of confining men and women together in a ship at sea is a guaranteed recipe for disaster. There have been a number of promising careers in the last few years, male and female, destroyed by sexual harassment, both in fact and by allegation and there is no way that it will cease while men and women are put together in a ship. It is certain that no rules or regulations will alter the situation.
One solution which should be considered is that certain ships in the Fleet, such as H.M.A.S. Westralia, Manoora and Kanimbla be officered and manned completely by women. With the modern technology available there should be no position on board a ship which women cannot handle. By now there should be enough trained women officers and senior women ratings in the Navy to form all-female ships crews, approx. 170 including the commanding officer, for these types of ships.
Manning important fleet ships such as Westralia and others with women would not only be a step forward in making the R.A.N. a cohesive force again but would also allow the release of male personnel for service in the first line combat ships. As well, the concept of all-female crews in ships would banish for all time the spectre of sexual harassment which is degrading our women sailors at present, and allow them to carry out the work which they enlisted to do and which they can do very well.
While this proposition may seem very radical to some, it is no more radical than the changes, in manning regulations in 1990 which allowed women to serve in warships.
FH Muhm