Denmark

Women were employed in the Danish armed forces as early as 1934 with the Ground Observer Corps, Danish Women’s Army Corps and Naval Corps in 1946 and the Women’s Air Force since 1953. In 1962 the Danish parliament passed laws allowing women to volunteer in the regular Danish armed forces as long as they did not serve in units experiencing direct combat. 1971 saw the enlistment of women as non-commissioned officers, with military academies allowing women in 1974.

In 1978, based on the reports of studies on the topic, women were allowed to enlist in an all areas of the Danish armed forces, with combat trials in the eighties exploring the capabilities of women in combat. In 1998 laws were passed allowing women to sample military life in the same way as conscripted men, however without being completely open to conscription. Women in the Danish military come under the command of the Chief of Defense.

the highest rank reached by a woman in the Danish armed forces is Colonel (Susanne Bach Bager, Telegrafregimentet), with 5,2% (832) women in the services, 153 officers, 176 NCOs, and 503 privates(not counting women serving as "concripts") http://forsvaret.dk/FPT/Nyt%20og%20Presse/fakta/kvinderiforsvaret/Pages/default.aspx.
From the summer 2007 to July 2009 a total of 84 women have served in the Danish Battalion in the Helmand provins in Afghanistan. This include frontline service in infantry units and active participation in combat.
However recent recruitment of women has been low in Denmark due to rising job opportunities elsewhere. NATO reports also indicate that the Danish military does not promote women to positions of leadership.

As with many nations with women in their armed forces, Denmark has different basic physical requirements for men and women in their armed forces, however the requirements for the more physically demanding jobs do not differ for either sex.

Finland

The Finnish Defense Forces does not conscript women. However, since 1995, women between 18 and 30 years of age have the possibility of voluntarily undertaking military service in the Defence Forces or in the Border Guard

Finnish Border Guard

The Finnish Border guard is the national security agency responsible for enforcing the security of Finland's borders...

. Females serve under the same conditions as men, with the exception that during the first 45 days of service they have the option to leave the military without consequences. After that, they must complete the service which lasts 6, 9 or 12 months. After the service, the females face the same reserve obligations as the males who have done the obligatory military service. If the female in national service experiences a conscientious crisis which prevents her from fulfilling her military service or reserve obligations, she is ordered to the alternative civilian service, which lasts 12 months.

All services and units in the Finnish Defence Forces and the Finnish Border Guard accept females. In garrison environment, the females are lodged in separate rooms and are given separate toilet and bath facilities. In exercises and aboard ships, women are lodged with men. The women in national service are given an extra allowance of €0,40 per diem for sanitary articles and smallclothes. The females in military service are usually well motivated and some 60% of them receive either NCO or reserve officer training. Yearly, some 500 women complete the voluntary military service, while some 30,000 men complete the obligatory conscription.

The women who have completed the voluntary military service are eligible for further military employment. If they have at least NCO training, they can apply for career NCO positions or for officer training. These career paths have been open since 1996, when the first women completed the military service. In 2005, 32 female career officers were in service. The number of female warrant officers was 16 and the number of female specialist officers 7. In comparison, there were a total of 2.584 officers and 894 specialist officers in service. The women made up about 16% of the total career NCO cadre. However, most of these career NCOs were grandfathered former female enlistees who had not undertaken military service.
The history of women in the Finnish military is, however, far longer than just since 1995. During the Finnish Civil War

Finnish Civil War

The Finnish Civil War was a part of the national, political and social turmoil caused by World War I in Europe. The Civil War concerned control and leadership of The Grand Duchy of Finland as it achieved independence from Russia after the October Revolution in Petrograd...

, the Reds

Red Guards (Finland)

The Red Guards formed the army of Red Finland during the Finnish Civil War in 1918. The combined strength of the Red Guard was about 30,000 at the beginning of the Civil War, and peaked at 90,000-120,000 during the course of the conflict....

 had several Naiskaarti (Women's Guard) units made of voluntary 16 to 35 year old women, who were given rudimentary military training. The reactions on women in military were ambivalent during the Civil War. The fighting women of the Reds were shunned in the White

White Guard (Finland)

The White Guard was a voluntary militia that emerged victorious over the socialist Red Guard as part of the Whites in the Finnish Civil War of 1918...

 propaganda but in the Red side propaganda they were admired and also compared to the "amazons

Amazons

The Amazons are a nation of all-female warriors in Greek mythology and Classical antiquity. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia...

 of old". The White side founded their own female organization, Lotta Svärd

Lotta Svärd

Lotta Svärd was a Finnish voluntary auxiliary paramilitary organisation for women. During the Finnish Civil War it was associated with the Suojeluskunta. After the war Lotta Svärd was founded as a separate organisation on September 9, 1920. The name comes from a poem by Johan Ludvig Runeberg...

 in November 1918. While the Lottas were not front line fighting units per sé, as a paramilitary organization they handled several important second-line duties freeing men to the actual fighting service. A voluntary Lotta unit manned a searchlight battery of Finnish anti-aircraft artillery in defense of Helsinki in 1944. After the Continuation War

Continuation War

The Continuation War was the second of two wars fought between Finland and the Soviet Union during World War II.At the time of the war, the Finnish side used the name to make clear its perceived relationship to the preceding Winter War...

, Lotta Svärd was declared a "paramilitary organization" and absolved in 1944.

In 1961, the Finnish Defence Forces started to enlist females for second-line duties. The duties available to women were radar operator, sea-control person, and C3 person. Most of the female enlisted served in coastal artillery and Finnish Air Force

Finnish Air Force

The Finnish Air Force is one of the branches of the Finnish Defence Forces. Its peacetime tasks are airspace surveillance, identification flights, and production of readiness formations for wartime conditions...

. The women enlisted all served in the rank of värvätty (enlisted), using a special female uniform. In 1994, the female enlisted were given the same status as military persons as the male enlisted. At the same time, the women who had undergone the voluntary military service received the possibility to be recruited for all military careers. In the beginning of the year 2007, the term enlisted (värvätty) was changed to NCO (aliupseeri) to better recognize the change in the duties of this personnel group. The female enlistees who had not undertaken military service were grandfathered. They remain in the rank of enlistee unless they complete the conscript NCO course.

The non-combat duties in Finnish Defence Forces peace-keeping operations opened to women in 1991. At first, the women without previous military training experienced rather large problems in the Finnish peace-keeping units, most remarkably in the Republic of Macedonia

Republic of Macedonia

Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...

 in mid-1990s. Since the introduction of the voluntary military service, the women have mostly the same training as the men which has lessened the problems. Only a handful of women without military training, mostly nurses or social service personnel, are serving with the Finnish peace-keeping forces. All duties in Finnish foreign operations are open to women, provided they have the necessary military training.

France

In the 1800s, women in the French military were responsible for preparing meals for soldiers, and were called Cantinières. They sold food to soldiers beyond that which was given to them as rations. Cantinières had commissions from the administrators of the regiments, and they were required to be married to a soldier of the regiment. They served near the front lines on active campaigns, and some served for as long as 30 years.

The role of women in the French military grew in 1914 with the recruitment of women as medical personnel (Service de Santé des Armées). In 1939, they were authorized to enlist with the armed service branches, and in 1972 their status evolved to share the same ranks as those of men. Nonetheless, women are still not permitted to join the field combat units or to be aboard the submarines of the French navy.

Valérie André

Valérie André

Valerie Andre is a veteran of the French resistance, a neurosurgeon, an aviator and the first female member of the military to achieve the rank of General Officer, in 1976, as Physician General. In 1981, she was promoted to Inspector General of Medicine. A helicopter pilot, she is the first woman...

, a neurosurgeon, became the first woman in France to attain the rank of three-star general as Médecin Général Inspecteur. A veteran of the French Resistance

French Resistance

The French Resistance is the name used to denote the collection of French resistance movements that fought against the Nazi German occupation of France and against the collaborationist Vichy régime during World War II...

, she served overseas in Indochina

Indochina

The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...

. During that period, she learned how to pilot a helicopter so that she could reach wounded soldiers who were trapped in the jungle. André is the first woman to have flown a helicopter in combat. She received many decorations for her achievements, including the highest rank of the Legion of Honour. She retired from active service in 1981.

Today women make up around 15% of all service personnel in the combined branches of the French military. They are 11% of the Army forces, 13% for the Navy, 21% of the Air Force and 50% of the Medical Corps. This is the highest proportion of female personnel in Europe.

Germany

Since the creation of the Bundeswehr

Bundeswehr

The Bundeswehr consists of the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities...

 in 1955, Germany had employed one of the most conservative gender-policies of any NATO country. That was generally regarded as a reaction to the deployment of young women at the end of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Though women were exempt from direct combat functions in accordance with Nazi-ideology, several hundred thousand German women, along with young boys and sometimes girls (as Flakhelfer), served in Luftwaffe artillery units; their flak shot down thousands of Allied warplanes
In the year 1975 the first female medical officers were appointed in the Sanitätsdienst of the Bundeswehr. Since 1994, two women, Verena von Weymarn

Verena von Weymarn

Verena Merethe von Weymarn, M.D. is a retired German medical officer and the first woman in German military history ever to be appointed the rank of general....

 and Erika Franke, attained the rank of Generalarzt. But it was not until January 2001 that women first joined German combat units, following a court ruling by the European Court of Justice

European Court of Justice

The Court can sit in plenary session, as a Grand Chamber of 13 judges, or in chambers of three or five judges. Plenary sitting are now very rare, and the court mostly sits in chambers of three or five judges...

. The change in the law was prompted after a female electrician argued her case to the European Court of Justice. The court ruled that preventing women from occupying combat roles in the armed forces was against sexual equality principles. 244 of the first 1,900 women who signed up following the law change were admitted on the first day of the new rules, the majority of them joining the army and air force.
There are no restrictions regarding the branch of service, and there are women serving in the Fallschirmjäger, aboard U-Boats and Tornado fighter planes. Before the law change 4,400 women only occupied medical or musical roles within the German armed forces. The new legislations initially did not receive full military support. A report on the subject commented that, regarding the older male soldiers, "The way they see themselves as male fighters is shattered". Like many countries who have accepted women into combat roles, Germany conducts special courses on preventing sexual harassment.

After several years of experience the commotion inside the Bundeswehr has now remarkably decreased. Today women are regularly being sent to foreign deployments. As of January 2010 about 16,900 female soldiers serve in the Bundeswehr, representing a share of 9 percent of all troops except conscripted soldiers. The German Bundeswehr now expects the percentage of all female personnel to rise to about 15 percent in the middle-term future.

It was recently released that the first woman in the German air force received her jet fighter licence. A handful more are flying helicopters and transport planes.

Ireland

The Defence (Amendment) (No. 2) Act, 1979, allowed women to join the Irish Defence Forces

Irish Defence Forces

The armed forces of Ireland, known as the Defence Forces encompass the Army, Naval Service, Air Corps and Reserve Defence Force.The current Supreme Commander of the Irish Defence forces is His Excellency Michael D Higgins in his role as President of Ireland...

 for the first time and was passed by the Oireachtas

Oireachtas

The Oireachtas , sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the "national parliament" or legislature of Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of:*The President of Ireland*The two Houses of the Oireachtas :**Dáil Éireann...

 in 1979. There are no restrictions for women to the "full range of operational and administrative duties." As of January 2010 the number of women in the Permanent Defence Forces is 565, 5.7 percent of the total.

Norway

Women in Norway have been able to fill military roles since 1938, and during the Second World War both enlisted women and female officers served in all branches of the military. However in 1947 political changes commanded that women only serve in civilian posts, with reservists allowing women to join them in 1959.

Between 1977 and 1984, the Norwegian Parliament passed laws expanding the role of women in the Norwegian Armed Forces, and in 1985 equal opportunities legislation was applied to the military. Norwegian women are permitted to serve on a voluntary basis, however in the event of national mobilization they will be under the same pressures as men. However, women who have not undergone military training will not be asked to serve in a military capacity, but rather in a civilian capacity.

In 1995, Norway became the first country to allow women to serve on its military submarines, and to this date there has been at least one female commander of a Norwegian submarine. The first was Solveig Krey

Solveig Krey

Solveig Krey is a Norwegian naval officer.She hails from Lonkan, and graduated from the Norwegian Naval Academy in 1989. She became the first female commanding officer of a submarine in the world, when she took command of HNoMS Kobben, the lead ship of her class of Royal Norwegian Navy submarines,...

 in 1995.

The Norwegian government has set a target of 15% of their armed forces to consist of women by 2008, from the 2006 value of 6.6%. This aim is accompanied by efforts to increase the awareness of sexual exploitation and gender issues within the armed forces. All women between 18-20 are given the opportunity to attend national conscription selection.

As of 2006, the number of women having the military as a career - as opposed to women volunteering for military service as conscripts - was as follows:

• Army 132
• Navy 115
• Air force 83
• Home Guard 13
• Logistics 111

The highest rank currently attained by a woman in the Norwegian armed forces is that of Rear Admiral

Rear Admiral

Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...

.

Poland

Women have taken part in the battles for independence against occupiers and invaders since at least the time of the Napoleonic Wars

Napoleonic Wars

The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...

. During the occupation by the Nazis, 1939–1945, several thousand women took part in the resistance movement as members of the Home Army. The Germans were forced to establish special prisoner-of-war camp

Prisoner-of-war camp

A prisoner-of-war camp is a site for the containment of combatants captured by their enemy in time of war, and is similar to an internment camp which is used for civilian populations. A prisoner of war is generally a soldier, sailor, or airman who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or...

s after the Warsaw Rising in 1944 to accommodate over a thousand women prisoners.

In April 1938 the law requiring compulsory military service for men included provisions for voluntary service of women in auxiliary roles, in the medical services, in the anti-aircraft artillery and in communications. In 1939 a Women's Military Training Organization was established under the command of Maria Wittek

Maria Wittek

Maria Wittek codename: Mira, Pani Maria was the first Polish woman to be promoted to Brigadier-General, in 1991 after she had retired. She served in the Polish Army and associated organizations since she was 18 years old...

.

In present Poland a law passed April 6, 2004 requires all women with college nursing

Nursing

Nursing is a healthcare profession focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life from conception to death....

 or veterinary degrees to register for compulsory service. In addition it allows women to volunteer and serve as professional personnel in all services of the army. As of June 30, 2007 there are 800 women in the army, of which 471 are officers, 308 non-commissioned officers and 21 other ranks, in addition 225 are in military training schools.

Russia

During the First World War, heavy defeats led to the loss of millions of Russian Imperial

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

 soldiers. To psychologically energize morale Alexander Kerensky

Alexander Kerensky

Alexander Fyodorovich Kerensky was a major political leader before and during the Russian Revolutions of 1917.Kerensky served as the second Prime Minister of the Russian Provisional Government until Vladimir Lenin was elected by the All-Russian Congress of Soviets following the October Revolution...

 (leader of Russia of the Russian Provisional Government

Russian Provisional Government

The Russian Provisional Government was the short-lived administrative body which sought to govern Russia immediately following the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II . On September 14, the State Duma of the Russian Empire was officially dissolved by the newly created Directorate, and the country was...

) ordered the creation of the Woman’s Death Battalion in May 1917. After three months of fighting, the size of this all-female unit fell from 2,000 to 250. In November 1917, the Bolsheviks dissolved the unit. Shortly after Russia became part of the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 (see above for the role of woman in Soviet military) till December 1991.

The current tally of woman in the Russian Army is standing at around 115,000 to 160,000, representing 10% of Russia’s military strength.

The Russian army runs the Miss Russian Army

Miss Russian Army

Miss Russian Army is a beauty contest held by the Russian army in which female soldiers compete for a title of the same name. It is admittedly staged for the purposes of increasing interest in and recruitment for the army among young men....

 beauty contest for attractive female Russian soldiers. Colonel Gennady Dzyuba, of the Defense Ministry, said of the 2005 contest that "Those who have served, especially in hot spots, know the importance of women in the armed forces

Armed forces

The armed forces of a country are its government-sponsored defense, fighting forces, and organizations. They exist to further the foreign and domestic policies of their governing body, and to defend that body and the nation it represents from external aggressors. In some countries paramilitary...

.”

Soviet Union

Women had the legal right to serve in the Soviet Armed Forces

Red Army

The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

 throughout the post Second World War period, with many all-female units existing as far back as World War One. By the early 1990s, 100,000 women made up 3% of the Soviet Armed Forces.
During the Second World War, the Soviet Union had a female military strength of over one million women http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/aureview/1982/jan-feb/obrien.html who served as snipers, machine gunners, and tank crew members. Very few of these women, however, were ever promoted to officers.

In 1942 the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

 formed three regiments of women combat pilots to fly night bombing missions over Germany, the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, later called the 46th Taman Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment. These women took part in regular harassment bombing against the Germans in Polikarpov Po-2

Polikarpov Po-2

The Polikarpov Po-2 served as a general-purpose Soviet biplane, nicknamed Kukuruznik for maize; thus, 'maize duster' or 'crop duster'), NATO reporting name "Mule"...

 biplanes, and participated in the final onslaught against Berlin. The regiments, collectively known to the Germans as the "Nachthexen" ("Night Witches

Night Witches

"Night Witches" is the English translation of Nachthexen, a World War II German nickname , for the female military aviators of the 588th Night Bomber Regiment, known later as the 46th "Taman" Guards Night Bomber Aviation Regiment, of the Soviet Air Forces...

"), flew more than 24,000 sorties and won in total 23 Hero of the Soviet Union

Hero of the Soviet Union

The title Hero of the Soviet Union was the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, awarded personally or collectively for heroic feats in service to the Soviet state and society.-Overview:...

 medals. Some of the most talented women pilots were assigned day fighter duties. "Lily" Litvak

Lydia Litvyak

Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak Lydia Vladimirovna Litvyak (Лидия Владимировна Литвяк, (Moscow, August 18, 1921 – Krasnyi Luch August 1, 1943), also known as Lydia Litviak or Lilya Litviak, was a fighter pilot in the Soviet Air Force during World War II...

 and Katya Budanova

Katya Budanova

Yekaterina Vasylievna Budanova , also known as Katya Budanova , , was a fighter pilot in the Soviet Air Force during World War II...

 became fighter aces flying the Soviet Union's best fighter designs alongside men in day attacks. Both were killed in their aircraft. Meanwhile, in the ground combat role Lyudmila Pavlichenko

Lyudmila Pavlichenko

Lyudmila Mykhailivna Pavlichenko was a Soviet sniper during World War II, credited with 309 kills, and is regarded as the most successful female sniper in history.-Early life:...

, made 309 confirmed kills including 36 enemy snipers. Pavlichenko was one of the many female snipers of the Soviet Army.

In 1967, the Soviet Universal Military Duty Laws concluded that women offered the greater source of available combat soldiers during periods of large scale mobilisation. Thus, several programs during the height of the cold war were set up to encourage women to enlist. Participation in military orientated youth programs and forced participation in the reserves for ex-servicewomen up to the age of 40 are some examples. Universities contained reservist officer training which accompanied a place in the reserves themselves.

In the Soviet Union civil universities, in addition to professional education, gave basic military training to the youth of both sexes. Many secondary schools in post-Soviet countries still have defense lessons, both for boys and girls.

Serbia

Although the Serbian armed forces were traditionally exclusively male (withth exception of nurses and some other non-combat roles) there were some exceptions. Several women are known to have fought in the ranks in the Balkan Wars

Balkan Wars

The Balkan Wars were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans in south-eastern Europe in 1912 and 1913.By the early 20th century, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Greece and Serbia, the countries of the Balkan League, had achieved their independence from the Ottoman Empire, but large parts of their ethnic...

 and the First World War, often by initially hiding their gender to work around the draft regulations. The most notable of them was Milunka Savić

Milunka Savic

Milunka Savić was a Serbian woman war heroine from the First World War, recognised as the most-decorated female combatant in the entire history of warfare. She was wounded no fewer than nine times during her term-of-service.-Military action:...

, the most decorated female combatant in history. In the Second World War Yugoslav partisan units accepted female volunteers as combatants as well as medical personnel. After the war the practice was abandoned, but was reintroduced recently with professionalisation of the army.

Sweden

Since 1989 there are no gender restrictions in the Swedish military on access to military training or positions. They are allowed to serve in all parts of the military and in all positions, including combat.

Turkey

When Turkish history is examined, it is apparent that Turkish women have voluntarily taken tasks in the defence of their country, showing the same power and courage as men. Nene Hatun

Nene Hatun

Nene Hatun, aka Nenehatun, was a Turkish folk heroine, who at her age of twenty showed bravery during the recapture of Fort Aziziye in Erzurum from Russian forces at the start of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878....

, whose monument has been erected in the city of Erzurum (Eastern Turkey) because of her gallant bravery during the Ottoman-Russian War, constitutes a very good example of this fact. Furthermore, the Independence War has taken its place in history with the unsurpassed heroism of Turkish women. Sabiha Gökçen

Sabiha Gökçen

Sabiha Gökçen was a Turkish aviatrix. First Turkish female combat pilot, aged 23. She was one of the eight adopted children of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.- Early life :...

 was the first female combat pilot in the world, as well as the first Turkish female aviator. She was one of the eight adoptive children of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was an Ottoman and Turkish army officer, revolutionary statesman, writer, and the first President of Turkey. He is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey....

. Throughout her career in the Turkish Air Force, Gökçen flew 22 different types of aircraft for more than 8,000 hours, 32 hours of which were active combat and bombardment missions. She was selected as the only female pilot for the poster of "20 Greatest Aviators in History" published by the United States Air Force in 1996.

Women personnel are being employed as officers in the Turkish Armed Forces today. The women officers serve together with the men under the same respective chains of command. The personnel policy regarding women in the Turkish Armed Forces is based on the principle of "needing qualified women officers in suitable branches and ranks" to keep pace with technological advancements in the 21st century. Women civilian personnel have been assigned to the headquarters staff, technical fields, and social services without sexual discrimination. Women officers serve in all branches except armour, infantry, and submarines. Assignments, promotions and training are considered on an equal basis with no gender bias.

As of the year 2005, the number of the female officers and NCOs in the Turkish Armed Forces is 1245.

United Kingdom

Women may now join the British Armed forces in all roles except those whose "primary duty is to close with and kill the enemy": Infantry

British Army Infantry

The British Army's Infantry, part of the Structure of the British Army, comprises 51 battalions of Infantry, from 19 Regiments. Of these 37 battalions are part of the 'Regular' army and the remaining 14 a part of the 'Territorial' force...

, Household Cavalry

Household Cavalry

The term Household Cavalry is used across the Commonwealth to describe the cavalry of the Household Divisions, a country’s most elite or historically senior military groupings or those military groupings that provide functions associated directly with the Head of state.Canada's Governor General's...

, Royal Armoured Corps

Royal Armoured Corps

The Royal Armoured Corps is currently a collection of ten regular regiments, mostly converted from old horse cavalry regiments, and four Yeomanry regiments of the Territorial Army...

, Royal Marines Commandos

Royal Marines

The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...

, RAF Regiment

RAF Regiment

The Royal Air Force Regiment is a specialist airfield defence corps founded by Royal Warrant in 1942. After a 32 week trainee gunner course, its members are trained and equipped to prevent a successful enemy attack in the first instance; minimise the damage caused by a successful attack; and...

, Special Air Service

Special Air Service

Special Air Service or SAS is a corps of the British Army constituted on 31 May 1950. They are part of the United Kingdom Special Forces and have served as a model for the special forces of many other countries all over the world...

 and Special Boat Service

Special Boat Service

The Special Boat Service is the special forces unit of the British Royal Navy. Together with the Special Air Service, Special Reconnaissance Regiment and the Special Forces Support Group they form the United Kingdom Special Forces and come under joint control of the same Director Special...

. In addition medical reasons preclude service in the Royal Navy Submarine Service

Royal Navy Submarine Service

The Royal Navy Submarine Service is the submarine element of the Royal Navy. It is sometimes known as the "Silent Service", on account of a submarine being required to operate quietly in order to remain undetected by enemy sonar...

 or as Mine Clearance Divers. They are however, permitted access to special force's support units, such as commando engineers and are cleared to join the Special Reconnaissance Regiment

Special Reconnaissance Regiment

The Special Reconnaissance Regiment or SRR is a Special Forces regiment of the British Armed Forces. It was established on 6 April 2005 and is part of the United Kingdom Special Forces under command Director Special Forces, alongside the Special Air Service , Special Boat Service and the Special...

, a largely unknown branch of the United Kingdom Special Forces

United Kingdom Special Forces

The United Kingdom Special Forces is a UK Ministry of Defence Directorate which also has the capability to provide a Joint Special Operations Task Force Headquarters...

 that does not bar women from joining.

Female personnel currently make up around 9% of the British armed forces. However, female combatants can be found throughout Britain’s military history.

An early example is Queen Boudica

Boudica

Boudica , also known as Boadicea and known in Welsh as "Buddug" was queen of the British Iceni tribe who led an uprising against the occupying forces of the Roman Empire....

, who led warriors of the Iceni tribe against Roman forces occupying Britain around AD 62, her legacy being often quoted in support of arguments calling for the full opening up of the British Armed forces to women.

In the medieval period, Queens and noblewomen such as Ethelfleda

Ethelfleda

Æthelflæd , was the eldest daughter of King Alfred the Great of Wessex and Ealhswith, wife of Æthelred, ealdorman of Mercia, and after his death, ruler of Mercia...

 of Mercia, Matilda of England, Isabella of France

Isabella of France

Isabella of France , sometimes described as the She-wolf of France, was Queen consort of England as the wife of Edward II of England. She was the youngest surviving child and only surviving daughter of Philip IV of France and Joan I of Navarre...

 and Margaret of Anjou

Margaret of Anjou

Margaret of Anjou was the wife of King Henry VI of England. As such, she was Queen consort of England from 1445 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471; and Queen consort of France from 1445 to 1453...

 commanded armies in battle, although they did not fight themselves. Many women including Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine

Eleanor of Aquitaine

Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages. As well as being Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, she was queen consort of France and of England...

 accompanied their husbands on Crusade. In the 16th century Mary, Queen of Scots, accompanied troops in several campaigns. Women continued to lead armies or organise the defense of castles in the absence of their male relatives until the close of the English Civil War

English Civil War

The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...

. Charles I's consort, Henrietta Maria of France

Henrietta Maria of France

Henrietta Maria of France ; was the Queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland as the wife of King Charles I...

 was the last English queen to command troops in battle in northern England in 1643.

During the 1776 American War of Independence, it is estimated that over 5,000 women accompanied British forces. Many of these would have been the wives of high ranking officers with a large proportion being the wives of serving soldiers. While as much as possible women were left in the camp, they sometimes accompanied forces in their baggage trains serving as cooks or nurses, and were occasionally caught in combat and killed or taken prisoner. Similarly women accompanied men in ships of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

, in combat being employed as powder monkeys or assisting surgeon

Surgeon

In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...

s.

During World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 the British Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps was formed; Lieutenant-General H Lawson recommended using it in France in 1917. Sir Neville Macready, the Adjutant-General, supported the idea that women and men should be treated the same at the front. Women served in the British Army during World War One as cooks, medical staff and clerical staff, however women were not permitted to be officers, and there were many disputes over pay. In 1917 the Women's Royal Naval Service

Women's Royal Naval Service

The Women's Royal Naval Service was the women's branch of the Royal Navy.Members included cooks, clerks, wireless telegraphists, radar plotters, weapons analysts, range assessors, electricians and air mechanics...

 (WRNS) was formed, although then disbanded in 1919 It provided catering and administrative support, communications and electrician personnel.

Prior to World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, in 1938 the Auxiliary Territorial Service (ATS) was created, with 20,000 women serving in non-combat roles during the conflict as well as serving as military police. Some women took part in direct combat roles as part of mixed gender teams manning heavy anti-aircraft batteries and gun crews within Britain. Women members of the teams might sight and aim anti-aircraft guns and even give the command to fire, but the actual release of the trigger was always (officially at least) reserved for a male soldier. A number of women operated on active service in wartime Europe with special services, engaged in intelligence, sabotage and laison with local resistance groups. During the war, the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry was incorporated into the ATS. The WRNS was reformed at the outbreak of war in 1939, with an increased range of shore-based opportunities available.

In 1949 women were officially recognized as a permanent part of British Armed forces, although full combat roles were still available only to men. In this year, the Women's Royal Army Corps was created to replace the WAAC, and in 1950 the ranks were normalised with the ranks of men serving in the British Army.

The 1991 Gulf War marked the first deployment of British women in combat operations since 1945. Women were engaged in a broad range of support operations up to 8 km from the front line. In 1992 British Army units devoted only to women were disbanded, and women were distributed amongst the same units in which men served. During the 1990s an increasing number of roles were opened up to women including direct combat support roles in intelligence, artillery, engineering and signals. In 1991 seagoing opportunities were opened to WRNS personnel leading to the full integration of the WRNS with the Royal Navy in 1993. To date several female personnel have commanded small ships of the RN and a recently retired Commanding Officer of HM Naval Base, Clyde

HMNB Clyde

Her Majesty's Naval Base Clyde is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy...

, Commodore Carolyn Stait, is a former WRNS Officer.

The seizure

2007 Iranian seizure of Royal Navy personnel

Iranian military personnel seized 15 Royal Navy personnel during 2007 and held them for 13 days. On 23 March 2007, 15 British Royal Navy personnel, from HMS Cornwall, searching a merchant vessel were surrounded by the Navy of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and subsequently detained off the...

 of Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 sailor Faye Turney in 2007 by the naval forces of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard led to some media comment on the role of women and mothers in the armed forces.

The commander-in-chief

Commander-in-Chief

A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...

 of the British Armed Forces is a woman (Queen Elizabeth II) though her position is only nominal.