Female combat exclusion in the UK armed forces: Is it still legal?

Ball, Richard

Abstract

Women have served in the UK military for many years and today 73% of jobs are open to women in the Navy, 70% in the Army and 96% in the RAF. The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 (SDA75) , now replaced by the Equality Act 2010 , excludes discriminatory acts from protection to ensure combat effectiveness. This must comply with relevant EU legislation that does not contain a provision allowing an exclusion for combat effectiveness although the ECJ has held that the Member States may take decisions on the organisation of their armed forces to ensure their security . However, this has to be exercised with the genuine aim of guaranteeing public security whilst being appropriate and necessary to achieve this aim with a ban on women serving in the Royal Marines justified as it would be confined to a small force and applied to the principle of inter-operability. This combat effectiveness exclusion limits full integration of women in the military ensuring that women cannot serve in front line army units, the RAF Regiment, the Royal Marines and submarines . In a new report in November 2010 exclusion of women from ground close-combat roles was retained and wholly attributed to unit cohesion. In December 2011, it was announced that the submarine service would be fully opened to women by 2016.

This paper will consider the retention of the combat effectiveness exclusion and analyse its legality especially with reference to EU and UK law.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: IUS Canada Conference 2012
• Start Date: Nov 2, 2012
• End Date: Nov 4, 2012
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 7, 2019
• Peer Reviewed: Not Peer Reviewed
• Keywords: armed forces, equality, sex discrimination, EU, UK
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/942157
• Additional Information: Title of Conference or Conference Proceedings : IUS Canada Conference 2012