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Disrupting Social Constructions in the Profession of Arms

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Rethinking Military Professionalism for the Changing Armed Forces

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Abstract

As highlighted in other chapters, the military profession is subject to both internal and external pressures to evolve. This chapter will examine key issues in two parts. The first portion reviews the factors that are generating these pressures with consideration of four dimensions. The first comes from the integration of gender perspectives arising from endorsement of the Women, Peace, and Security agenda. The second arises from the requirements to address issues of sexual harassment within the military or, more broadly, to meet the expectations of Canadian society about how those in uniform at treated. The third results from the Canadian military aspirations to implement an inclusive diversity strategy that calls for changes in key aspects of professional identity and professional functioning. The second portion of this chapter presents observations by the authors of the consequences of exposing mid-level career officers with concepts that serve to challenge the received professional worldview. The primary implication offered is that these leaders are being encouraged to reconsider key aspects of social construction particularly regarding power, social privilege and the reproduction of the identity, norms, values and beliefs that underpin the military ethos.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See Abbott 1988 for discussion of professional jurisdictions and Abbott (2002) and Feaver (1996) for perspectives as applied to the profession of arms.

  2. 2.

    Including sociology, psychology, political science, history, anthropology, managerial theory and gender studies. For a broad overview of definitions and theories on military culture see Price (2017).

  3. 3.

    The UN Women information is at: http://www.unwomen.org/en/how-we-work/intergovernmental-support/world-conferences-on-women.

  4. 4.

    Status of Women Canada, Introduction to GBA+: Glossary. Available at: https://cfc-swc.gc.ca/gba-acs/course-cours/eng/global/glossary_glossaire.html.

  5. 5.

    Other countries and armed forces may use the terms gender based analysis or applying a gender perspective to plans, policies and procedures. For an example, see NATO Bi-SC 40-1. The Canadian definition incorporates these but adds intersectionality as a key element for analysis.

  6. 6.

    http://www.swc-cfc.gc.ca/gba-acs/guide-en.html.

  7. 7.

    Details on the class action suits and the Federal Court Proceedings are accessible at: https://www.classaction.deloitte.ca/en-ca/Documents/CAF%20DND%20Misconduct/Final%20Settlement%20Agreement.pdf.

  8. 8.

    The Canadian government has published specific Canadian Forces Employment Equity Regulations (SOR/2002-421), which take into account unique aspects of military operational effectiveness. Although commonly assumed by many in uniform, these regulations do not exempt the CAF from reporting data on persons with disabilities (see SOR/2002-421 paragraphs 10.1 and 23); however, the CAF is not required to establish goals to achieve a specified representation of persons with disabilities across the organization.

  9. 9.

    This is not helped by the rather simplistic approach evident in the mandated on-line GBA+ training (Status of Women Canada 2018), and also noting the valid critiques launched by critical feminists pertaining to essentialism in applications of gender perspectives, and tendencies for GBA+ to be applied as a descriptive tool rather than a transformational one. For in depth critiques (see Hankivsky 2012; Paterson 2010).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dallaire Centre of Excellence for Peace and Security, Department of National Defence, 215 Young Blvd, Toronto, M5M 3H9, ON, Canada

    Vanessa Brown & Al Okros

Authors
  1. Vanessa Brown
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  2. Al Okros
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Correspondence to Vanessa Brown .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Director General Military Personnel Research and Analysis (DGMPRA), Department of National Defence, Government of Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Krystal K. Hachey

  2. Postdoctoral Researcher, Chair of Comparative Politics, University of Bamberg, Bamberg, Bavaria, Germany

    Tamir Libel

  3. Director General Military Personnel Research and Analysis (DGMPRA), Department of National Defence, Government of Canada, Ottawa, ON, Canada

    Waylon H. Dean

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Brown, V., Okros, A. (2020). Disrupting Social Constructions in the Profession of Arms. In: Hachey, K., Libel, T., Dean, W. (eds) Rethinking Military Professionalism for the Changing Armed Forces. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45570-5_10

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-45570-5_10

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