A Model for Women Representation in the South African National Defense Force: Concealing the Delusion of Femininity and Masculinity

Abstract

This paper presents a model for women representation in the South African National Defence force (SANDF). The dominance of patriarchy and masculinity has frequently jeopardised the representation of women in combat roles in the SANDF. Male military officers have always predominated in the military hierarchy. Since World War I, women, like males, have played vital roles in the military as warriors; nonetheless, they have been marginalised, unrecognised, and underrepresented. The researcher used liberal feminist theory because she thinks that women, like men, have the right to engage in all political and social roles (including war roles) in all political and social roles (including war roles). The qualitative approach and an exploratory research design were used in this study. The population of the study comprised all female military officers in the Limpopo province. Snowballing sampling was used to identify the research participants and a total of fifteen female military officers were selected to take part in in-depth interviews. Data was analysed using thematic content analysis. The study identified elements that impact women's participation in the military as well as the institution's capacity to meet their requirements.. The nature of representation between men and women in the SANDF was found instrumental in concealing the delusion of femininity and masculinity. These findings were instrumental in developing the model for gender representation in the SANDF. The model has four components namely the society, women, government and SANDF. The SANDF is at the centre of the model and the other three components play a pivotal role in naturing the force to ensure gender representation. The study concludes that gender representation in the SANDF can only be achieved if all the three components are considered. Two recommendations were made: the importance of outreach and provision of information.