Smol: A woman as Chief of the Defence Staff? Not yet, Canada

Capable women can certainly fill the role — but if appointed anytime soon, they’ll be cleaning up years of messes created by male political and military leadership.

Published Apr 22, 2024 • Last updated 4 hours ago • 3 minute read

Women serve in all military roles within the Canadian Armed Forces, including in combat roles. Will the next CDS be a woman? Photo by Cpl Nicolas Alonso /DND

Since joining the Canadian Armed Forces in 1980, I have served alongside, commanded and served under female officers and NCOs. Just like the males I encountered in the service, there were some females I very highly respected and some I absolutely did not. I observed, dealt with, and was sometimes the target of harassment by male members of the Forces and, yes, by female members as well.

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But the good, the inconvenient and the bad are all part and parcel of what “normalizing” gender equality and involvement in the Forces is all about.

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Women in the armed forces have proven to be an integral and reliable part of wartime combat operations. Indeed, when the next major war ramps up in earnest, we will need strong, dedicated women to fight in combat and leadership roles. Happily, the days when war-fighting was the exclusive domain of men like me have long been relegated to the dustbin of history.

So why, if I am totally in support of women in combat fighting roles, do I oppose having a woman as the next Chief of the Defence Staff?

It is both right and inevitable that a woman should fill that leadership role and be allowed to succeed as well. Yet the precarious policy and administrative circumstances that the next CDS will have to face, combined with the government and the public’s overly optimistic expectation that somehow, a woman CDS will immediately be able to clean up and sanitize and scrub every perceived dirty corner of the Canadian Armed Forces — all this will likely set that woman up to fail.

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It is a universal expectation of military leadership that ownership of one’s circumstances, regardless of who might be to blame for the problems, must be accepted by the leader as their own problem. If a female is appointed CDS today, all of the issues faced by her male predecessors (recruiting, harassment, procurement, training, retention) will become her problems. They will no longer be the problems of the failed litany of retired military men who preceded her.

We are still at the point where male generals and admirals may fail without discriminatory or derogatory reference to their male gender. This is not likely to happen should the first female CDS be seen to fail, regardless of whether or not the circumstances were those of her own doing.

The military remains, and unfortunately will remain for the foreseeable future, a male-dominated institution. The first female CDS will undoubtedly have already proven herself to be a strong and capable leader. Yet if appointed now, at a time of heightened institutional stress and crisis, she will have to balance the unsteady male-dominated culture of the institution she represents with what will likely turn out to be the unrealistic expectations of politicians and the public to make everything right immediately and make everyone (inside and outside of the military chain of command) happy in every way — regardless of where the Forces may be going.

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All this is in an institution many Canadians are frankly and disturbingly allowing to continue to lose its way.

So, when should the first female CDS be appointed? Imagine a time in the not-so-distant future when the Canadian Armed Forces are enjoying a renaissance, rapidly expanding numerically, and morale is at an all-time high. One where Canadians wake up to the need to support the military. A future where the internal problems and complaints that dominate the news are becoming a distant memory. A time when much-needed new equipment is rapidly coming into use. One where those who recently left the Forces are now eagerly queuing up to re-enlist. A future where media critics like me, focusing on Canada’s failing defence policy, have to start looking for other beats to report and comment on.

Simply put, a future where there is growth, optimism and expansion, and not a whole lot of “cleaning up” to do. Let the most senior military men of today handle the cleaning first, before the first woman arrives as CDS.

That would be the political circumstances that would ensure our first female CDS became more than just a curious liberal social-engineering blip on our historical chart. She, and we, deserve better.

Robert Smol is a retired military intelligence officer and writer who served in the Canadian Armed Forces for more than 20 years. He is currently completing a PhD in military history.

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