Defence ministry sanctioned for discriminating girls at certain military specializations

The Romanian Ministry of National Defence (MApN) lost a trial with the National Council for Combating Discrimination after Bucharest Court of Appeal ruled on April 1^st that ousting women from several military specializations and granting them fewer positions within military universities is discriminating. MApN has been sanctioned by warning in this matter in November 2014.

The ministry has challenged the warning in court, arguing in front of the judges that too many women graduating certain military services could lead to gridlock, as women have periods and get pregnant.

“An approach without restrictions during the entrance examinations for the military educational institutions can lead to the situation that all positions should be filled by women for all military services and specializations year by year; proof by contradiction in a period of 6 to 9 years, the situation may occur that a squadron of multirole aircrafts or helicopters should consist only in women which would lead, due to the female biological and physiological structure, that each month, the squadron should not be operational for a period of 4-5 days, while the situation can be similar during the maternity time,” reads the argument of the Defence ministry.

17 NGOs forming the Anti-discrimination Coalition filed a petition in March 2015, warning that the sexual split on the positions in military universities has not always existed and that this measure is discriminating.

According to the NGOs, the girls’ access to the military high schools was allowed in 2001 for the first time. During 2001-2004 there were no separate positions for boys and girls. ‘The structure of the classes graduating during 2005-2008 proves that girls were as numerous as boys, while the girls’ school performances both at graduation or at the entrance examinations were many times higher than the ones of their male colleagues,’ reads the petition.

Despite the CNCD sanction, there are no available positions within the military high school units for the 2016-2017 academic year. “For instance, the Land Forces Academy in Sibiu offers only 14 positions. The service is the Quartermaster Corps, meaning the military service that provides the troops with food and equipment. Practically, MApN decides that the only department where men and women can be equally well trained is the mess-room,” reads a release by the Anti-discrimination coalition.

The coalition accuses that the ministry allots the positions within military educational units based on ‘preconceptions and stereotypes”. ”Based on this retrograde way of seeing women’s life, the former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should have taken a leave 4-5 days per month, alongside all women working, regardless they are judges, engineers or teachers,” argued Iustina Ionescu, lawyer with the coalition.