Canberra, Oct 23 (ANI): An Australian woman, Simone Wilkie, has become the first female to command the nation's soldiers at war.
Brigadier Wilkie, 47, is National Commander, Afghanistan, and is in charge of all 1500 Australian personnel serving with Australian Defence Force units and embedded with international forces in the combat zone.
As controversy rages about the federal government's decision to open all frontline jobs to women within five years, Brigadier Wilkie emphatically said she doesn't believe gender plays any role in deciding one's interest to serve the nation.
"I don't believe gender should preclude you serving your nation. I don't think employment is about gender," the telegraph.com.au quoted Brigadier Wilkie, as saying.
"If you look across all sorts of occupations, in Australia we have women on the front line every day. They are called policewomen," she said.
"The opportunities in the defence force are pretty good now; regardless of your gender you can pretty well aim for any rank that you like," she added.
When asked if she had battled military sexism, she accepted that it does exist in various organizations, but added that she herself had never faced it.
"Well I'm six foot with red hair, I'm not sure whether I've encountered too much of that.
I wouldn't sit here and say that there isn't sexism in every organization," Brigadier Wilkie said.
"But if I look across other parts of the world, Australian women have the opportunity to go out and do whatever they want, pretty well, compared to other countries," she added. (ANI)
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