ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at female difference and how this is understood within Army policy and within its gendered culture. Public and media-based discussion, academic inquiry and Army policy itself all recognise that men and women are different, often in narratives that suggest that the act of identifying that difference is PHUHO\DQDFWRIVWDWLQJWKHREYLRXVDQGVXI¿FLHQWWRH[SODLQWKHJHQGHUSROLWLFV of this institution. We are interested in taking this observation further. If men and women are different, how is that difference understood within the Army? How does male and female difference shape gender relations and gender identities for men and women personnel? If, as is commonly believed, the Army is a sexist institution in that it prioritises or favours one group (male) over another (female), how are such practices supported and sustained?
