Defence Secretary: Women soldiers face glass ceiling

Government Plans to Put Women in the Front Line

The Defence Secretary, George Robertson, said there was a crisis in recruiting and retaining personnel in some parts of the armed forces. And he confirmed that the role of women in combat was among the issues under review.

Mr Robertson said: "The reality is that in the armed forces, it's combat effectiveness that matters and what we want to examine pretty carefully at the moment is whether the reasons which have been traditionally put forward for excluding women from some of the roles in the Army, the Navy and the Air Force are still up to date and make sense in the modern world and try to draw conclusions from that."

At present, less than half the posts in the Army are open to women, mainly because of the policy of not placing them in front-line units.

The Government is facing a challenge in the European Courts over a ban on women serving in the Royal Marines. But Mr Robertson insisted that the proposed move was being considered out of concerns over fairness and equality rather than fears of possible legal battles.

He told the Daily Telegraph: "The perception is that if there is a glass ceiling, even if no one wants to break it, it acts against getting women into the armed forces at other levels, where they are already making a distinguished contribution."

"If you have somehow turned off what is effectively half of the population available for recruitment, it may be no wonder that you have a problem with recruitment. We need to tackle that," he explained.

The Defence Secretary said new initiatives were being planned to combat sexual and racial harassment in the military. He also confirmed that MPs would be given a free vote during this parliament on whether to lift the ban on practising homosexuals serving in the armed forces.