Military women service

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Women's welfare uniforms, 1951

The Military Women's Service MFD (formerly: Frauenhilfsdienst FHD , today: Women in the Army FDA ) was an organizational unit of the Swiss Army for female military service . It existed from 1939 to 2005.

prehistory

The Swiss Women's Federation and the Federation of Swiss Women's organizations were early 20th century for the creation of a mandatory service woman for the national defense one. Since such a requirement would have been contrary to tradition, it was never introduced. From 1903 onwards, according to the law, women had the opportunity to volunteer for the Red Cross .

First World War and the interwar period

In the years of the First World War (1914–1918) they worked in soldiers' rooms , in Red Cross service and, after the outbreak of the Spanish flu in 1918, in military hospitals . The federal decree on passive air protection from 1934 formed the basis for the participation of women in the still civil organizations. In 1939, when the Second World War broke out, the women's associations in Switzerland motivated their members to take part in the auxiliary services of the army. In the same year, the women's welfare service (FHD) was brought into being through an ordinance of the Federal Council , which fell under the jurisdiction of the cantons and was incorporated into the Red Cross service. The motor vehicle service of the Swiss Touring Club and the Swiss Automobile Club attracted around a thousand volunteers.

Second World War

When the mobilization was triggered in September 1939, thousands of women were standing ready to participate actively in the service. However, many men and entrepreneurs were not very happy about this situation because they needed women as workers . Certain women were used for secretarial work by commanders without a legal basis . Inspired by the Finnish women's military organization Lotta Svärd , the desire grew louder to integrate women's services even more deeply into the army. The military department gave in to the pressure and on January 27, 1940 placed the FHD under the territorial service of the army.

Six days later, on February 2, General Henri Guisan published the guidelines for the organization. The women's service no longer only contained the civilian side (e.g. war laundering, soldiers' welfare), but also a military side. With this, the women had the opportunity to get involved in the areas of health, administration, delivery, transport, welfare, motor vehicle service, pilot observation, kitchen, field post and pigeon service . This opening enabled more men to be assigned to the combat troops. At the end of the year there were already over 18,000 women on duty, at the end of 1941 23,000 and in May 1945 over 17,000. During the war, a total of 3,695,476 days of service were performed by female relatives, and at least 3,000 women were permanently on duty at the same time.

post war period

When the war was over, the women's service was placed under the General Staff Service Group (GGST) and had the opportunity to activate thousands of women within a short period of time. The Red Cross service was separated from the army again. Those who had been assigned had the option of applying for dismissal in the event of marriage and birth or after 90 days of work and being assigned to the reserve from 1962 onwards .

With the inclusion of gender equality in the federal constitution in 1981 and with certain army reforms, some changes were noticeable for the FHD. In 1986, the women's service was renamed the Military Women's Service MFD , and this was added to the training area. The identical ranks have also been introduced.

The issue of arming women was only taken up sporadically, and it was not until 1991 that the first step followed with voluntary arming ( Pistole 75 ) for self-protection. With Army 95 , the MFD was replaced by the Women in the Army (FDA) department , reporting directly to the Army Chief . From 1995 onwards the same services, mixed schools and units took place . Equal rights had thus led to the dissolution of the MFD.

Army XXI

With the XXI Army Reform , women were given access to all functions. The same length of service and training allowed the same personal armament as the men and the participation in foreign missions with Swisscoy . An important difference remained that the women continue to do voluntary military service and thus general conscription does not apply to them even in the event of a defense .

Number of women in the army

year Service providers
1975 1,450
1980 2'100
1989 2,600
1999 1,265
2010 920
2016 1,117
2017 1,152
2019 1,348

Heads of Department

At first the FHD was headed by a man, then it was women.

year Surname organization
until 1946 Colonel Ernst Vaterlaus FHD
1946 - 1951 Hedwig Schudel FHD
1953 - 1976 Andrée Weitzel FHD
1977 - 1988 Johanna Hurni MFD
1989 - 1998 Eugénie Pollak MFD
1998 - 2005 Doris Portmann MFD

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hervé de Weck: Military Women's Service (MFD). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland . May 25, 2013 , accessed June 14, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Marlis Jacot-Guillarmod: Women in the Army and Service at Arms. Shooting for self-protection ( memento from March 11, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). Info. Women in the army. 3/2003 (PDF; 4 kB).