Women warriors

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 11 May 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

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Summary

n the last few decades western militaries have been training more women for combat than ever, yet female recruitment and retention is stalling. But with warfare changing, new technologies and new threats, women soldiers are a vital resource. Victoria Hollingsworth talks with different women around the world, some on the frontline and others about to go, and explores the motivations and the challenges they face. Many have families and find juggling these two lives very hard and with little support. Away from the frontline many have faced sexism and worse from their own colleagues.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Right now, the world seems a much more dangerous place.
0:05.3	Commander of Ukraine's armed forces has said that Russia has begun a spring offensive in the northeast.
0:11.6	Israel has ended this ceasefire in Gaza, launching airstrikes overnight, killing hundreds of people.
0:17.1	Sudanese army says that it has recaptured the presidential palace, a potential decisive
0:22.4	turning point in the country's brutal civil war. There are 120 active armed conflicts
0:28.6	across the world right now, and in most, women are on the front line fighting. Some choose to
0:34.1	be there. Others have no choice. I'm Victoria Hollingsworth, and this is Women Warriors from the BBC World Service.
0:42.5	In this program, I'm going to hear from women warriors in combat around the world
0:46.8	at a time when there are more women serving in the military and more opportunities available.
0:52.2	The question is why they feel uncertain about their future.
0:56.2	Now, the former Fox News presenter, Pete Higgs-eth,
0:59.2	who President-elect Donald Trump, wants to be his defense secretary,
1:02.6	has been questioned over its views on women in combat.
1:05.5	Everything you've said in these public statements is politics.
1:08.4	I don't want women. I don't want moms.
1:10.2	What's wrong with a mom, by the way? When President Trump chose me for this position, the primary charge he gave me
1:15.5	was to bring the warrior culture back to the Department of Defense. I think if it was 10 years ago,
1:22.3	he wouldn't be able to pretend as though women weren't actually in combat, but somehow gets away with it right now.
1:29.5	In European militaries, women make up on average 12.7%.
1:33.7	In the United Kingdom, it's 11.9%.
1:37.0	But in the United States, that figure is just over 19%.
1:42.2	This is a kind of shocking 180-degree turn
	...

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