Uni course to teach ADF personnel how to follow ‘feminist theorising’
A $12,000 university course to make military personnel “gender sensitive, gender inclusive and gender responsive” is being advertised by the Australian Defence Force.
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The Australian Defence Force is calling for military personnel to go on a $12,000 Gender Peace and Security course that will draw on “feminist theorising” and make them “gender sensitive, gender inclusive and gender responsive”.
The Monash University course is being run by two feminist professors who believe “masculinist politics” are to blame for a host of the world’s political problems, including Brexit.
But sending four personnel from the navy, army, airforce and public service on the course has come under fire from current and former members of the Australian Defence Force.
“The ADF should not be taking this nonsense seriously and should instead focus on doing its job,” former army officer Bernard Gaynor said.
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“Feminist academics in Australia have the luxury of criticising the world thanks to the blood spilt by generations of Australian men,” he said. “This is insanity.”
The Royal Australian Navy sent a signal last week calling for applications to the course which “aims to enhance understanding of the gendered politics of conflict, national security and peacebuilding.”
It said it would “provide training on the facilitation of women's participation as agents of peacebuilding and prevention of conflict, violent extremism and insecurity.”
The description says the course will draw upon “feminist theorising” to help students develop policies that are “gender sensitive, gender inclusive and gender responsive”.
It is being run by associate professor Katrina Lee-Koo and Professor Jacqui True who have both authored work on feminism and the problems of male domination in international politics.
Ms True has authored a working paper that describes Brexit as a scandal manufactured by a “male-dominated British political elite” that was only possible because women were kept “outside of the discussion.
Her other work includes an article which argues: “Climate conferences are male, pale and stale – it’s time to bring in women.”
And another that says we “need a feminist foreign policy to stop war.”
Ms Lee-Koo believes that Australia is adopting “feminist design” foreign policy by stealth which cannot be publicly celebrated because of “the masculinist cultures” of Australian politics.
She has also called on politicians to “be more attuned to the gendered use of language in policy debates”. She said politicians who criticised “the lack of grunt of electric cars” were relying upon “gendered constructions of masculine strength”.
A Defence spokeswoman said it was sending the personnel on the course because “all government agencies have a responsibility to integrate a gender perspective into their core activities.
“A gender perspective aims to minimise adverse impacts of operations on local populations, to assist with their return to enduring peace and stability,” she said.
“The aim is to provide Defence members with the tools to undertake a more analytical and evidence based approach to operational and disaster response planning.”
Originally published as Uni course to teach ADF personnel how to follow ‘feminist theorising’