On Monday, 3 March, a meeting of women soldiers was held at the Club of the 10th Armored Cavalry Brigade (10BKPanc). Its main purpose was to select, from among the women serving in the Świętoszów unit, candidates for the General Commander of the Armed Forces Branches’ advisory team for women.
The meeting was led by Lieutenant Maria Wołk, an officer in the brigade’s educational section. Captain Wioletta Wdowczyk-Fedorowska, legal clerk of the 10BKPanc, also took part.
There are currently 228 women soldiers serving in Świętoszów, including 22 officers, 20 non-commissioned officers and 186 enlisted soldiers. Not all of them could attend the meeting, as most are currently in Afghanistan as part of the 14th rotation of the Polish Military Contingent; some are taking part in comprehensive anti-aircraft training in Ustka or in other brigade training activities. Those who could attend gathered in one of the club’s rooms to discuss the most important issues concerning women’s military service.
“Many issues, sometimes very basic ones, still remain unresolved. For many years, military service was exclusively a male domain. Despite our concerns, it turns out that men’s attitude toward their female colleagues and coworkers does not cause as many problems as, for example, infrastructure or legal regulations,” Captain Wdowczyk-Fedorowska said at the outset.
“The Świętoszów unit is a true national phenomenon in terms of the number of professional women soldiers; they currently account for more than 6 percent. We have already dealt with the questions of whether a woman can be a soldier and with the mental changes among soldiers, who have undoubtedly become accustomed to women in uniform. Today we can move forward and address matters that will improve the lives of military families in Świętoszów, whose number is growing month by month,” Lieutenant Wołk added.
Women soldiers’ affairs in the Polish Armed Forces were handled by two representative bodies. One of them is the Council for Women in the Polish Armed Forces, which has operated successfully since 1999. It is a social advisory body to the leadership of the national defense ministry and deals with issues concerning women’s service in all branches of the Armed Forces.
The second body, which operated until the end of December 2013, was the advisory team of the Commander of the Land Forces for women soldiers. It was established in 2007 by the then Commander of the Land Forces, Lieutenant General Waldemar Skrzypczak. In Świętoszów, the team included Captain Anna Czajkowska, Captain Wioletta Wdowczyk-Fedorowska and Sergeant Marzena Wojtysiak.
“When we were starting out, there was no such thing as protection for pregnant and breastfeeding women. The pragmatic law did not mention women soldiers at all. There were no provisions concerning marriages in which both spouses are professional soldiers, assigning the spouses’ places of service—where possible, in the same garrison—or preventing a soldier from being delegated away from their place of service at the same time as their spouse if they are raising a child under the age of four. Many uniform-related problems were also resolved, such as uniforms for pregnant women,” Captain Wdowczyk-Fedorowska continued. “We managed to achieve all this over the past six years. Ahead of us are the standards for the physical-fitness test and the 3,000-meter run for women, as well as, locally, ensuring childcare when parents are at work, on duty or taking part in field training. Increasing the number of kindergartens and establishing nurseries providing care while parents are absent—even in the afternoons and on weekends—will undoubtedly improve soldiers’ availability and make it easier to reconcile family life with military service. This is precisely what advisory teams deal with. Today, following the example of the Land Forces, the General Command is also establishing such a team.”
The person selected for the advisory team must meet several conditions. First and foremost, they must become familiar with the pragmatic law and regulations. They should be communicative, have no difficulty communicating and strive to find common ground with the people they represent. They must know the real problems affecting women in the military. They must also not be afraid of public speaking and discussions in a forum.
The meeting concluded with the selection of women soldiers who will represent the armored brigade’s female soldiers. The vote selected three candidates: Lieutenant Maria Wołk; Second Lieutenant Ewa Andrzejewska, an officer in the brigade’s educational section from the logistics battalion; and Senior Private Agnieszka Ziemiańska. Their candidacies will be submitted to the Black Division.
(information: Katarzyna Przepióra, assistant to the press officer of the 10BKPanc in Świętoszów/ii)