From Boots to Babies and Back Again: The Lived Experience of Pregnancy, Birth and Motherhood in the Australian Army

Abstract

This research explores through a gender lens, what it means to serve in the Australian Army as a woman during specific life stages of their service; that is, during pregnancy, birth and motherhood. It explores the nature of maternal healthcare provided to servicewomen in the Australian Army. It also investigates the demands faced by servicewomen who are mothers, and how they internally make sense of that with respect to their own identity and the various roles they do or are expected to undertake. It also seeks to uncover how Australian Army servicewomen who are mothers attempt to manage the dilemma of serving two greedy institutions, when both expect and demand so much and whether this is, in fact, an impossible dilemma. This research is a multi-subject qualitative study using semi-structured interviews and was conducted with three cohorts: Australian Army servicewomen, Australian Army commanders and managers, and Defence medical officers.

Results from this research found that there was a consistent narrative surrounding choice or lack thereof, from participants. They spoke about their inability to choose a preferred healthcare provider, which resulted in the medicalisation of childbirth more often than not. Another finding was the expressions of guilt in having to choose between their identity as an ideal solider and a good mother, and the perceived requirement they had to live up to these socially constructed ideals. Participants also articulated the tension in having to grapple with the demands between two greedy institutions and feeling they had to choose between service and motherhood. This research shows that mothers in the military face choices that position them as outsiders and overtly show them to be different. The military has always valued conformity, uniformity and sameness, and yet being a woman in the Army is not about conformity, uniformity or sameness. Women's bodies during pregnancy visibly highlight otherness. Women's changing bodies also disrupt operational requirements as their bodies are no longer available to be an empty vessel to fight war, which is how the Army has traditionally viewed its fundamental capability.

This study makes a number of significant contributions. At a philosophical level, this research asks the question, 'Who is a soldier?' and the focus on the experience of servicewomen contributes to the disruption of the combat masculine warrior narrative. At a scholarly level, this research is interdisciplinary in nature. It contributes to the current literature on military sociology, military studies, gender culture, organisational culture, women's health and psychology. From a practical perspective, being an emic or insider researcher has provided me a platform to influence the organisation from the inside, in helping shape opinions, perceptions and policies.

This research uncovers the contradictions and paradoxes servicewomen in the Australian Army experience, both knowingly and unknowingly, as a result of the tensions they face in having to choose between their identities, between the institutions they serve, and in the lack of choice they have regarding agency of their bodies and their healthcare. Ultimately what this thesis demonstrates is that people's everyday lived experiences are the centre of the Australian Army and the institution of motherhood, and that both institutions must evolve to reimagine and redefine what an ideal soldier and good mother looks like in order to support our service people be the very best version of themselves.