The History of Women in the Uniformed Public Services - reflections from CEEUPS' inaugural symposium

Our inaugural symposium was the start of a conversation bringing together historians and researchers of the contemporary uniformed public services to explore what we can learn from each other.

We agreed a collective desire to better represent women in the history of the uniformed public services. By reflecting on ‘better’ we meant comparatively; more accurately and visibly; with greater diversity; across the sectors, services and time periods; and accounting for intersectionality including class and race. The programme provided the space for attendees to share their work through flash (three-minute) or extended (ten-minute) presentations.

Prof Emma Williams, as Director of CEEUPS, opened the day with a welcome to the Social Sciences Research Laboratory. This was followed by myself explaining my personal motivation for this event, by reflecting on my own experience of being surrounded by paintings of white men during basic training at BRNC Dartmouth. I shared my excitement at unlocking the relationship between women’s absence from military histories and what this means for toxic military cultures and behaviours in the contemporary Armed Forces.

Emergency, Humanitarian and Civil Protection Services

Our first session was led by Dr Clare Smith, who talked about the ‘lady policemen’ in the Metropolitan Police, reflecting on the impracticalities of their uniform and the 1980s culottes experiment. This was followed by Prof Shane Ewen, who presented on the Trailblazers project, looking at women in the Fire and Rescue Service and their use of digital story maps as part of creating a collaborative public history.

Next up was my colleague Dr Sarah McLachlan, who spoke about her work looking at psychological safety within the contemporary Helicopter Emergency Medical Services. Finally, Prof Juliette Pattinson shared her work looking at women of the First Air Nursing Yeomanry and the WW2 auxiliary services, explaining how uniform was a performative tool of identity and how ‘pockets are a feminist issue’.

Military Service, Combat and Intelligence

Our second session opened with myself talking about women as combatants in British counterinsurgency campaigns post 1945 and sharing some reflections on similarities between women's outreach programmes during the 1950s Malaya Emergency, and the work of the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Helmand in 2009.

This was followed by Ashley Percival-Borley sharing her doctoral research on intelligence and the Special Operations Executive (SOE), which explores how women navigated the military institution alongside cultural belonging, and the importance of gender performativity.

Finally, Dr Grace Huxford shared her work looking at women in the military during the Cold War, making the point that the current senior military leadership cut their teeth in Cold War Germany. She also questioned what it means to be in a non-combatant role in a conflict that never saw any fighting.

Uniforms, Identity and Representation

Our final session of the day was jam-packed. We first heard from Dr Rosemary Cresswell, who talked about how first aiders navigated their identity via their uniforms and the differences in practicality based on her own experience of trying them on. This was followed by Dr Kate Vigurs, who talked about how the uniform of the First Aid Nursing Yeomanry provided a cover for women of the Special Operations Executive (SOE), and opened our eyes to popular representations of the French resistance.

Dr Hannah-Marie Chidwick took us back in time to talk about the relationship between women and the Roman Army through a case study of the Roman Army camp at Vindolanda where, would you believe, 40% of the shoes recovered have been those of women and children.

Dr Julie Wheelwright then captivated us with her reflections on the complicated legacy of Captain Flora Sandes – a First World War female combatant – and what an inspiration she has been for her research. We closed with Dr Mathilda Greig sharing some amazing National Army Museum archival photographs illustrating the cold weather uniform for women during World War II.

Standout themes

As I reflected on the day, I considered the themes that had come up time and again. From the Roman Empire to the Cold War, we heard stories of women’s involvement in warfare and the uniformed public services in different guises throughout.

It was clear, too, how problematic cultures and behaviours had persisted across the decades. We saw how the gendering of legacies, memories and narratives, and the mythologies sustained by popular culture, play out in museum collection policies, the writing of institutional histories, and curatorial decision-making.

Additionally, we saw how uniforms played a central role in how women navigated their identities, and how ill-fitting and inappropriate kit impacted their sense of belonging and visibility across the services.

We made space in the programme for collective brainstorming about potential next steps and the way forward for our nascent community. We are now consulting with the group on all the ideas that emerged, exploring opportunities for collaboration and ways to support raising the profile of each other’s work. We look forward to sharing our plans as they develop, and expanding our group along the way. Thank you so much to CEEUPS for funding this day.

Dr Hannah West, Senior Research Fellow, CEEUPS