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Japan's women sailors serve on frontline of gender equality

37 Comments
By Tim Kelly

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Do women in the military get the same pay as men?

If they are of the same pay grade, yes. There are also certain benefits and bonuses available only for women. (Medical, childcare, extra dental etc..)

somebody quickly disarm that woman before she shoots herself or somebody else. 

She has absolutely no idea how to handle that pistol.

I assume your referring to the position of her left hand. She’s obviously operating the slide to “rack in” a round into the chamber.

15 ( +15 / -0 )

"They shave regularly and iron their clothes," said Tohno, who joined up to an all-male fleet 35 years ago.

This made me chuckle. Motivation comes in a forms.

11 ( +11 / -0 )

It's nice when they're communicating to public about their female member of SDF, they might do this to attract more people to join SDF.

From JT Articles few weeks ago:

Empty recruiting tables and disinterested audiences are becoming more common for the SDF 

https://japantoday.com/category/national/SDF-recruiters-struggle-as-applicant-pool-dries-up

9 ( +9 / -0 )

My bad.. it says in the caption that she’s inspecting her weapon pre-training.

9 ( +9 / -0 )

somebody quickly disarm that woman before she shoots herself or somebody else.

She has absolutely no idea how to handle that pistol.

What do you base that on? Her finger is outside the guard, his grip is OK, the way she seems to be ready to rack the slide is OK. What possible problem do you see in her technique?

9 ( +9 / -0 )

Do women in the military get the same pay as men?

8 ( +9 / -1 )

But what she isn't doing, and should be, is having a firm hold using her thumb at the rear of the slide. 

It says in the caption that she’s conducting a pre-training weapon inspection. She could be doing any number of checks, for example, shading the rear sights with her hand to see if the luminescent night sights are glowing.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

MSDF) needs more women because falling birth rates mean it has too few men to crew warships in home waters or on helicopter carriers 

Although i realize this is a dream come true for some, and I applaud women being treated equally to men, I find this to be a very unfair statement. Women have always been let down and left out, but only now that desperation sets in do they decide to give women a fair chance! I'm not only talking about he MSDF

7 ( +7 / -0 )

BeerDeliveryGuyToday  08:22 am JST

My bad.. it says in the caption that she’s inspecting her weapon pre-training.

I was about to the same comment but you humbly corrected yourself. I doubt

maybeperhapsyeswill do the same. Well, maybe, perhaps?

4 ( +4 / -0 )

A: and it’s the job of the user to double check the weapon before use.

B: she’s not aiming at anything, but rather inspecting the luminescent quality of the rear sights

C: not all units are as well equipped as others. The red dot visible lasers are actually going out of style with laser that are only visible with NVGs becoming standard.

D: It looks to me like she’s looking straight at whatever she’s covering with her left hand.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

In japan martial art are illegal for attack or self defense.

Not true. As in other countries, if you give an attacker warning (if able) that you know [insert MA] and they proceed to attack, you are 100% entitled to defend yourself with your skill. And even without warning, you have the right to use reasonable force to stop any unwanted physical injury to yourself.

She is clearly shielding her sights and hammer in inspection. So many wannabe knowhows in these forums.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Sexism in Japan has Japan-specific aspects, so this is perhaps not the "victory" it seems.

Japan has had high-profile sportswomen, some in strength-dominated sports, for a long time. Many Japanese high schools will have an all-girl rock band with no-one batting an eyelid at girls playing guitars or the drums. When I first came to Japan, in 1990, Japan was ahead of the UK in this specific aspect. Where Japanese women were way behind and remain way behind are in the regular workplace and in politics. The odd female firefighter or combat-ready member of the armed forces is not going to change that, just as Japanese women winning wrestling and karate medals have not done so. The right of women to fight in combat should not be "the frontline of gender equality". Inequality is far more universal and far more central to ordinary women's lives.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Eh...you are joking right?

Only if you consider inspecting your night sights before boarding a potentially poorly lit ship a joke.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Good for Japan. No reason women can't be in the military, especially the navy and air force.

Only some physical tasks they cannot do, which testing in the Australian Army proves and of course the lingering question about having women on the front lines and whether they become a liability under heavy fire as men seeking to protect women above and beyond what they would for other men, perhaps to their own detriment, is a pretty strong inclination.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Some politicians have no idea what military service is ...

Do they intend baby care service in submarines too ?

Simple question : How many kids do these army women ?

Many civilians have no idea what military life is like either.

Pregnant sailors and children are not allowed on the current warships, why would submarines be any different?

A Soryu class submarine has multiple shower and toilet facilities, it’s not too hard to set aside a few for the women.

To answer your third question; I can’t speak for the entire military and civilian population, but my previous job had me working closely with SDF and US military. Most married younger and had more children (2~4) than the average civilian, possibly due to job security, and the SDF actually enforcing rules for maternity and yes, paternity leave. If a unit commander does not grant childcare leave (120 days for women, 15 days for men) he/she is subject to review and punishment.

The submarine service is probably one of the hardest in the Navy and one of the most rigorously screened. If women can pass the same requirements as men, I say let them serve.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

JT, you ought to have a slideshow link on these stories so you can use more of the photos you took. I'd sure like to see them...

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Good.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

If Line and Instagram access from deplyed ships is a problem, it should be easy enough to fix, given satellites and all.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

OK...let's agree to dissagree shall we?

1 ( +3 / -2 )

Good on them and good to see a positive affect (shaving, ironing) amongst the male sailors!

Somewhat surprised about all the comments about her grip, you can tell all that from just one photo?

Personally I don’t see anything wrong with the image in this article and how she is holding the pistol.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Gender equality when men and women have same hair regulations. Why should men have to cut their hair when women don't? I recommend both being able to tie long hair back.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The nine-year veteran says she has encountered no workplace discrimination,

In 9 years, in a typically all male world? I find this incredibly hard to believe. I wonder if she even knows what discrimination is? And I'll bet that once she is OFF work, she has experienced it too!

0 ( +11 / -11 )

Type-o

I was about to (post) the same comment

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Agreed, fair enough.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Gender equality when men and women have same hair regulations. Why should men have to cut their hair when women don't? 

Good point. To be honest, the more women look like men in the military I think the better.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Educator69

whoooo... MSDF !!!

up there with the elite.

Pfft.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

@papi. In japan martial art are illegal for attack or self defense. They have to be classed as sport.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

Nice fencing with you though ;)

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

... sailors by ending a ban on submarine duty, defense ministry sources have told Reuters.

Really ?

Some politicians have no idea what military service is ...

Do they intend baby care service in submarines too ?

Simple question : How many kids do these army women ?

LOL

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

A: It's the job of the armourer to check serviceability of weapons.

B: You look through sights, not at them.

C: There are laser attachments for what you are talking about.

D: If for some reason she were to be checking that, why is she looking over the sights?

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Karate as a self-defense sport? Good luck.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

@stuart hayward

I don't need to correct myself. Whether inspecting/training or live...the drills are the same.

You treat the weapon with respect and don't get sloppy.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

hahaha....nice try BDG.

Eh...you are joking right?

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

@gelendestrasse

Whether it's clearing the weapon or making it ready...you can do this palm over the pistol (as she is "attempting" to do) or you can chamber a round using the thumb and forefinger to the rear. Either is fine. But what she isn't doing, and should be, is having a firm hold using her thumb at the rear of the slide. There are grooves in the slide exactly for this purpose. The way she is doing it could result in a misfed round or even an empty chamber if the slide is not fully retracted. To say nothing about the weapon not being pointed in a safe direction...her palm is covering the ejection port...or she will have to lower the weapon to inspect the chamber. All this cuts reaction time. Overall...terrible handling drills.

And all those downvotes? Click away guys. Only shows that you don't know either.

-8 ( +1 / -9 )

@BDG

I assume your referring to the position of her left hand. She’s obviously operating the slide to “rack in” a round into the chamber.

That's not how you do it, and certainly not in that position.

-13 ( +2 / -15 )

somebody quickly disarm that woman before she shoots herself or somebody else.

She has absolutely no idea how to handle that pistol.

-23 ( +4 / -27 )

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