Australian soldiers are ordered to go on a $12,000 course that will teach them to be 'gender responsive' - and YOU'RE footing the bill
- Twelve military personnel to be selected for a gender-sensitivity training course
- The course aims to make participants 'gender inclusive and gender responsive'
- Some former defence members have slammed the idea, calling it 'nonsense'
The Australian Defence Force want military personnel to take a taxpayer funded university course to make them more 'gender responsive'.
Four soldiers, sailors and pilots from the Army, Navy and Air Force will be selected to attend the Monash University Gender Peace and Security course which is set to cost $12,000 per person.
But the decision has angered some former members of the ADF who say the armed forces shouldn't be spending taxpayers' money this way.
'The ADF should not be taking this nonsense seriously and should instead focus on doing its job,' former army officer Bernard Gaynor told the Daily Telegraph.
The Australian Defence Force wants to send military personnel to a taxpayer funded university course to make them more 'gender sensitive, gender inclusive and gender responsive' (stock image)
Four soldiers, sailors and pilots from the Army, Navy and Air Force will be selected to attend the Monash University course which is set to cost $12,000 per persons
But an ADF spokeswoman said: '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.
'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.'
Woman make up just 17.9 percent of the Australian Defence Force and have served in the country's armed forces since 1899.
According to The Royal Australian Navy, the feminine-focused course will 'enhance understanding of the gendered politics of conflict, national security and peace-building'.
It added, the course would also provide 'training on the facilitation of women's participation as agents of peace-building and prevention of conflict, violent extremism and insecurity.'
'The ADF should not be taking this nonsense seriously and should instead focus on doing its job,' former army officer Bernard Gaynor said
Heading up the Gender Peace and Security course is Associate Professor Katrina Lee-Koo and Professor Jacqui True.
The pair are noted feminist scholars who have critiqued the male-dominated world of international politics.
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