CHIEF-of-Staff of the Guyana Defence Force, Brigadier Mark Phillips, announced yesterday that women will soon be placed on Guyana’s borders to assist with the defence of the country’s territorial integrity.The Chief-of-Staff was signalling his aim to promote gender equality within the army while delivering his address at the 49th Anniversary celebrations of the Guyana Defence Force (GDF) Women’s Army Corps at Camp Ayanganna.

“The women officers are no less able than the men; therefore, we expect equal participation in all areas of work. Thus, soon we will be deploying women on some of our border locations,” Brigadier Phillips said.

His announcement was welcomed with much applause, not just from the female ranks, but also from the men who were part of the Thanksgiving Ceremony of prayers and songs of worship at Camp Ayanganna.

ESTABLISHMENT
The establishment of the GDF’s Women’s Army Corps in February 1967 was as a direct result of Venezuela’s seizure of Ankoko in the Cuyuni River in October 1966.
During that year, when Guyana gained independence, the GDF had barely established its first battalion of fewer than 500 men when it was forced to deploy troops to Eteringbang, on the country’s western frontier, to confront Venezuela’s aggression.

The sudden removal of such a large number of men from such a small Force had severely impacted the work of the GDF, as some recruits were still undergoing basic training. Others were deployed along the coastland, which only two years earlier had been the scene of murderous ethnic strife, creating huge manpower problems.

RECRUITING WOMEN
Soldiers had to be found quickly to secure the borders, and others had to take their place in the camps. The GDF’s solution was to recruit women.

On January 30, 1967, just three months after the Ankoko incident, four women — Captain Joan Granger and Officer Cadets Brenda Aaron, Clarissa Hookumchand and Hyacinth King — started training at the GDF Training Wing at Timehri. On February 6 of that year, 56 other women joined them as recruits.
After six weeks of training in drills, field craft, skill-at-arms, shooting, and physical fitness, the 60 women were formally inducted into the GDF in March, at a parade which was inspected by Mrs Winifred Gaskin, the then Education Minister.

The female soldiers have since been making strides, proving that they are no less capable than their male colleagues.

Against that background, Brigadier Phillips called on women soldiers to take advantage of all that the army offers, including opportunities to study at the University of Guyana, the Carnegie School of Home Economics, and so forth, so that they can be qualified in many areas and help the Force to fight off any threats.