The principle that "girls can do anything" has stormed another male bastion. The New Zealand Defence Force's elite SAS is recruiting an all-female team to go into situations where it's culturally unacceptable for women to talk to men who are not of their family. While the SAS operates under a cloak of the utmost secrecy it is not hard to guess where these women are going.
They are needed in the sort of places where infidel are enemy, jihadists are heroes and suicide bombers are called martyrs. They will not be places for the faint hearted. Any notion that women in the military are restricted to roles of low risk is dispelled by this recruitment.
The six-woman team will sent on operations with the SAS that are likely to require delicacy in dealings with women in communities where women have few rights to speak of. The culture shock for any western women - let only those who have been undaunted by the demands of SAS training and the dangers of special forces' work - would be sickening and often infuriating.
Though the team will not be "badged" members of the SAS, they will need to be capable of meeting many of the physical challenges of special forces, including combat if necessary. But their primary mission will be to make contact with women and children in areas where the SAS is operating.
The ability of women to engage well with each other in any situation is already of value in business, workplaces and all branches of civilian life. The SAS will be more effective with women in the service too.
