Learning how to be a woman in the Canadian Forces/unlearning it through feminism: an autoethnography of my learning journey A preliminary version of this paper was presented as part of a panel discussion at the Atlantic Regional Canadian Association for Studies in Adult Education (CASAE) 2002 conference.

Abstract

Gender plays a significant role in the experiences of workers within organizations. This is particularly true for women in non-traditional roles as they constantly struggle with gender barriers that are so ensconced in certain organizations and in society as to be accepted without question. Using an autoethnographical account, I explore the implications of my experience as a woman in the non-traditional role of a military member. First, I will discuss the importance of speaking from a first-hand, subjective position, and will briefly explore how we learn to be men and women through socialization processes in current western society. Then I will focus on how I learned to be a military member in a male organization and will examine how women's bodies and emotions separate women from men. I conclude with a discussion of how learning about feminist theories provoked me to begin to make connections between my experience and larger societal issues that had previously been invisible to me.