간호장교의 정체성, 역할과 의식 : 한국 여성의 군사화의 한 단면

Abstract

In this research, I want to explore the identities, roles and consciousness of military nurses in South Korea, to examine one aspect of women's militarization in South Korea. Military nurses comprise a very interesting group of people in the subject of women's militarization. They have been the oldest female members of the South Korean military, and most of them have had a homogeneous background because they have studied at the military academy made exclusively for military nurses, which is a military facility that exists only in South Korea. As they are military nurses as well as military officers, their identities, sexualities and roles are quite complicated. In the male centered institution, femininities become the reasons for distrust and discrimination from male colleagues, and conflicts among women. Military nurses develop very complicated self-censorship and manipulation over sexuality and femininity. For instance, courtship with soldiers is firmly discouraged and even forbidden. To be as respectable as male counterparts, the nurses emphasize that they are also military officers and try to develop the quality and attitude needed to be one of them. However, even though military nurses are very conscious of femininity and sexuality, their role acceptance is rather traditional and less equality oriented. Military nurses play all kinds of feminized caring roles in the military. Overall, they can be called ‘housewives of the military’. This implies that women’s militarization through being military officers and attending the military academy does not translate into the enhancement of women’s power and equality in the military. In addition, the women have a very strong collective sense of patriotism and state-centered nationalism, which produces a belief that any demand or any change for their own interests could go against those of the state or the military. The state becomes a new patriarch who provides a free education and job chance as a substitute for an old patriarch (father) who could not give any financial support for his own daughter’s advanced education. The state centered consciousness, which is very prevalent in any member of the military, helps military nurses develop less critical perspectives on gender blind women's policies in the military and on gender discriminatory marriage practices. This shows how the way women relate to the state as well as to the military is a crucial factor, in thinking of women’s militarization.