17. NO LIFE LIKE IT - MILITARY WIVES IN CANADA
While the structure of the Canadian Armed Forces may provide Canada with a good military force, the ones who pay the price are the wives of its personnel.The 1994 book, No Life Like It - Military Wives in Canada by Deborah Harrison and Lucie Laliberte describes how the patriarchal military structure, by promoting a strong male culture through male bonding tactics and combat ideology, restricts the lives of Canadian military wives. The book claims the military would be unable to accomplish its moves, deployments, childrearing, social services, social life, and some of the most important parts of its public relations with civilians without military wives.
But wives are often made extremely vulnerable by the expectation that they will perform the invisible labour that helps accomplish the objectives of this powerful institution. Absences and frequent moves are some of the main problems. Military bonding requires absences, which in turn rely on the flexibility of wives, plus their loyalty to the military, self-reliance, and unpaid work. This often creates an atmosphere of loneliness and alienation for the absent memberŐs wife. To get a promotion, members are frequently posted to various locations throughout Canada and abroad. For military wives and their children, these promotions and relocations are achieved at a high cost - the continual frustration of being uprooted and having to start all over again.
Many military wives rarely have the opportunity to establish careers because of these frequent transfers. With base employment opportunities for military wives being minimal, many wives are encouraged to do volunteer work or to stay home and raise their children. Wives who do not work can become vulnerable to low self-esteem because they feel powerless over their lives.
The authors consider this to be one of the many control tactics that keeps wives in a state where they will not have the necessary energy to challenge this system. Military life is also a breeding ground for social problems such as alcoholism (the rate is 50 per cent higher than for civilians), physical and sexual abuse. The military "need to know" policy is often contradictory since it only wants to know if the member's abuse is in conflict with his ability to perform on the job.
If this is not the case, wives may end up in an isolated, vulnerable and sometimes dangerous position where they do not receive the support and assistance they may desperately need. Military wives who choose to end their marriages are placed in extremely vulnerable positions where they often find themselves with little education, skills or experience needed to secure employment.
Because the wife's labour is invisible, the military does not compensate her for her work and associates its pension exclusively with her husband rather than viewing it as a deferred family wage. Most spouses, because they may have worked part-time or not at all, do not receive a pension and must rely on that of their husbands. If a wife is separated from her husband she may or may not get a share of his pension. There is a bright spot on the horizon. A number of wives are becoming involved in groups such as the Organization of Spouses of Military Members (OSOMM) to challenge the practices created and condoned by the military which hurt wives and children.
SOURCE
Authors: Deborah Harrison, Lucie Laliberte
No Life Like It - Military Wives in Canada (1994)
PCC researcher: Chantal Ducoeurjoly