Which countries currently allow women to serve in full armed combat?

I believe Australia allows women to serve in combat in all three services (Army, Navy, Airforce). There are some areas that are male only employment, such as SAS, Airfield Defence Guards and so on.

I can't quote on other countries policies, but Canada has a fully integrated female combat arms. They may do every combat trade open to males since Year 2000. Submarine duty was made avaliable in that year, see the end of these examples.
An interesting compillation of papers on the American policy can be found here http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resources/biblio/wic.asp
and Women's roles in NATO as a whole here http://www.nato.int/docu/review/2001/0102-09.htm
and Singapore commisioned a study with references here http://www.mindef.gov.sg/safti/pointer/back/journals/2001/Vol27_4/4.htm

Some examples in the Canadian Military
1990 The Minister of National Defence establishes the Ministers Advisory Board on Women in the Canadian Forces to monitor the progress of gender integration and employment equity in the CF.

1991 HMCS Nipigon is the first Canadian warship crewed by men and women to participate in exercises with NATO's Standing Naval Force Atlantic.

Lt Anne Reiffenstein (née Proctor), Lt Holly Brown and Captain Linda Shrum graduate from artillery training as the first female officers in combat arms.

Cpl Marlene Shillingford is the first woman selected to join the Air Force's aerobatic demonstration flying team, the Snowbirds. She serves as a technician during the 1993-94 show season.

1993 Lieutenant (Navy) Leanne Crowe is the first woman to qualify as a clearance diving officer, and to serve as Commanding Officer of the Experimental Diving Unit.

1994 Major-General Wendy Clay is the first woman promoted to that rank.

1995 Chief Warrant Officer Linda Smith is the first woman to be named Wing CWO in the CF, at 17 Wing Winnipeg.

1997 Col Marcia Quinn assumes command of 41 Canadian Brigade Group.

Col Patricia Samson is appointed CF Provost Marshall; she is later promoted Brigadier-General.

1998 Lieutenant-Colonel Karen McCrimmon is appointed Commander of 429 Transport Squadron in Trenton, Ont.

Chief Petty Officer, 2nd Class Holly Kisbee is the first woman Combat Chief of a major Canadian warship (HMCS Iroquois).



2000 The Chief of the Maritime Staff announces that women may serve in submarines.

Maj Micky Colton is the first female pilot to complete 10 000 flying hours in a CC-130 Hercules.

Lt Ruth-Ann Shamuhn of 5 Combat Engineer Regiment is the first female combat diver.

2001 Capt Maryse Carmichael is the first female Snowbird pilot.

2002 CWO Camille Tkacz is the first woman appointed to a Command Chief position as Assistant Deputy Minister (Human Resources – Military) CWO.

2003 Maj Anne Reiffenstein is the first woman to command a combat arms sub-unit. She is currently a Battery Commander at 1st Regiment Royal Canadian Horse Artillery at CFB Shilo.

Lieutenant-Commander Marta Mulkins is the first woman to serve as captain of a Canadian warship (HMCS Summerside).

Maj Jennie Carignan of 5 Combat Engineer Regiment (5 CER) is the first female Deputy Commanding Officer of a combat arms unit.

Leading Seaman Hayley John and LS Marketa Semik are the first female clearance divers

Master Seaman Colleen Beattie is the first woman to qualify as a submariner, followed shortly by MS Carey Ann Stewart.

The first all-female CF team to complete the four-day Nijmegen March in The Netherlands carrying the same weight as male teams comprises team leader Lt Debbie Scott, second-in-command Capt Lucie Mauger, Lt Jody Weathered, Cpl Elizabeth Mutch, Warrant Officer Nathalie Mercer, WO Jackie Revell, Master Corporal Denise Robert, Cpl Danette Frasz, LCol Teresa McNutt, Lt Donna Rogers, Cpl Melissa Cedilot and Cpl Anne MacDonald.

2004 Chief Petty Officer, 1st Class Jan Davis, appointed Coxswain of HMCS Regina, is the first female Coxswain of a major Canadian warship.

The admission to submarines was a long time in comming, due to the fact that at the time, we were still using Oberon class submarines and it wasn't feasible to refit a soon to be retired class. The new Upholder's bought from the Royal Navy, however, have been outfitted for the privacy concerns of female crew.

It would depend on what you mean by combat. If, to use the American Army example, Combat Arms, then there are no women serving in the traditional combat arms branches which are Armor, Infantry and Artillery. QUALIFIER: There are no women branch qualified or MOS qualified serving in these arms in line combat units: battery/platoon, company/troop and in general Battalions. At Brigade/Regimental levels you have various support units that do allow women into them that are juxtaposed next to and in support of combat arms units.

There are two other combat arms branches and these are Aviation and ADA( Air Defense Artillery-which has been subsumed back into Arty). As of this day, I do not know of any women in ADA. THere were women in some of the missle units back in Germany and in the USA in the late 1980's and early 1990's---mainly officers and not alot of them. In terms of Aviation, they do allow women into aviation units, however, to my knowledge, there are no women who are piloting attack helicopters and the majority are located in transport ( which is the majority of our rotary wing aircraft anyway). I remember at Ft. Dix in 1983 there was one woman stationed there who flew a UH-1--which we still had in the inventory at the time--and she was on active duty. She was a 1LT at the time--I caught up with her again right before Desert Storm and she was a staff officer...

The previous poster talked about Australia---I can't say for sure about that country, but there are only two countries I know that either use or have used women and trained women specifically for combat arms duty. These two are Israel--since 1948 and the Soviet Union during and immediately after WWII.

Israel drafts every person into there military for a certain number of years and women are given full combat duty i believe.

Combat arms is defined as Armor, Infantry, Artillery. You don't have one example of women being allowed to serve in any of these disciplines.