Service and Life of British and Soviet Women in the Navy during World War II

Comparative studies on the experiences of female representatives of different countries in WWII remain relevant today. They not only deepen our understanding of the life of women at war, but also allow us to explore the power regimes of different states at one stage or another. After all, the government organized the activities of various groups of the population aimed at winning the war. Women were no exception in this respect, regardless of whether they worked in the rear or defended their homeland with weapons in hand. For centuries, the navy for the most part represented a purely masculine environment, and the presence of a woman on a ship was considered a bad omen. However, the scale of hostilities during the world wars and, as a consequence, the need for a constant supply of personnel to the armed forces made their adjustments – states began to gradually recruit women to serve in the navy. The article compares the experiences of Great Britain and the USSR in attracting women to serve in the navy during WWII. The countries were chosen not by chance, as they represent democracy and totalitarianism, respectively, and studying their practice of involving women in the navy can deepen our knowledge of these regimes. After analysing the experience of women’s service in the navy in 1939-1945, the author concludes that their recruitment to the navy in Great Britain took place through a special organization – the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS). Its personnel were trained mostly separately from men and then sent to military units of the navy. The USSR did not create separate women's organizations for this purpose; women served in the same bodies as men. The main purpose of mobilizing women to the navy in both the USSR and Great Britain was initially to replace men in positions on land to release the latter for service at sea. However, in both countries there were cases when women also served at sea. The range of positions available to them in the navy expanded during the war, and in the USSR reached its apogee in the form of admission of women to combat positions. In Great Britain, women in the navy did not officially perform combat roles, and there was a ban on them from using lethal weapons.

The Mitigation of Racial Disparities in Cervical Cancer Screening Among U.S. Active Duty Service Women

Introduction The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends regular cervical cancer screening for women aged 21-65 years. Such screening is key to reducing mortality and morbidity. Despite improvement in the screening rate, cervical cancer still disproportionately affects women of minority groups because of access to quality health care. The Military Health System (MHS) mitigates this barrier through universal healthcare coverage for all active duty service members and their families. However, such racial/ethnic disparities, seen in civilian population, have not been studied in the MHS. Materials and Methods This is a retrospective cross-sectional study utilizing fiscal years 2011-2016 claims data obtained from the MHS Data Repository for 112,572 active duty service women aged 21-64 years. Study analyses included descriptive statistics on patient demographics, calculations of the proportion of patients who received cervical cancer screenings as well as the proportion of patients in compliance with USPSTF guidelines, and unadjusted odds ratios for the likelihood of compliance by race and military service. Results Of the study population, 50.0% of active duty women were screened for cervical cancer. When compared to White women, Black (1.05 OR, 1.03-1.08 CI), Native American/Alaskan Native (1.26 OR, 1.15-1.39 CI), and Other (1.12 OR, 1.06-1.18 CI) women were significantly more likely to receive cervical cancer screenings. The proportions of 3-year compliance were relatively equal within each race category (ranging from 43% to 45%), with no significant findings for the odds of compliance in any race when compared to White active duty women; however, proportions of 3-year compliance by service ranged from 11.7% in the Marines to 84.4% in the Navy, and active duty women in the Navy were six times more likely to be in compliance with guidelines than women in the Army. When looking at 5-year compliance in active duty women aged 30-64 years, women in the Navy were more likely than women in the Army to meet compliance guidelines (1.24 OR, 1.14-1.36 CI), while women in the Air Force were slightly less likely (0.90 OR, 0.82-0.98 CI). Conclusions The women in our population demonstrated similar or lower compliance than other studies conducted in the U.S. general population, and racial disparities for cervical cancer screening were partially mitigated in active duty service women. While our research demonstrates that universal insurance can help provide equal access and care, investigation into the factors that encourage greater usage among members of different military branches may help to understand and develop policies to improve health care systems.