Once again, this year's headline news involved male military personnel denigrating women. Photos posted online showed special forces soldiers, some in uniform, entertaining topless female escorts on a Western Australian training base. Worse was news that yet another ADFA cadet officer appeared in a Canberra court charged with two separate "sexual intercourse without consent" assaults. An army corporal was charged with raping a colleague at an air force base and a young navy able seaman was allegedly subjected to appalling "hazing" on-board HMAS Newcastle. Understandably, the media and public responded indignantly to these episodes. Australians are weary of such appalling behaviour within the Australian Defence Force.

Australia has a proud military tradition. Too many of our best citizens have died in every conflict since the Boer War. Fittingly, this year's commemorations began to recognise the carnage of World War I and the crippling legacy it left the nation, its communities and its families. Per head of population, Australia suffered more military deaths in that war than any other country except New Zealand. Unfortunately, this tradition, and a romanticised digger image, have been invoked too often to justify and safeguard behaviour that has no place in our society, let alone in the nation's military.

Successive governments, some with more conviction than others, ordered inquiry after inquiry. Bad behaviour, commonly prompted by the integration of women into the ranks, disappears briefly only to resurface, because a small minority within the ADF encouraged a particular type of hyper-masculinity and physicality. Some authorities turned a blind eye to criminal behaviour rather than break a perverted code of military loyalty and silence. Some remained mute lest any scandal impede their own career prospects. Too many of the old guard privately condoned antediluvian beliefs that "boys will be boys" and upheld white male solidarity. This created a warped sense of loyalty and poor leadership, allowed sexual abuse to thrive, and resulted in an ADF out of touch with the community it was supposed to represent.

The ADF needed to acknowledge it had a problem and to purge itself of a stagnant, irrelevant culture that hampered both its progress and operational effectiveness. The turning point came with another scandal at the Australian Defence Force Academy. The 2011 "Skype affair" involved a very junior army cadet filming himself having consensual sex with a female air force cadet and broadcasting the video to equally immature cadets in another room. The usual machinations ground into play, there was a cover-up, and the "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" attitude again resulted in the victim being unsupported and victimised further. It was only when "Kate" went to the media that a different response was demanded.

Outraged Labor defence minister Stephen Smith took a pro-active stance. The military's old boy network was outraged, demanding that Smith apologise and withdraw his interference. Australians returned the outrage, particularly when it was discovered that the army cadet was allowed to stay at the academy to pursue his studies while "Kate" was hounded out.

This scandal was quickly followed by another. Up to 100 members of the army were involved in an internet group that encouraged its members to "bed" as many women as they could; to film sex acts without the women's knowledge; and to circulate videos that were invariably enhanced with derogatory comments and ratings on "how good a f-ck" the women were. Sometimes, the victims' names, addresses and phone numbers were included, with challenges to other members of the inappropriately named "Jedi council" to have sex with them, too. Those involved included middle-ranking officers and non-commissioned officers; the highest ranked was a lieutenant-colonel.

Subsequent inquiries exposed long-term and ongoing systemic sexual abuse, harassment and discrimination within the ADF. The human wreckage of military service ranged back to the 1950s. Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick found one in four women within the ADF had been sexually harassed or worse. The Chief of Army, Lieutenant-General David Morrison, broadcast a fierce speech via YouTube, warning personnel that, if they could not appreciate the role of army women, they should "get out". "If you're not up to it find something else to do with your life," he said. "There is no place for you among this band of brothers and sisters."

 

This was seen as a clarion call for change and greater equity within the army. In March this year, the then chief of the defence force, General David Hurley, announced: "I want the Australian Defence Force to be recognised as an employer of choice; a fair, just and inclusive organisation that sets the benchmark for other employers. Everyone at every level has an active role to play in living the defence values and meeting this intent."

When Smith demanded that combat positions be opened to women, the outcry from the old guard was immediate, but logical argument was lost in sentiment. There are two parts to the women in combat question: the first is "can they" and the second is "should they". The "should they" hinges on conservative sensitivities, often based on religious doctrine. Can women serve in combatant roles? Absolutely, they have and they do. Modern warfare is very different from the industrial conflicts of World Wars I and II. Indeed, there is little clear delineation between combat and non-combat roles.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, improvised explosive devices killed everywhere, as did suicide bombers. Most of the 200 or so coalition military women killed were United States servicewomen. Captain Jennifer Moreno died in an IED ambush while accompanying Rangers as a nurse in Zhari district in October last year. Specialist Caryn Nouv was victim of an IED attack in Ghazni province in July last year. Nouv was the mother of two young children – but should we deem this more tragic than the death of a male soldier who was the father of two?

Captain Victoria Pinckney only ever wanted to join the air force, as her father had. Pinckney entered the US Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs immediately after graduating from high school and excelled. She played rugby and had a black belt and red stripe in karate. Pinckney met her husband at the academy. As is normal practice today, when one was deployed the other stayed behind to care for their young son. Pinckney was copilot of a KC-135 refuelling plane that crashed in May last year in the mountains of Kyrgyzstan.

Military women have been killed in many "combat support" roles. In June last year, a person wearing the Afghanistan National Army uniform killed US Major Jaimie Leonard south-west of Kabul. In the same month, 21-year-old Specialist Ember Alt died in an enemy attack near Bagram air force base. Specialist Hilda Clayton, 22, died in an explosion while training with Afghan troops in July last year. Britain does not permit women to serve in direct combat roles but, in 2011, British Army captain Lisa Head was killed during operations in Afghanistan. She was a bomb-disposal specialist and had achieved the "high-threat IED operators" status, indicating great expertise. She had been blown off her feet already that day but continued to defuse more of the mines endangering a patrol of all-male paratroopers. She disabled one device but was killed by another that was booby-trapped. Her commanding officer said: "It was an act of breathless bravery."

There are many such examples of brave service and ultimate sacrifice, regardless of sex. The term "asymmetric warfare" describes guerrilla warfare, insurgency, terrorism, counter-insurgency and counterterrorism – essentially, violent conflict between formal military forces and informal but resilient opponents. That is what our military personnel have been subjected to for decades. Is it not time for Australia to finally push through the religiously based, biology-is-destiny blather and treat defence professionals as just that?

Where does Australia actually stand on equity within the military, given that the ADF is directed to open all positions by January 2016? Female defence professionals make up 14.7 per cent of the ADF – their numbers have only increased 1.3 per cent in 16 years. For many years, the Royal Australian Navy has had only one category closed by the direct combat clause: that of clearance diver. Women have served at sea in the RAN since 1992 and have commanded patrol boats and warships. Australia has led the world in the deployment of women in submarines since 1998. The US deployed female officers to submarines three years ago but women will not begin serving on attack submarines until 2020. Only in May this year were the first three women deployed to British navy submarines. Meanwhile, almost one in five RAN personnel are now female.

In the Royal Australian Air Force, only defence guard has been closed to female volunteers – 17 per cent of RAAF personnel are female. Female RAAF crews have flown the massive C-17 Globemaster aircraft. A female pilot has been a member of the elite acrobatic team, the Roulettes: could anyone pick which Pilatus PC-9/A she was flying?

Yet the Australian Army, which is the size of the navy and air force combined, has always dominated Australian military culture and it is the army that has most resisted change. Most army careers have been closed to women – armour (calvary), artillery, infantry and special forces – so only 11.4 per cent of army personnel are women. There may only be a small cohort of women who can meet the physical standards required of an infantry soldier, and no one is suggesting we diminish appropriate standards. But artillery is increasingly mechanised, as is cavalry, so the cohort for them will be larger.

Only by opening the combat arms will progress be made – at least, we hope. The idea of women entering the combat arms has been bandied about for decades but superstitiously delayed. Progress has been hampered by too many changes of defence ministers and ADF chiefs. Time will tell if the Abbott government follows through with the fundamental changes enacted by the last one. Women within the ADF will remain marginalised and abused until they are acknowledged as equals and their numbers rise significantly. This in itself will hopefully alter defence culture, but the government and ADF leaders must continue to demand and pursue change.

This month, Morrison spoke encouragingly on the ABC TV show One Plus One. He said the gender imbalance must be addressed and that, for too long, some personnel had clung to the old order. "Men threatened by the changes that have to be made to our culture who maybe opposed to this and don't get the message ... there is no place for them ... they need to leave."

Progress has definitely been achieved. The Broderick and DLA Piper reviews were very positive but there are murmurings within the ADF that too many of the "reforms" are perhaps smoke and mirrors, when we need a speedier and more visible response to poor behaviour. Those responsible for squads, units, platoons – divisional officers through to ship captains – must be accountable for the lack of leadership that results in poor behaviour among subordinates. It is not good enough to blame the odd "bad apple" and dismiss a very junior, immature soldier, sailor or airman. Greater consideration and aid is needed for the victims and their families. Australians are right to demand exemplary behaviour from their military. As Hurley said in March this year, the ADF should be "recognised as an employer of choice; a fair, just and inclusive organisation that sets the benchmark for other employers".

The momentum for positive change within the ADF, and particularly the army, has reached a level never seen before. The minority within who prefer that all-male units remained closed to women and homosexuals will continue to resist and to behave badly. There is no place for military men like those outed recently. Their behaviour is not that of well-adjusted individuals but of those who feel they must engage in hyper-masculine behaviour, lest they be accused of the sexual orientation they fear most. The time for rhetoric is over. Australians deserve the representative and professional ADF needed to ensure our security and international commitments.

Dr Kathryn Spurling, an author and lecturer, served with the Women's Royal Australian Naval Service and has a PhD in military history. kathrynspurling.com