Resisting – But What? How Finnish National Defence University Students Make Sense of Equality Training

This study examines how Finnish National Defence University (FNDU) students make sense of equality training in the military and what forms of resistance can be identified when equality training is discussed. The Finnish Defence Forces, reflecting Finnish society itself, is becoming increasingly diverse in terms of culture, religion and language. Further, the number of women in voluntary military service is growing. During service, women face more gender-based discrimination and sexual harassment than men, and men from ethnic minority backgrounds report more experiences of discrimination than other men. The data for this study were gathered with the aid of questionnaires filled by 168 students of the FNDU. Three forms of resistance were identified in the data. These differ both in terms of what is resisted and the level where resistance takes place. First, there was organizational resistance – the reluctance of an organization to adapt to social change; the focus in this study is organizational resistance to normative pressure related to the demand for equality. Second, there was a form of individual resistance aligning with the above form of organizational resistance; responses indicated that equality training was not the core task of the military and that the organization should be exempt from following certain societal “trends”. Third, there was a form of individual resistance opposed to masculine and heteronormative military culture; responses indicated that it left some in an insupportably unequal position. The article concludes with a discussion reflecting the findings and arguing that resistance at the individual level should not be neglected, being an expression of a larger conflict and a need for change arising internally rather than resulting from of external pressure.