Army exhibition explains how pregnancy no longer means the end of a career
A new exhibition shows how attitudes towards pregnancy in the military have changed, with first-hand stories from serving women across the Armed Forces.
The stories of military mothers adorn the walls of the Royal Logistic Corps Museum in Worthy Down near Winchester.
Titled Rations For Two, women from across the services feature in the exhibition that showcases how being a mother no longer means the end of a military career.
Between 1978 and 1990 around 5,700 women left the three services because they were pregnant – but that no longer has to be the case.
Exhibition curator Sam Jolley told BFBS Forces News the motivation behind the exhibition was to showcase stories that otherwise might not be heard.
"This story really starts with the women in the Napoleonic Wars who were giving birth to their babies in the snow in the retreat to Corunna.
"We also touch on the women who signed up in the First World War, who were legitimately pregnant from their husbands back home, but were still deemed promiscuous when it was discovered at the front that they were pregnant.
"It also covers the women in the 20th century who had to resign when they got pregnant."
Ms Jolley explained how the exhibition is told through a mixture of maternity uniforms, which were only introduced in 1994, and through personal experiences.
But she also said museums are not "just always about history".
"The British Army story is evolving every day," she pointed out. "The Army is evolving every day… and this exhibition has really allowed us to work with the current serving Army.
"Most of these stories here are from real serving women who I spoke to about this service and about their experiences."
One of those featured on the walls of the exhibition is Warrant Officer Class 2 Charlotte Butcher of the Adjutant General's Corps.
WO2 Butcher told BFBS Forces News she was "extremely proud" to be part of the exhibition, which she says shows how far the military has come.
"I think [the Army] realise that lots of mothers were leaving the military due to trying to balance service life, having children," she said.
WO2 Butcher added that the exhibition features women from across the military of all ranks.
"There's all ranges of ranks on the wall and different cap badges, so it doesn't matter where you are in your career, you can still have a child and flourish."
She is also part of a dual-serving couple, with her husband just making captain, and said her story shows it can work.
"I've still got eight years left to serve... with a three-year-old and an eight-year-old and I'm still enjoying it and flourishing and my children are happy," she said.
The exhibition, which runs until June next year, has been a success, curator Ms Jolley added.
"The overwhelming feedback that I have had from people visiting is that number one, it is telling them stories about soldiers they have never heard before.
"And number two, it is balanced, which is exactly what I was trying to achieve here because this exhibition shows progression.
"It shows a situation where line managers and soldiers were learning how to have pregnant women in the Army, and they didn't always get it right.
"Quite often, they did get it wrong and then we see the progression and the improvement through the implementation of breastfeeding rooms, the implementation of improved maternity policies, right up until the end of the exhibition with our corps colonel who went straight from maternity leave to leading her own regiment in her dream job."
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