One woman has shared her experience as a captain in the New Zealand Defence Force by focusing her doctorate thesis on the experiences of women in the army, finding there were many common challenges they faced.
Dr Ellen Nelson left the army after a decade of service and graduated from doctoral study last week.
Her research partly looked at the disconnect between male and female leadership styles.
Ms Nelson told TVNZ1's Breakfast she remembers one of her managers telling her that her leadership style might have been too friendly.
"His recommendation was maybe don’t smile as much at your soldiers," she said.
"Some of the things that I found in my research is that yeah there are some challenges being a woman in the army and I probably didn't conciously notice it while I was serving it was more when I did my research, and interview other women that I perhaps reflected on some of those experiences a little more."
Ms Nelson interviewed 20 women for her research who were all former officers. She said they told her about lots of exciting and happy experiences they all shared, but there were downsides too.
"There were some negative experiences and some of the women talked about not always feeling fully valued as a woman in the army, there were some experiences of marginalisation or discrimination," she said.
Her research has been welcomed by the NZDF, which will work with Ms Nelson to share the findings and improve experiences of women in the army.
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