Susan Ridge becomes the first female general in British Army

When Brigadier Susan Ridge, a top legal adviser is eventually promoted and decorated in September to the enviable rank of a major general in the British army she would be making history as the first woman in the British army to be so honoured.

When promoted, the 52years old female general will be the new director general of army legal services (DGALS) which is in charge of advising commanding officers on discipline and complaints.

According to Daily Mail, the role has taken on added significance in light of court rulings enforcing human rights legislation in the armed forces, and a growing number of complaints about the conduct of service personnel, including sexism.

When approached Ridge said: I am still slightly stunned. It feels slightly daunting, but I am very conscious that it’s a great honour and privilege. She said she was “exceptionally lucky” that her lieutenant colonel husband, whom she would not name, had been “hugely supportive of my work.

Women have been promoted into equivalently senior ranks elsewhere. Two years ago Elaine West was promoted to what was then the highest rank ever held by a woman in the armed forces, when she was made an RAF air vice-marshal.
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The army is considering whether to open up combat roles on the frontline to female soldiers for the first time. Women are banned from ground combat units “where the primary role is to close with and kill the enemy”. The rule means women are barred from some roles in infantry battalions, and from the Royal Marines.