During this year’s Exercise Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC), Air Commodore Louise desJardins of the Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF) Surveillance and Response Group and the first female air battle manager within the RAAF to reach the O7 rank, served in a key leadership role as the commander of the Combined Force Air Component. She and her team managed approximately 280 personnel at the Combined Air Operations Center (CAOC) – the nerve center of the exercise’s air campaign component that authorized air power participation for the world’s largest maritime drill held June 27 to Aug. 1 in and around the Hawaiian Islands.

“We’ve got 150 aircraft ranging from small UAVs [uncrewed aerial vehicles] to maritime-based helicopters, to the carrier air wing, to our land-based platforms. It’s our responsibility to ensure that those aircraft are all operating safely,” said desJardins, 49, in the closing days of RIMPAC 2024.

The CAOC included nine out of the 29 nations participating in RIMPAC: Australia, Canada, Germany, India, Japan, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Diverse viewpoints make the military of any nation stronger, especially when different genders add to the conversation, according to desJardins.

“Diversity is important because it brings in different thoughts, different aspects, and different considerations for the whole team … Putting in … gender awareness ensures that you’re looking after the whole workforce,” she said.

In the United States, women make up 17.5% of all active-duty military personnel, according to the 2022 Demographic Report published by the Department of Defense, Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Military Community and Family Policy.

In Australia, the participation rate of women in the permanent Australian Defence Force (ADF), which consists of Navy, Army, and Air Force personnel, reached 20.1%, according to Lieutenant General Natasha Fox, Deputy Chief of the Australian Army, who shared the statistic in her 2023 address to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women.

Reflections on RIMPAC

desJardins said it was privilege to meet Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Lisa Franchetti, who was in Hawaii in early July to meet with Sailors and visit Allies and partners participating in RIMPAC.

“She’s definitely a shining light of how things are changing within U.S. forces,” said desJardins, who added that she admires the leadership style of Vice Adm. John Wade, commander of U.S. 3rd Fleet and of the RIMPAC 2024 Combined Task Force.

“One of the real benefits for me being able to participate with the senior leadership at RIMPAC has been to watch Adm. Wade and learn from how he is managing 25,000 people and the full 29 nations and every capability. He’s a real inspirational leader and I’ve learned a lot from how he conducts his business.”

While there are many leaders that desJardins admires, she makes it clear that she never felt the need to model her life after any single person.

“I’ve always followed my own pathway in that I’ve never really tried to emulate anyone else. I take bits and pieces from all sorts of places, and like most people what you see from the good and the bad of experience. It’s not to say there aren’t strong role models out there. It’s just not something I’ve placed a lot of value on personally,” explained desJardins.

desJardins’ unique path into military life began over 31 years ago in 1993, when at the age of 17, she decided to leave her hometown of Hobart, Tasmania, to join the Royal Australian Air Force. She wanted the challenge and variety of experiences that come with military training through the Australian Defence Force Academy and the Bachelor of Science degree from the University of South Wales that she earned. After graduation, desJardins attended initial employment training to become an air battle manager, a ground-based fighter controller specialist.

Reflections on Milestones in Women’s Rights and their Impacts

Although desJardins’ home country of Australia does not commemorate Women’s Equality Day, which is recognized on Aug. 26 in the United States, Australia and the ADF recognize International Women’s Day, which is celebrated on March 8 every year. Regardless of the commemoration date, desJardins stresses that everyone must work to safeguard equal rights.

“The equal rights we enjoy today weren’t always there. In a democracy that we all live in and enjoy and hope to share with others, everyone has to have equal rights,” said desJardins. “You can’t pick and choose. The reminder for everyone is, women make up half of the world and if we’re discounted from things simply because of our … sex, you’re cutting out half of the capability for no good reason.”

On Aug. 26, 1920, women in the United States won the right to the vote. Women’s Equality Day honors the movement for universal suffrage that led to the 19th Amendment and celebrates the progress of women over the years. It also encourages the advancement of gender equity and the protection of women’s rights.

In Australia, the Commonwealth Franchise Act of 1902 gave non-indigenous women of Australia the right to vote and stand in federal elections, according to the National Library of Australia. Later, in 1962, indigenous Australian women received the right to vote.

desJardins sees the continuation of those positive trends today with the more widespread acceptance of women who manage the dual roles of motherhood and a career simultaneously.

“In the early days having that conversation about being able to manage young children and a career was something that I had regularly,” explains desJardins. “It is now much more common to come through and not to fear managing family and a career.”

These examples show positive changes for women in the military, but for this to continue, desJardins said, everyone must re-evaluate how they view certain jobs and responsibilities.

“When you ask someone to picture someone in the army or a pilot or a technical specialist, our mental image is still of a male filling those roles and I think part of Women’s Equality Day, and the discussion that needs to happen, is changing our unconscious bias and how we portray and talk about some of these traditionally male-dominated roles.”