Books - Just A few More

The end is in sight - at least for this month only!

Apprentice in Black Stockings - A Nursing Memoir 1949 - 1953 by Norma Sim

"Apprentice In Black Stockings is Norma Sim’s intriguing account of training as a ward nurse in the Sydney Hospital from 1949 to 1953. Norma draws you into her professional and private adventures, describing the daily routine of an apprentice ward nurse alongside her descriptions of her social life and romantic flirtations. The story of Norma and other trainee nurses is also interspersed with historical flashbacks to the life of Lucy Osburn and her five Florence Nightingale nurses, who came to Sydney in 1868 to set up a revolutionary nursing practice in the same hospital. Norma also discusses how little nursing and society had changed, when compared to her training more than 80 years later."

Mountain Tails by Sharyn Munro

"Before Sharyn Munro was The Woman On The Mountain, she was delighting people with the Mountain Tails of her extraordinary existence. Living alone in a solar-powered mud-brick cabin in remote NSW, Sharyn has spent years sharing the forest with an ark’s worth of native animals. Unsurprisingly, all those quolls, snakes, frogs, kookaburras, kangaroos and koalas have provided her with a wealth of material, which she has captured here in both words and drawings. How would you feel if your neighbours ate your roses, copulated on your lawn and took over your shed? Sharyn reveals exactly what it’s like to live so close to nature – both the good and the bad – as well as the lessons she continues to learn."

The Necklace - How Thirteen Women Changed Each Others Lives by Cheryl Jarvis

"Diamond necklaces are a girl’s best friend. But when Jonell McLain couldn’t afford one, she took the extraordinary step of persuading 12 friends to contribute. Thus a necklace-sharing club was born. The feel-good story of the year, it tells of how the necklace became priceless as it went from weddings to work … to skydiving. It also reveals club rules, like, ‘wear it whilst making love.’"

Purple Dandelion - A Moslem Woman's Struggle Against Violence & Oppression by Farida Sultana

"Before she migrated to New Zealand with her young daughter, Moslem woman Farida Sultana endured domestic violence and oppression. Farida grew up in Bangladesh where her education was restricted due to the Islamic culture. At 18, she was forced into an arranged marriage with a doctor, who took her to war-torn Iran. Farida’s experiences with violence drove her to open a branch of Shakti AID in New Zealand to help other migrant women who experienced domestic violence and emotional abuse. Purple Dandelion reveals the struggles of the courageous women who were supported by Shakti. It also includes a foreword by Helen Clark, the former New Zealand Prime Minister, who works for the United Nations."

A Whole Load of Front by Maria Venuti

"Maria Venuti is a showbiz legend who has wowed audiences in Australia and around the world for half a century. A Whole Load Of Front is her exuberant life story. Complete with colour photos and a foreword by Australian TV presenter Bert Newton, it tells of Maria's experiences performing in Kings Cross nightclubs, TV shows, films and theatres. She also shares her memories of being a migrant during World War II, and reveals the famous faces she has rubbed shoulders with, including gangsters and tycoons. As well as being a story of an Australian celebrity, this memoir offers a glimpse into the changes that have occurred in the Australian entertainment industry over the last 50 years."

The Locust & The Bird by Hanan Al-Shaykh

"Celebrated writer Hanan al-Shaykh brings to the page a powerful and heartbreaking story of love, loss and freedom, based upon the life of her mother, a true heroine. Kamila was nine when she moved from her poverty-stricken Lebanon village to Beirut. Illiterate and desperate to learn, she was a young girl passionate about stories, poetry and film – and a beautiful and charming boy called Muhammad. But then Kamila was forced into an arranged marriage at 14, and had two daughters within four years. Despite this, Kamila and Muhammad kept seeing each other in secret, risking their lives for their love. It took Kamila eight years to find the courage to divorce her husband – a decision that meant leaving her children behind."

Mary McKillop's Sisters - A Life Unveiled by Anne Henderson

"Always interesting and sometimes surprising, this meticulously researched book reveals what happened to Sister Mary MacKillop’s order; the Sisters of St. Joseph. Mary MacKillop became Australia’s first saint in December 2009. She was an inspiration to others, just like the nuns you’ll meet in this book, who talk honestly about their religious vows, charity work and day-to-day lives."

Elizabeth Taylor - The lady, The Lover, The Legend 1932 - 2011 by David Bret

"Acclaimed biographer David Bret has written the most revealing and definitive life story of Hollywood actress Elizabeth Taylor. It couldn’t be published until after her death due to fear of litigation. When Elizabeth died in March 2011, the world mourned. David Bret believes that she was the very last of the Hollywood greats. But he doesn’t shy away from revealing her not-so-flattering points in this book. He also includes controversial interviews. Amongst the many scandalous revelations, Bret discusses Elizabeth’s father’s homosexual affairs, her mother’s lesbian affairs and those with directors to get parts for Elizabeth, her ex-husband Richard Burton’s bisexuality and much more. "

Beautiful Thing - Portrait of a Bombay Bar Dancer by Sonia Faleiro

"Part memoir, part journalism, Beautiful Thing captures the life of a young bar dancer in heartbreaking and intimate detail. When Australian journalist Sonia Faleiro set out to report on Bombay’s bar dancers, she meets Leela, a young woman who has been dancing in bars since she was 13. Due to her sharp wit, charisma and stubborn optimism, Leela is the best-paid dancer in a bar on the notorious Mira Road. She has a ‘husband’ (who is already married), a few lovers whose names she can’t remember, an insufferable mother camping out in her flat and an adored best friend, Priya. But when an ambitious politician shuts downs the city’s bars, Leela is forced into the most risky kind of sex work … "

A Long Way From Paradise - Surviving the Rwandan Genocide by Leah Chishugi

A Long Way From Paradise is Leah Chishugi’s story of being an eyewitness to a massacre that claimed over 800,000 lives. Leah grew up in eastern Congo but, when she was 17, she moved to Kigali, the Rwandan capital, to work as a model. She then married and had a son. In 1994, she became caught up in the horrors of the Rwandan Genocide. She escaped only after being left for dead under a pile of corpses ...   Leah fled with her son to Uganda, then South Africa where she was miraculously reunited with her husband whom she believed dead. Leah finally settled in the U.K. where she was granted asylum and became a nurse. She then decided to set up a charity to help victims of continuing war atrocities. "

More Books To Be Read

A few more books that have made their way onto my ever growing list:

The Woman Who Shot Mussolini by Frances Stonor Saunders

"7 April 1926: on the steps of the Capitol in Rome, surrounded by chanting Fascists, the Honourable Violet Gibson raises her old revolver and fires at Benito Mussolini. The bullet narrowly misses the dictator's bald head, hitting him in the nose. Of all his would-be assassins, Violet came closest to changing the course of history. What brought her to this moment? She was the daughter of an Anglo-Irish lord and had once consorted with royalty and the peerage. Violet paid for her actions for the rest of her life, confined to a lunatic asylum. Frances Stonor Saunders' moving and compulsively readable book rescues this gentle, driven woman from a silent void and restores her dignity and purpose."

The Discovery of Jeanne Baret by Glynis Ridley

"Jeanne Baret became the first woman to circumnavigate the world after she disguised herself as a teenage boy and stowed aboard a French ship in 1776 with her botanist lover. This is the story of that pioneering journey. On the ship, Baret pursued her love of botany by acting as an assistant to her lover; eminent botanist Philibert Commerson. Amid a cloud of suspicion, she travelled the world, surviving for two years on the ship with 115 men. She returned home to France in 1775 after Commerson’s death, and time spent living in Mauritius. Authored by Professor Glynis Ridley, The Discovery Of Jeanne Baret is an expertly researched and engagingly written narrative about science, adventure and love."

Empress of Rome - The Life of Livia by Matthew Dennison

"Matthew Dennison's Empress Of Livia is an unprecedented biography of one of the most intriguing figures of the early Roman empire. Empress Livia, the second wife of the emperor Augustus, has long been pegged as a scheming, power-crazed murderess, who poisoned her relatives in order to clear the path to the throne for her son, Tiberius. Here, Denison paints a markedly different picture of this fascinating woman. With eloquence and meticulous detail, Dennison reveals the empress as a complex, courageous and enormosly gifted individual who had the power and intelligence to overcome adversity in a male-dominated society, cultivating a prominent public profile and strong political influence."

Bluestockings - the Remarkable Story of the First Women to Fight for an Education by Jane Robinson

"The women who fought for the right to a university education speak out about overcoming all the odds. Equal opportunity may be taken for granted today, but 140 years ago, it was a vastly different world – especially for women with academic aspirations. In 1869, when five women enrolled at uni for the first time in British history, female brains were thought lighter than men's, and their wombs likely to shrivel and die if they studied too hard. In this fascinating history, the oral testimonies of these trailblazing young women make for an engrossing account of defiance and determination, sacrifice and self-discovery, friendship and forging new opportunities for future generations."

Evergrowing Mt TBR - Australia History

Just a few more titles to add to the every growing "Mount To Be Read":

Mary Reiby: From Convict To First Lady Of Trade by Kathleen J. Pullen

"Mary Reibey is the woman on the Australian $20 note. She gained this honour because she was Australia’s first lady of trade. This is her moving biography, a tale of love and triumph. Mary came to Australia as a convict in a lice-infested ship at the tender age of 14. She seemed doomed to a life in the filthy Botany Bay prison colony, until she caught the eye of one of the ship’s Lieutenants. The union of the two saw them rise to the top of the commercial ladder. Find out how Mary became one of Australia’s first female tycoons, head of a vast trading business and a tireless fighter against oppression and exploitation. This is a rich and authentic portrait of a woman in early colonial times."

The Diaries of Ethel Turner by Philippa Poole

"Ethel Turner was the author of some of Australia's bestselling children's novels including Seven Little Australians. This book features an intimate collection of her diaries from 1889 to 1930. Shining a spotlight on this literary icon, it presents Ethel’s reflections on Sydney's literary and social scene, her marriage and motherhood, the war years, and the tragic loss of her daughter."

Miles Franklin - Her Brilliant Career by Colin Roderick

"Few people can be compared to Miles Franklin. Genius writer, feminist and years ahead of her era, she is best known for her book My Brilliant Career and her establishment of the prestigious Miles Franklin Award for Literature. Miles Franklin was born in 1879 in country Australia. Determined to make her mark at a time when women were repressed, she wrote novels, as well as several non fiction books and articles. Colin Roderick, a confidante of Miles, presents an in-depth biography. He reveals Miles as a woman often uncertain about her place in the world, maintaining her feminism while indulging in the attention of suitors and counting Norman Lindsay, Henry Lawson and J.K. Moir among her peers."

Females On The Fatal Shore by Susanna De Vries

"Follow the stories of 12 fearless women who inhabited Australia during its young years in Females On The Fatal Shore. Many of these incredible women had ideals far ahead of the constraints of their time period. For example, Fanny Macleay lacked a dowry and she lived in a time where marriage was a priority for women. Her mother encouraged her to marry “up”, but the witty and artistic Fanny had her own life plan. Discover the fascinating females behind some of Australia’s heritage houses and even the currency, like Mary Reibey, the woman on the Australian $20 note. Some of these stories mention places that are in existence today which adds extra interest to the tales of these strong women."

The Floating Brothel by Sian Rees

"Repackaged as a new edition, this critically acclaimed Australian bestseller recreates the riveting story of 200 female convicts bound for Botany Bay. The Lady Julian was described as a “floating brothel” by Lieutenant Riou, commander of the HMS Guardian, but the reality was more complex and interesting. In this book, author Siân Rees combines meticulous research with a vibrant narrative to tell the story of this late 18th century sea voyage to the colony of New South Wales. She also reveals the fate of many of Lady Julian’s ladies and crew.  Described by the Sunday Age as “thoroughly entertaining popular history”, The Floating Brothel is a passionate, diligently researched account."

South Sudan's First Female Pilot

From the Sudan Tribune:

She is shy and occasionally breaks down when asked to narrate her ordeal. And yet Aluel James Bol has just become the first female pilot in the history of the newly created Republic of South Sudan.

A US-trained pilot, Aleul, who previously worked with Ethiopia Airlines before taking up an advisory role within the ministry of transport and roads, lauded the South Sudan government for the financial support it provided for completion of her studies.

Speaking at a press conference convened in Juba, the South Sudan capital, Aluel specifically thanked the ministry of gender, social welfare and religious affairs for awarding a bursary, which enabled her complete studies.

Farewell to the First Bond Girl - Linda Christian

From BBC News:

Actress Linda Christian, a 1940s Hollywood starlet who went on to become the first Bond girl, has died aged 87.

She died last Friday in Palm Desert, California, after suffering from colon cancer, her daughter said.

Christian starred as Vesper Lynd, the love interest of James Bond in the first TV adaptation of Ian Fleming's debut novel, Casino Royale, in 1954.

The actress's curvaceousness led Life magazine to nickname her the "anatomic bomb."

Female President for Singapore?

From the Diplomat:

The recent victory of Yingluck Shinawatra, who will become Thailand’s first female prime minister, has inspired some Singaporeans to ask whether it’s also time for the prosperous city state to elect its first female president. Singapore is set to choose its new president, a largely ceremonial position, next month.

But electing a female president isn’t that easy as choosing a female member of parliament. After reviewing the minimum qualifications that a candidate must pass, it seems there will be some difficulty in finding eligible female nominees.

According to Grace Ke of the Association of Women for Action and Research, Singapore has had only one female minister in its history, and has never had a female chief justice, speaker, attorney general, Public Service Commission chairman or auditor general.

Somali Minister For Women Abducted

From Ms. Magazine:

Asha Osman Aqiil, Somalia's new minister for women and family affairs, was abducted by Islamist rebels late Wednesday night, the day after her appointment was announced. The abduction occurred while Aqiil was on her way to her first cabinet meeting. She was travelling in an area controlled by al Shabaab militants. Aqiil is the only woman in the new 18 member government.

Al Shabaab has a history of targeting government ministers. Last month, al Shabaab was accused of killing Interior Minister Abdi Shakur Sheikh Hassan in a suicide bomb attack. Sahra Maalin, a women's rights activist described Aqiil's abduction as a "collective punishment against Somali women and all those who believe in equality."

Since the overthrow of Dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, Somalia has not had an effective central government. Additionally, earlier in the week, the UN declared that there is famine in two of Somalia's regions under rebel control. According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, thousands have died in Somalia over the past months because of the severe drought and famine. The abduction of Asha Osman Aqiil has heightened famine aid groups' security fears as they plan to make food deliveries.

Indigenous Women in Presidential Race

From Latin America Press:

Two indigenous women are seeking to make history by reaching the two top jobs in politics: Nobel Peace laureate Rigoberta Menchú, presidential candidate of the left-leaning Frente Amplio coalition and lawyer Laura Reyes, vicepresidential candidate for the Compromise, Renovation and Order party, known as CREO.

Menchú is one of the most famous faces in Guatemalan politics and this is her second attempt to run for the office. But Reyes is a newcomer, running on ticket with Eduardo Suger, a mathematician of Swiss-Guatemalan origin and founder of the private Galileo University.

Reyes, a Mayan Kaqchikel woman from the municipality of Tecpán, in the department of Chimaltenango, two hours from Guatemala City, describes herself as a resiliant woman who had to fight against the odds to have a career.

Women Survivors of The Alamo

From My San Antonio:

In a July 10 column, reader Richard Villanueva asked if there were other female survivors of the siege and battle of the Alamo besides his great-great-great-grandmother Andrea Castañon Villanueva. Known as Madam Candelaria, the innkeeper's wife lived more than 100 years and became legendary for telling generations of reporters and tourists her stories of having nursed Texian defenders.

Like several figures associated with this engagement, Madam Candelaria is not considered by some historians to have been a survivor of the Alamo because she came and went at will, rather than being confined to the compound from Feb. 23, 1836, when Mexican troops first fired on the fort, through the March 6 battle.

However, historian Dora Elizondo Guerra counts her among seven women survivors, all related to men fighting with the Texians.

Guerra, a former librarian at the DRT Library on the Alamo grounds, recently researched the battle's noncombatants. Her list corresponds closely to the individuals named in the Handbook of Texas entry on Alamo noncombatants.

Women - Culprits of Domestic Abuse

From AllAfrica:

Abuse of women and children is gradually taking the better half of the society, and even the world today. Everyday there are reports about women and children being victims of either assault, defilement, rape, sexual harassment at workplaces, child trafficking, and exposure of children to burdensome labour.

According to research, one out of every three women has been abused once in her life time - all assumed to be by men.

Men are always being pinpointed as mostly the culprits of abuse, especially, that of women. Indeed, many of the incidents of rape, incest, and spousal abuse are mostly done by men. Yet, it rarely clicks the mind of society and gender group organisations that women are also contributors to some of the daily traumas their fellow women and children go through. Women are considered the weaker vessels, as certainly, the male power overshadows them at almost every instance, even at the workplace.

Outrage Over Treatment of Violated Buddhist Nun

From the Times of India:

A 21-year-old Buddhist nun from Nepal, who was said to have "lost" her religion and become unfit to remain a nun after being gangraped, is now likely to be re-admitted to her nunnery, thanks to a growing outrage worldwide. The young woman, who is now battling for her sanity in a hospital in Kathmandu, can return to the Karma Samtenling Nunnery at Pharping after she recovers and is discharged from the hospital, an authoritative Buddhist body in Nepal said.

The Nepal Buddhist Federation distanced itself from a statement signed by over a dozen organisations, including one of its own officials, that had said the attack on the woman, while to be condemned, however had made her lose her "sheel" – religion as well as vows taken as a nun. It said the official's stand that the nun had become a "flawed vessel" was his personal view and not the official stand of the Federation.

"The Federation, in collaboration with our allied Association Tamang Lama Gedung Sangh and the concerned nunnery, is taking steps to accommodate her back into the nunnery when she recovers and discharged from the hospital," it said in a statement. "(It) will do everything in its power to help restore the dignity of the nun and continue to fight for justice."

Horrors of Child Brides

From CNN:

In Yemen, a deeply tribal society, the issue of child marriages is a complicated one.

Two years ago, 10-year-old Nujood Ali shocked the world when she took herself to court in Yemen's capital city of Sana'a and asked a judge for a divorce.

After a well publicized trial, she was granted one -- and became a heroine to those trying to shine a spotlight on the issue of child brides in Yemen, where more than half of all young girls are married before age 18, mostly to older men.

In 2009, Yemen's parliament passed legislation raising the minimum age of marriage to 17. But conservative parliamentarians argued the bill violated Sharia, or Islamic law, which does not stipulate a minimum age of marriage.

And because of a parliamentary maneuver the bill was never signed into law.

More than 100 leading religious clerics called the attempt to restrict the age of marriage "un-Islamic".

Mohammed Aboulahoum, who advises Yemen's president, said the law should be passed, but he added the fight against child marriage restrictions were a distraction -- a way for the parliament to avoid bigger, more sensitive, political issues.

Female Afghan Pilots In US

From Reuters:

Afghanistan's first crop of female military pilots arrived for training this week, where they will first study English at the Defense Language Institute at Lackland. Dozens of male Afghan pilots have gone through similar training in the United States.

After six to eight months of language study, they will travel to Fort Rucker in Alabama for helicopter pilot training in the U.S. Army "Thunder Lab" program.

The women pilots will among about 1,200 students at the Institute, where students from around the world learn English - the global vernacular of aviation.

Axelbank said the Afghan women will undergo the same course of study in the United States as have male Afghan pilots, along with thousands of other military personnel who have trained at Lackland over the decades.

Film: Mozart's Sister

From the Sydney Morning Herald:

In the 18th century, social convention dictated women in Europe were not allowed to play the violin. Maria Anna ''Nannerl'' Mozart, born in 1751, was brilliant at it. Women were not meant to be composers. Nannerl was an inspired composer.

But she had a talented younger brother, Wolfgang, who got all the attention

The story is only partly speculative, told as if from inside the Mozart family. It is definitely intriguing and perhaps a little sad. After the first burst of life as a young prodigy, Nannerl's evident talents had to be left unused when Wolfgang overtook her place in their father's ambitions.

Christiane Desroches Noblecourt

From Financial Times - Obituaries:

Barely five feet tall in her desert boots, Christiane Desroches Noblecourt almost single-handedly organised the dismantling, removal and piecing back together of the spectacular ancient temples of Nubia on the banks of the Nile. It was a breathtaking feat.

Recognising that the temples in modern-day Egypt and Sudan, would be totally submerged by Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser’s Aswan High Dam project, she won the support and funding of 50 nations, and Unesco, to move the ancient wonders, chunk by painstaking chunk, to higher ground. It took two decades – the 1960s and 1970s – and was the catalyst for Unesco’s decision to give protective “world heritage site” status to such treasures around the globe.

As France’s first female Egyptologist, Noblecourt, who has died aged 97, was a pioneer. A tiny human dynamo, despite her size she was described by current French president Nicolas Sarkozy as “the grande dame of the Nile”.

Archaeologist Catherine Namono

From New Vision:

SHE did not hope she would become an archeaologist, until Catherine Namono went to South Africa to pursue her second masters degree in art history.

“The market was flooded with art historians. I wanted to generate new information on a virgin area, so I enrolled for another masters degree in rock art studies at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. That degree marked my shift from art history to archaeology,” Namono says.

After graduation, she wasted no time pursuing a PhD in her newfound passion. Namono’s graduation with a doctorate last year inked her name in the books of history as Uganda’s first female archaeologist with a PhD. Todate, she still monopolises that status.

She also became Uganda’s second archaeologist after the late Prof. David Mulindwa Kiyaga.

Ancient Ossuary of Miriam

From artdaily.com:

Three years ago the Israel Antiquities Authority Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Robbery acquired a decorated ossuary bearing an engraved inscription. The ossuary was discovered by antiquities robbers who plundered an ancient Jewish tomb of the Second Temple period. During the course of the investigation it was determined that the ossuary came from a burial cave in the area of the Valley of ’Elah, in the Judean Shephelah.

Israel from the late first century BCE until the beginning of the second century CE. The front of the ossuary that was found is decorated with a stylized floral motif above which is a long Aramaic inscription engraved in Jewish script:

‘Miriam Daughter of Yeshua Son of Caiaphas, Priests [of] Ma'aziah from Beth ’Imri’

(or, an alternative reading: ‘Miriam Daughter of Yeshua Son of Caiaphas, Priest of Ma'aziah from Beth ’Imri’)

And from the Telegraph:

The ossuary bears an inscription with the name "Miriam daughter of Yeshua son of Caiaphas, priest of Maaziah from Beth Imri."

An ossuary is a stone chest used to store bones. Caiaphas was a temple priest and an adversary of Jesus who played a key role in his crucifixion.

The Israel Antiquities Authority says the ossuary was seized from tomb robbers three years ago and has since been undergoing analysis. Forgery is common in the world of biblical artefacts.

The IAA says in Wednesday's statement that microscopic tests have confirmed the inscription is "genuine and ancient."

Tian Jin - Falun Gong Activist Reflects

From the Province:

This winter, as the city debated and eventually amended a traffic bylaw about the eight-year vigil maintained by the Falun Gong in front of the Chinese consulate on Granville Street, the silent protest continued. Jin could be found on the grass between a cement wall and loud, fast traffic heading downtown. These and other Falun Gong practitioners must now apply to maintain a small wood hut outside the consulate every two months. Nothing prohibits them from squatting on the grass, banners unfurled as they meditate and pray, which they do day and night.

Jin's history of protest against the Chinese government's religious prohibition dates back to when she was first arrested in the summer of 1999. In her late 20s, she travelled from her home in the capital city of Liaoning province in northeast China to Beijing's Tiananmen Square and helped unfurl a five-metre banner with three words: "Practicing peaceful appeal."

Yingluck Shinawatra - Thailand's Next PM?

From the Star:

Political pundits discounted her from the get-go: she had no political experience, had never held a government post and had never seen the inside of a campaign.

But when polls close and the ballots are counted Sunday, she could become Thailand’s new prime minister — the first woman to do so in this ever-fragile, ever-fractious Asian democracy.

Yingluck Shinawatra, the 43-year-old leader of the Pheu Thai party, has proven herself to be a campaign natural.

Win or lose, she has made her mark in this hotly contested vote.

“She’s an accomplished businesswoman. She has brought new ideas and she seems very strong,” says 27-year-old mother Naron Chantacham, sitting astride a Honda 125 motorcycle in downtown Bangkok. “And I like the fact that she’s a woman. No woman has ever run for prime minister before. People think women are weak and submissive, but she’s going to show everyone that women can lead.”

Jung Sung-im - Civilian in Military

From Business Ghana:

South Korea's military academy has appointed a female civilian as a professor for the first time in its history, an academy official said Saturday.

The development comes as the male-dominated military is seeking to give more opportunities to women.

Jung Sung-im, a former research fellow of Ewha Womans University,became the first woman and civilian professor to have a full-time teaching position at the Korea Military Academy, the official said.

Jung said she had taught cadets at the academy as a lecturer for the past nine years before being named a full-time professor on Friday.

Jung will teach politics and national security as a civilian worker in the military, beginning in the second semester, the official said.

So far, only army officers have taught cadets as full-time employees at the academy.

In a related development, all female college students are eligible to join the military's Reserve Officers' Training Corps program, beginning this year.

There are some 6,400 female commissioned officers and non-commissioned officers in the country's 655,000-strong military. Women are not required to complete military service.