THE ''old guard'' of the understrength and overstretched British Army is still fighting hard to ensure that female recruits are effectively barred from any effective role in its traditionally male preserve, according to a study published yesterday.

Attempts to attract and integrate female recruits are being undermined by a ''historically masculine'' culture in which their presence in units is regarded as ''disruptive'', according to Newcastle University researchers.

The study, funded jointly by the Ministry of Defence and the Economic Social Research Council, says that while the army has made progress in equal opportunities, many officers as well as soldiers still have problems adjusting to women in the ranks at any level.

One member of MoD staff involved in implementing the female-friendly policy told researchers that trying to change the mindset of even some senior officers was ''like trying to turn a supertanker'' in mid-course.

Drs Rachel Woodward and Patricia Winter, the study's authors, also found that entrenched attitudes, coupled with media stereotypes of either sexy or tomboyish women soldiers, had a direct effect on important decisions taken about women in the organisation and also influenced military policy and promotional literature.

The two researchers interviewed army staff, analysed army and MoD policy documents, and carried out a survey of relevant media reports as the basis for their study.

Among the official documents was Combat Effectiveness and Gender, which led to Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary, announcing in May, 2002, that women would continue to be excluded from some direct combat positions.

Dr Woodward said Mr Hoon stated - without any documentary evidence - that putting women into front-line jobs in the fighting units risked undermining efficiency.

Only 8% of the British Army is female, compared with 15% of the US Army. Women make up 9.5% of UK officers and 6.8% of other ranks.

No woman in either force is allowed to join a direct combat unit such as the infantry or armoured corps, although some are qualified as helicopter pilots who might have to fly into areas swept by enemy fire.

Gender discrimination

One US woman pilot was killed in action in the 1991 Gulf war and three female members of a water purification unit died when an Iraqi Scud missile warhead landed on their rear-area base at Dahran in Saudi Arabia. Another nine US female servicewomen were killed in accidents.

The most recent example of apparent gender discrimination in the UK armed forces occurred last August when Captain Pip Tatersall, a 27-year-old army officer from Tarland, Aberdeenshire, became the first woman to pass the gruelling Royal Marines' commando course at Lympstone and won the coveted green beret - only to be told that she could not be part of a fighting unit.

Captain Tatersall had to complete a nine-week course that included survival tests, assault courses, and a 30-mile forced march across Dartmoor carrying full combat kit. About 50% of the male candidates, including Prince Edward a few years ago, fail the course.

She is currently teaching at the army's foundation course college in Harrogate, north Yorkshire, and is philosophical about her situation as a woman in a man's world.

''It's just one of the things I have to accept. There's no point in kicking up a fuss about it. Whatever happens, I am committed to the army, although I would have liked the chance to serve with the commando brigade,'' she said.

''I may get a posting to the unit in a couple of years, although by current rules it will have to be in a supporting, non-combat role with the logistics regiment or headquarters.''

Dr Woodward said: ''Our research revealed attitudes and language used when discussing and writing about women which undermined the army's efforts to portray itself as a progressive employer. There is evidently great opposition from soldiers who think the army should be an exclusively male preserve. The army needs to take on board and promote the idea that a woman soldier is just that, a woman who is also a soldier.''

Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart Crawford, a Scottish tank officer who commanded the mixed-gender Scottish universities' officer training corps, added: ''There is no reason other than prejudice to bar any qualified female from being a member of a tank crew. Most of the women are as good as, if not better than, their male equivalents.''