In this opinion piece, Iraq veteran Catherine Ross describes her frustration at being barred from combat based on her sex. It features a link to a very interesting video about women in the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) who are allowed into combat. Recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been proving that women are able to handle themselves in combat capacities since the front line has become less traditional and has moved to locations where women are allowed to serve. Ross describes the effort that women in the U.S. military must put forward just to prove themselves. Part of this could be due to the tiny percentage of military personnel that are women. Ross explains that women are only 14% of the Army, and in the Marine Corps they make up 4-5%. The Marine recruiting website explains that "with the exception of engaging in offensive combat, women in the Marine Corps have exactly the same opportunities for advancement and growth as male Marines" (http://parents.marines.com/page/Achievement-WomenCorps.jsp). One has to ask though how these opportunities can be the same when so much of advancement and promotion, especially at the higher ranks, is dependent on combat experience. Also, what does it mean to be in the military but not be allowed to fight...can women really be considered to be in the military in the same way that men are considered to be in the military? This issue is very important when considering the access of half the population to military service. As an access issue, it has been argued to violate women's human rights. Of course, the interesting question is whether increasing access to an institution which, some argue, violates many human rights can itself be a human rights question or if increasing such access is even desirable. Given that aside, I think that talking about it is still important. Looking at women in the military gives good indications of what we really believe as a society about women and men regardless of all of our politically correct speech. Reasons given for keeping women from combat are based on the same sorts of assumptions about women that Wollstonecraft began to question hundreds of years ago.
I would love to know what others think about this article, my comments, and the IDF video, so feel free to comment below.
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
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To me, combat experience and military service are inextricably connected to physical strength and ability. Wollstonecraft underscored that by nature women are unarguably physically weaker than men, which still holds true--at least on average. Is it then fair to equate female soldiers to male soldiers?
ReplyDeleteHow much strength does it take to pull a trigger? With modern warfare there is not the sort of hand to hand combat people fear so the discussion of physical differences between men and women do not need to be brought up. And any differences that there could be can be taken care of by training. If you train people to fight well they will be able to. As the IDF video shows, women have been effective combat soldiers in Israel for some time.
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