Woman in Combat Arms
On December 3, 2015, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter ordered the military to open all combat jobs to women with no exceptions. The historic change will pave the way for women to serve alongside men in combat arms units. "The important factor in making my decision was to have access to every American who could add strength to the joint force," said Mr. Carter .This decision will open up about 220,000 jobs for women in the military, or about 10 percent of the entire active and reserve force. Most of those jobs are in Army and Marine Corps infantry and armor units. As of January 2, 2016, female service members both current and incoming recruits will be allowed to serve in any military job for which they meet the gender-neutral
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For the most part that is right, there have been women that have excelled and achieved things society thought only men could do, for example holding high government position and running for President. There is an exception to this, women are not built for combat, and they do not have the strength it requires or the mental stability. The truth is most women wouldn’t even qualify to be in the military if they didn’t have separate standards. Men and women are different, but those pushing women into combat do not want to admit that truth. A lot of people are trying to prove that women can do whatever men can do, but it just isn’t so. We’re built differently, and it doesn’t matter if one particular woman could best one particular man it’s about the team. The United States military views its diverse force as one of its greatest assets. Still women have played a tremendous role in our countries' armed forces from the past to the present but can they play on equal role in …show more content…
Women are very emotional people due to their hormones, when you put women in a danger zone men become emotionally involved too. This is because society shows that men are expected to protect women, and they will lose sight of the real mission. A man is more likely to put himself in danger to protect a woman than he would another man. This causes problems on the battlefield, if someone gets shot and goes down, a man is trained not to leave a fallen comrade there to die, but they will be more focused on a woman. As a result they will put themselves and others in danger. War emotionally affects everyone, the bombs going off, bullets passing over head, soldiers getting hurt or even dying will cause major emotional problems to a man, but for a woman these emotions may be
The military is trying to find new ways to recognize the fact that women now fight in the country’s wars. In 2011 the Military Leadership Diversity Commission recommended that the Department of Defense remove all combat restrictions on women. Although many jobs have been opened for women in the military, there is still 7.3 percent of jobs that are closed to them. On February 9, 2012, George Little announced that the Department of Defense would continue to reduce the restrictions that were put on women’s roles. The argument that “women are not physically fit for combat” is the most common and well-researched justification for their exclusion from fighting units. It has been proven if women go through proper training and necessary adaptations, they can complete the same physical tasks as any man. Though there seem to be many reasons from the exclusion of women in the military, the main ones have appeared to be that they do not have the strength to go through combat, would be a distraction to the men, and that they would interrupt male bonding and group
This is because women have proved themselves to be of equal capability as men, and they have already been serving in combat positions alongside men, though not legally. Fortunately, the Pentagon was able to see this and on December 3, 2015 Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter announced that they would be officially allowing women to serve in all combat positions in the U.S. armed forces. This change in military policy will allow more representation for women in the armed forces but it also represents a major leap towards gender equality, further closing the gap between men and
With society’s past and present it is apparent that women are still not equal even if they have the title. Men are observably stronger and have a different mentality in situations than women. This is not to say that women should not be in the military but they should have the choice that way they can accept the responsibility and train themselves mentally and physically to achieve the responsibility and respect needed to fight for our country.
When it comes to combat assignments and the needs of the military, men take precedence over all other considerations, including career prospects of female service members. Female military members have been encouraged to pursue opportunities and career enhancement within the armed forces, which limit them only to the needs and good of the service due to women being not as “similarly situated” as their male counterparts when it comes to strength or aggressiveness, and are not able to handle combat situations.
Many women around the world have big responsibilities in the military, and although some people may disagree, I believe they can handle anything a man can handle when it comes to being on the battlefield. Some people think that women should not be able to fight in the military, where as other people think they should be able to fight in the military. Each supporter and non-supporter has their own reasons. Some of the reasons for the non-supporters are because of their gender. They think that because they are women, they cannot handle the challenges that being on the battlefield brings. Women are willing to fight, and they know what can happen, they know exactly what can happen. They are willing to fight for their country, and I believe they should be able to. The men that fight for our country are against women fighting in combat. They believe that women are not capable of doing what they do to defend and fight for our country. The men feel that they cannot trust women to help back them up at war simply because of the fact that they are women.
In 2015 the military removed the ban on women serving in combat roles. Before this women could serve in combat zones, but could not serve in combat roles (i.e. drive tanks, lead the infantry, be an Army Ranger or Navy SEAL). Now men and women serving in the military can have the same jobs and are paid the same rate based on rank and specialty.
Historically, women have been excluded from combat roles. On the surface, it is because men, who have always thought of themselves better and stronger than women, believed that females could not handle the responsibility of holding a combat position and women are rupturing the socially constructed gender norms that were set in place. According to Nicole Dombrowski, “no other topic concerning women’s role in war creates as great a debate as the question of women’s active participation in combat units.” The benefits for the expansion of women’s roles in the military advantage not only the women but the military as well. In comparison, the drawbacks of expansion of women’s roles are usually disadvantages to the men within the military.
...nuary, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta and Army General Martin E. Depsey announced to demolish all unnecessary gender based barriers to service. On May 15, 2013, all U.S. military forces had to submit plans to end the rule excluding women from critical ground-combat units. “Women have shown great courage and sacrifice on and off the battlefield, contributed in unprecedented ways to the military’s mission and proven their ability to serve in an expanding number of roles,” Secretary of Defense Leon E. Panetta said. “The Department’s goal in rescinding the rule is to ensure that the mission is met with the best-qualified and most capable people, regardless of gender.”(“United State Department of Defense”, #12). Women have the same reasons to fight for their country as their male counterparts. In the end women bring craft, effectiveness, and innovation to the force.
The gender integration in the military has always faced questions of social acceptance, weather society can accept how women will be qualified and respected in the military as today. As of today, the decision has been made and allowed women to fill about 220,000 jobs that are now limited to men which includes infantry, armor, reconnaissance and some special operations units. The recruitment numbers of women have been increasing since than which reflects the importance of severing as role model for future women to join infantry and other ground combat jobs which they have been prohibited from. Women have extensively served in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, but discrimination still continues till today. The military requirements are physical tests and standards such as long deployments aboard ships, exceptions for infantry which male units perform better than women. Women’s acknowledgement has not really changed which stated by Carter “ He said there are “physical differences on average” between men and women and that “thus far, we’ve only seen small numbers of women qualify to meet our high physical standards” for some units “ (Bradner, p. 3).There are not many exceptions for women fulfilling the needs to open opportunity jobs in the military but with little hope which men inhale the endurance and strength that are not viewed towards
The problem of women fighting in combat along with their male counterparts is not a one-sided problem. Elizabeth Hoisington has earned the rank of Brigadier General in the U.S. Army, leads the Women’s Army Corps and believes that women should not serve in combat because they are not as physically, mentally, or emotionally qualified as a male is and that ...
On Thursday December 3rd, 2015, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter made the announcement that all combat positions would be opened to women (Brook). Taking effect next year, women will be able to join our military’s most elite and battle hardened divisions such as the Navy Seals, Marine Corps Infantry, and Army Special Forces (Brook) -- making a total of 213,600 positions throughout 52 specialties available (Brook). In the President’s words:
...nto a situation of high testosterone, women are not considered to be a threat. Military research now however, has shown that women have the physical stamina to endure battle and do not disrupt the cohesion in the male units and can also be mentally tough without breaking when under fire. Women are not only discriminated against in the military, they are also discriminated against in Philosophy, religion, and Popular Culture.
In today’s society, people choose men over women for hand-to-hand combat. If a woman is wounded, a man would most likely help her out instead of fight. Women can be a distraction during battles. Men would most likely save the woman than themselves because men have the urge to help out a weaker teammate. If the teammate was another man, the man would just go on with his business than help out his wounded teammate. See, if a man saw his dead teammate, he would ignore him. If a man saw a dead woman on the battlefield, he would rush over and try to help her out instead of helping out his other teammates
et al., 2016).Gender- Another visible diversity is gender in the military. Women have played a role in supporting and serving in the U.S Armed Forces since the revolutionary war. However, laws and policies about how many women may serve, their authorized benefits, and types of assignment, have changed over the history of women’s service. Women are prohibited from serving in many occupations by statute and policies, especially those occupation related to combat arms specialties (Kamarck, K. N. 2017).
Many agree, that in certain military occupations, women can function at the same level as men. The controversy about having women fighting with men in wars is the fact that they have a different physical structure, deal with stress and emotions differently , are more susceptible to injury and just don't have the killer instinct necessary to get the job done. Although the last statement might appear to be a stereotype, most women would not be capable of supporting the demanding rigors of war-like situations. It would be a great mistake to allow women in these stressful and dangerous situations.