Women and Asymmetric Warfare

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Recommended: Women during war and conflict

The United States (US) has been involved on the ongoing wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria for many years. After nearly a decade of war with an enemy that cannot be compared to any past adversary our military has been forced to evolve. In order to confront all of the issues that occur in a society that is repressive to women we have to evaluate rules that have governed our forces. One primary focus for the evaluation has been the role of women in a combat environment. In past wars and conflicts women were restricted from the “front lines”. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are very different. Our male soldiers are unable to speak to the women due to cultural and religious constraints. This has forced the evaluation of women in combat in this war. If the Islamic cultural standards are ignored the risk to the United States’ long term mission is significant. The enemy is media savvy, using every possible situation to exploit his stronger opponent. The risk and gains of allowing women to have a more forward role in the war has to be carefully weighted. Although the adversary will exploit the situation, the war itself has tested the economic and political strength of the nation. Both men and women have been involved on multiple deployments that have resulted in the loss of life and serious injury. This could be true of any of the wars the US has been engaged in. But this particular war has no definitive enemy or adversary, no laws or rules, no true front line. Since the adversary is motivated by ideology the US military has been engaged in a chess game of strategy, balanced with traditional war tactics. This is a very Asymmetric War. Because of Asymmetric Warfare; women have to play a more active role in combat.

As...

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...kes the possibility of guaranteeing that Female American Soldiers will not be in combat impossible. Therefore the role that female soldiers fulfill has been redefined out of necessity.

Works Cited

Army Public Affairs. Women in the US Army. n.d. 04 03 2011 .

Aspin, Les. "The New York Times." 13 Jan 1994. 04 03 2011 .

Garcia, J. Malcolm. "The Virginia Quarterly Review." July 2008. VQR. 26 Feb 2011 .

Goodwin, Liz. Female suicide bomber kills two U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan. 23 07 2010. 04 03 2011 .

McKenzie, Kenneth. The Revenge of the Melians: Asymmetric Threats and the next QDR. Washington DC: NDU Press, 2000.

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