Obama Administrations Policy - Essay Example

?Obama administration’s policy lifting the prohibition of women from serving in combat roles in the US military Historically, in many countries womenhave participated in combat forces depending on the demography of the country. In the United States, President Barrack Obama has lifted the ban on women in joining combat forces. This step which has been taken to enforce gender equality can change the global outlook regarding the issue. But, the US is not a pioneer country that has allowed women on the front lines to fight the enemy. Historically, in Russia during the World War II and also in Israel since the last 15 years women have been participating in combat. Obama administration’s move is being taken based on the view that demand for soldiers has increased over the last ten years. The purpose is to meet the demand with the most qualified and the most efficient people regardless of gender (Llana & Eulich, 2013). In the year 1966, US administration introduced a new project to battle the incessant problems of unemployment and racism. The mission of the new program was to provide funds to public works and business loans that would create employment opportunities for the unemployed people. The program was introduced with the declaration that funds would go to Oakland, California where there were high rates of unemployment and social unrest. Another clause in the program was that the donor would not be the new Department of Housing and Urban Development, but would be an agency with rural antecedents and primarily a rural jurisdiction: The Economic Development Administration (EDA) of the Department of Commerce (Pressman & Wildavsky, 1984, p.1). The most difficult project for EDA was the airline hangar. In Washington, the EDA officials were not satisfied with the employment performance of the World Airways in comparison with other airline hangars. In June 1968, a World Airways compliance report proved that while overall employment increased by 98 from March 1967 to February 1968, there was reduction in the total number of minority employment including female employees by 18 (Pressman & Wildavsky, 1984, p.43). The employment program of World Airways had many weak points one of which was that there were no appropriate training programs for minorities for professional jobs. Also, there was no sufficient specification of the sources of minority recruitment. EDA officials also expressed concern over the treatment of women. Female employees were not provided adequate training under Child Care Assistance (Pressman & Wildavsky, 1984, pp.62-63). In October 1968, EDA proposed that further financial assistance would be provided to the hanger on the condition that the employment plan would be approved after being revised (Pressman & Wildavsky, 1984, p.43). In the United States, the police departments all over the country were “reorganized into centralized, functional units” (Moore, 1995, p.229) to keep them free from political influences. The logic behind this was that centralized units would develop more skilful personnel who would be adapted to perform specific duties, and then they can be deployed appropriately across the entire police force. This way a consistent performance can be assured throughout the city (Moore, 1995, p.229). The personnel systems in Houston Police Department (HPD) were well developed and with proper sense of duty for fulfillment of the stringent law enforcements, but were not properly equipped for other visions of the department. For instance, in case of recruitment and selection of officers, the focus was on implement of force in a disciplined manner. In case of gender consideration, it was seen that men applied for the police far more than women. One reason is height requirement to ensure that officers could physically intimidate the criminals (Moore, 1995, p.231). In January 2013, the US military lifted the prohibition that was implemented on women to serve in combat roles. This move will allow women to join in 230,000 new roles as long as they qualify themselves by meeting the required criteria. This move has been taken as response to pressure from American women to serve in combat positions. In November 2012, four female soldiers who had served in combat roles in Iraq and Afghanistan announced that they would sue the Defense Department for the prohibitions implemented on women for serving in combat roles. This move has also been taken keeping in view that if men and women are given equal opportunities in the army, then it would enhance the army’s culture and would reduce incidents like sexual assaults within the army (Harris, 2013). Fig.1: The Strategic triangle According to Fig.1 any strategy should have value quotient which means it should produce positive results. It should also be legitimate and politically sustainable, and thirdly it should be operationally and administratively sustainable so that the required objectives can be accomplished. Based on the strategic triangle, women in combat roles can be seen from all three angles. Given the volatile situation in today’s world, every country remains alert to defend itself against enemy countries and for that armed forces recruitment is always high. This situation recognizes the necessity of women in combat as it will widen the scope of job applications. Also, women can be more effective in some conditions like delicate jobs that need interpersonal skills can be more effectively handled by women. By allowing women in combat duty, they will be ensured of promotions to senior officer positions, thus eliminating the issue of sexism. This would increase the prestige of female members as the highest status and opportunity can be found only in military forces. Today battles are not fought by physical strength only; battles have become more technology oriented which requires technical expertise, therefore a mixed gender force can make the military more viable. So, by recruiting women in combat forces their intelligence prowess can be utilized fully. Finally, from political perspective it is of high priority to defend own country. For this purpose it is not logical to exclude a major proportion of a country’s population from combat forces. It only decreases military efficiency and flexibility. This move by the Obama administration has been welcomed by many intellectuals and academic experts. This move has proved that US military is finally acknowledging the contributions of women in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Moreover, with this move the Defense Department has accepted the fact that with time war strategies have changed in terms of attitudes towards women. Today, women can have appropriate roles to play in wars. References Harris, P. (January 25, 2013), Women in combat: US military officially lifts ban on female soldiers, The Guardian, retrieved on February 4, 2013 from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/24/us-military-lifts-ban-women-combat Llana, S.M. & W. Eulich. (January 29, 2013), Why combat role for US women could reverberate worldwide, The CS Monitor, retrieved on February 4, 2013 from: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-Issues/2013/0129/Why-combat-role-for-US-women-could-reverberate-worldwide Moore, M.H. (1995) Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press Pressman, J. & A. Wildavsky. (1984). Implementation: 3rd ed. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press Read More