Women in Combat - Essay Example

Women in Combat 2008 Women in Combat Nowadays the US Army represents a diverse body composed of male and female soldiers of different ages, ethnic, social and cultural backgrounds. Naturally, gender diversity is a very essential aspect in military studies nowadays. The growth of interest toward this topic seems to be absolutely justified and up to date. In the past, the role of women in military affairs was minor and insignificant: they performed functions of nurses or worked for national defense. As feminist movement grew stronger, the voices for equal military opportunities for both sexes grew louder. As a result, in the twentieth century women were allowed enlist in the United States military as soldiers having equal opportunities with men - another evidence of strong connection between the army and society1. Since that time female militaries has not provided a single occasion to question reasonability of their involvement in this field. First women enlisted in the military during World War I. Apparently, female soldiers proved their fighting efficiency: in World War II four hundred thousand military women served in the Army, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, Navy, and Air force both in Europe and other states. Since that time female soldiers were took part in each military action conducted by the United States. In the beginning of 1990's women's roles in the Army once more became a subject for discussion. The intense interest to female soldiers was a result of their high-level performance during "Desert Storm" operation in Kuwait. Women's qualified work was highly commended by the Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney: "They did a bang up job.... They were every bit as professional as their male colleagues"2. The Secretary also forecasted further growth of women's role in combat actions as well as the growth in quantity of female soldiers. The war at the Persian Gulf is up to date one of the most successful military operations in the history of the United States, and women's role in that success was very substantial. The total number of women deployed for the war exceeded 41 thousand: female soldiers composed 7 percent of the U.S. Armed Forces involved into the conflict in the Persian Gulf: 26,000 Army, 3,700 Navy, 2,200 Marine, and 5,300 Air Force3. They served as aircraft pilots and were involved into carrying troops, food and equipment supplies; they successfully conducted reconnaissance missions; served as nurses on hospital ships and composed mobile medical units; they served on planes and helicopters. Women militaries directed artillery, drove trucks, served at prisoner-of-war facilities and in port security units. They played important role in military police units and served as perimeter guards at the same time accomplishing a lot of other tasks in communication, intelligence service, and administrative work. At the first glance it seems that all these services listed above do not necessarily presuppose engagement into combat. However, the war at the Persian Gulf was specific due to absence of a line between the actual fighting and non-combat missions. Therefore even units that were not supposed to participate in the combat directly were from time to time engaged into casual fights. As Major General Jeanne M. Holm, USAF (Ret.) remembers, "In the Gulf War there were no fixed positions or clear lines in the sand - Iraqi long-range artillery and especially the surface-to-surface missiles were unisex weapons that did not distinguish between combat and support troops"4. As a result five female soldiers were killed during the war and two were captured by Iraqi troops as prisoners of war. As a result, the Congress repealed the law prohibiting women from performing combat aircraft assignments. Simultaneously a Presidential Commission was established that investigated issues concerning the assignment of women in the US Armed Forces, namely pros and contras of allowing female soldiers obtaining several additional positions in the Army5. After the end of the Gulf War the number of women in the Army decreased; nonetheless they continued to play an important role in US military forces. As of 1992 percentage of women in the Army was 11.4 percent (12 197 officers), in the Navy 10.3 percent (7 453 officers), in the Air Force 12.9 percent (13 402 officers), and in the Marines 3.5 percent (696 officers). These percentages of officers roughly complied with the percentages of women enlisted in the US military forces: in the Army - 11.2 percent (73 794 soldiers), in the Navy - 10 percent (51 633 soldiers), in the Air Force - 13.6 percent (63 175 soldiers), and in the Marines 5.1 percent (9 012 soldiers)6. Apparently, the proportion of male officers and soldiers to female officers and privates does not reflect the proportion of men to women in the society; nevertheless, women compose approximately 10 percent of the whole military stuff that is a great progress if compared to the state of affairs several decades ago. The Gulf War demonstrated that women can successfully perform military tasks directly in the combat zone, but at the same time it revealed several serious problems that made the issue of women deployment a bit controversial. On of the major problems noticed by military analysts was a sharp increase in pregnancies right before and during the Gulf War. The effects of such "epidemic" were extremely negative for the US Army. The most undesirable outcome of pregnancy was that it made trained female specialists lose practically all skills acquired during the training course and thus undermined their readiness. The situation was moreover difficult taking into consideration the Army's policy as for its pregnant soldiers. Elaine Donnelly, president of the Center for Military Readiness, touched upon the very essence of the problem when stated, "A pregnancy does not result in any kind of disciplinary procedures whatsoever. In fact, there are very generous benefits that work to 'incentivize' single parenthood and pregnancies. This issue is much bigger than just one sailor or one Marine"7. Unfortunately, the Gulf War lesson was missed by the military command and today we have a rare possibility to observe absolutely identical situation: on May 23 this year a Marine sergeant delivered a boy who became the first baby born during this campaign by an American soldier. Several pregnant marines and sailors were also evacuated to give birth to their babies in non-military hospitals. The problem of sexual harassment and sexual assault is another serious issue related to women's service in the Army. Since the beginning of 1990's a number of investigations devoted to this problem were conducted by various military and non-military organizations. All of them came to a conclusion that sexual harassment was an unalienable part of service in the US Army. The Army admitted cases of sexual harassment claiming that specific features of military service practically exclude any possibility of radical improvements in gender relations. A survey conducted by the Defense Department in 1995 reported more than fifty percent of women in all services to suffer from unwanted sexual attention or sexual abuse8. Till the end of 1990's the situation hardly improved. One more problem female militaries had to deal with in the 1990's was that of gender discrimination. There was an opinion that gender discrimination was even worse for women that sexual harassment. Despite the Gulf War that proved female soldiers could successfully participate in actual fighting, the number of military positions open for women was rather restricted. According to data captured by the Women's Research and Education Institute, the percentage of positions open to female militaries in 1993-1994 was: in the Army - 52 percent, in the Navy - 59 percent, in the Air Force - 97 percent, and in the Marines - only 20 percent. Majority of positions closed for women presupposed engagement in direct combat, although there was no specific legislation that would restrict female participation in ground combat units9. And finally, the Gulf War made many analysts once more examine the problem of physical difference between men and women. A study conducted by the US Army in the 1980's identified five areas of physical strength and gave "male soldiers' strength relative to females as follows: upper-body, 72 percent higher; leg extensor, 54 percent; trunk flexor, 47 percent; lean body mass, 33 percent; and aerobic capacity, 28 percent"10. Besides, the lifting capacity - that plays a crucial role in direct combat - of men is nearly twice as high as that of women; speed and endurance of men is also significantly higher than that of women. However, the data mentioned above is right when applied to an average man and an average woman. For example, approximately 10 percent of the military women have higher lifting capacity than those 10 percent of men who demonstrated the lowest results11. The fact that women are physically weaker than men is difficult to neglect as well as the supposition that in majority of cases women's presence in infantry units involved into direct combat is likely to jeopardize its effectiveness and mobility. But in case physical strength does not play a decisive role in the combat women should be given equal opportunities with men. One of such services that do not require exceptional strength is the Air Force, where women, by the way, have access to 97 percent of positions. If we compare this figure with only 20 percent of positions opened to women in the Marines, where exceptional physical strength is the must, the logic of the Army is absolutely clear and irreprehensible. To my mind claims of most fervid feminists concerning repealing all restrictions and quotas for women who want to participate in direct combats equally with men (as Marines, for instance), are non-reflective. Besides the Gulf War raised several problems that belonged rather to the sphere of psychology than military performance. The continuous campaign took women away from their families and there were numerous claims that psychological effects of their absence negatively influenced their children in the first turn. Obviously, this problem was slightly exaggerated: before the Gulf War the great majority of single parents in the military were divorced fathers, i.e. male militaries had to bring their children up alone not due to their wives' deployment. Of course, two parent family is always preferable for children, nonetheless military fathers obviously managed to cope with their task: up to date there is no data concerning either high rates of delinquency among children brought up by one military parent or any other social trouble caused by such these children12. The problem of gender relations within the US Army in the 1990's was one of the most controversial and important issues in the US military policy of those days. Unfortunately, it was not the only one. The problem of interethnic relations in the US Army deserves by no means less attention than gender inequalities, especially if we remember that the 1990's were the time of intensive affirmative action policy intended to reduce ethnic tension and eliminate discrimination in the American society. Women play not less important role in human society than men, but even now they have to struggle to make people recognize this well-proven fact. The feminist movement has a long history, yet only in the twentieth century they managed to attract serious attention to women's rights. Recognition of women's potential by the US Army during World War I was a great landmark in feminist movement in the United States. Till the beginning of 1990's women took part in hundreds of military operations all around the world, but the first Gulf War was a real triumph for female soldiers. Nevertheless, many Army women continued to suffer from one of the most itching problems of civilian society - gender discrimination accompanied with often cases of sexual harassment. Apparently, the roots of both these phenomena lie deep in male psychology; otherwise the strict policy of the Army would have already eliminated both of them. Neither persuasion nor sever punishment for abusers had any effect. The explanation is rather simple: the origin of this problem lies in the nature of gender relations within civilian society, and until the civil society finds ways to cope with it even most severe measures will have minor effect. References Bellafaire, J., "America's Military Women - The Journey Continues", Women's Memorial Foundation. Retrieved November 11, 2008 from http://www.womensmemorial.org/Education/WHM982.html Department of Defense, "Role of Women in the Theater of Operations", in Conduct of the Persian Gulf War: Final Report to Congress, Vol.2, Washington: Department of Defense, 1992. Goldstein, J. C., War and Gender: How Gender Shapes the War System and Vice Versa. Cambridge University Press, 2001. McGurk, D., Thomas, J.L., Bliese, P.D. The effects of diversity on intragroup conflict in the U.S. Army reserve officer training corps (ROTC)", Walter Reed Army Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Retrieved November 11, 2008 from http://wrair-www.army.mil/Resources/library/Publication/abstrs02.htm Morahan, L., "Marine's 'Stealth Baby' in Persian Gulf Causes Uproar in Military", CNSNews.com, 2003. Retrieved November 11, 2008, from http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/6/16/173747.shtml Ponce, P. and Foote, E., "War on Harassment", transcript of interview, 1997. Retrieved November 11, 2008 from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/military/july-dec97/harassment_9-11.html Sagawa, S. and Campbell, N. D., "Women in Combat", National Women's Law Center, Washington, D.C., October 1992 Tyson, A. S., "Revisiting Integration of Sexes in US Military", The Christian Science Monitor, March 16, 1998 Read More