Women in the Military

It was announced this week that the changes are being made that eventually should make it possible for women to serve in all or virtually all roles in the military.  My regrets on this are probably different than most people.  I regret all war and so opening up more people to the violence and harm that I believe combat is unfortunate.  That being said I think that denying someone a position solely because of their gender is a foolish thing to do.  Especially for the military where effectiveness should be the number one guiding influence, not what chromosomes they were born with.

My greatest hope for this is that it will help shift some age-old stereotypes about the differences between men and women.  There are obvious physical differences including how big and strong the different genders tend to be, but many of those differences can easily be overcome.  I have been beaten by enough female fencers to tell you that being bigger and stronger does not always help.  What cannot be so easily overcome is how we view, and thus treat the different genders.  Numerous comments were made in reaction to this move about the negative effects this would have.  While some people seemed convinced that women simply could not DO the work required and that the military would have to reduce standards, many more centered around two fears.  One was that men would be distracted by protecting the women and that the loss of female lives would be a larger emotional blow.  The second fear was that women POWs would be subjected to rape and sexual violence and that this would create its own problems (beyond the harm to the women).

What worries me about such fears is that it seems to place a greater value on women than men, which is probably rooted in the notion that women are to be protected like property, and not capable of their own care.  There is also an underlying assumption around issues of sexual violence that this is NOT happening to men (despite evidence to the contrary, even in US POW camps) and that it is NOT happening already to women who serve in the armed forces by our own side.  Sexual violence to POWs is a horrible thing and something that is very concerning, but not just because it might happen to women.  It feels like a horrible double standard to say that we should be worried about the rape that might occur women at the hands of our obviously unscrupulous enemy while ignoring the violence that occurs already.

Just as fighting and dying together helped the cause of integration between races, maybe the same will occur with regards to genders.  Maybe we will stop seeing men as strong and women as weak as more and more women are given the chance to step into the same roles as men.  I wish equality could come in a less violent way, but I am glad that in one more area everyone is being given an equal chance regardless of gender.