http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/06/opinion/sunday/women-in-combat-jobs.html
This article discusses the recent decision made by Defense Secretary Ashton Carter that will allow women to serve on the front lines in military combat. Mr. Carter announced that "as long as they qualify and meet the standards, women will now be able to contribute to our mission in ways they could not before." The US is following in the footsteps of other countries such as Canada, Israel, and France, where women are allowed in military combat roles.
(This map shows which countries allowed women to serve in all combat roles in 2013.)
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/01/25/map-which-countries-allow-women-in-front-line-combat-roles/
In my opinion, if a woman is able to meet the standards, she should be able to serve. However, this also brings up issues like sexual assault and discrimination within the military itself. Although the article did not mention this, I think that it is very important to acknowledge. It reminds me of Okin's false gender neutrality- even though women are now legally permitted to serve in combat roles, they will still face many problems from inside the military that need to be addressed.
I agree with you Sammy. It seems like we have gender neutrality by now allowing women to serve in these combats roles, but in the end they are not actually being treated fairly in these roles. They definitely will have to face many more issues that men would not face in these combat roles, such as the sexual assault and gender discrimination you mentioned. I feel like we want to seem like we have gender neutrality in our country, but in the end although it might seem like we have it on paper, we actually still have many gender inequality issues.
ReplyDeleteSammie,
ReplyDeleteI think you are right point to false gender neutrality. Do you know anything about the standards that women need to reach? What are the chances that those standards are made to discriminate against women? Is there anything in place to stop this from happening?
I believe the article said they were the exact same standards that the men need to reach. I don't think that this will lead to an equal amount of women in combat just because men and women have different distribution of strength throughout their bodies. However, I don't think the standards should be lowered because they are they way they are for a reason.
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DeleteThere is still backlash on Women having the opportunity to fight on the front lines. Some people believe that women are never going to be as physically fit to "match up" to a man. That being said, I don think that the recent changes are a good thing. Women are slowly rising up and showing that they deserve to be where they are, however I am still worried about the discrimination that they will face. Yes it looks good to people to see that everyone is slowly being treated equally, but in reality we still have a long way to go.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it is true that sexual assault and discrimination are things of concern now that women are allowed in combat but I don't think that means women shouldn't be allowed in the front lines. If things are kept the way they are now then change has no chance to happen. Even though there are people who don't think women are even capable of this it's better to show that they can then not try at all and let sexists win. I think that hurts gender inequality more. I know having women in the front lines won't fix gender inequality and there are still other issues within that that need to be addressed but I think that allowing women in the front lines but also knowing that things like discrimination and sexual assault are possibilities gives gender equality a better platform than telling women they can't be in the front lines at all.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone's comments. I think that women eceiving the same opportunity as men to go into combat in the military is great. However, i question the standards that they are going ot hold women up to. Will these standards be based off of the standards already provided which are for men? If so, this keeps the problem of inequality going in my opinion. It says that being a man in combat is the ultimate goal and women must reach that goal.
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