Argumentative Essay On America's Servicewomen

America’s Servicewomen Recently, Congress granted women the right to fight alongside men in all active combat positions, raising questions in regard to the future success of this executive decision. Women have served for the United States military for hundreds of years. However, as a result, they now the opportunity to participate in global warfare at their own risk. Although numbers in war are crucial to victory, the effectiveness and efficiency of the women’s performance in combat roles has sparked questions from the general public. Many people in society have argued that the decision was made to provide equal rights and to determine if women are capable of defying the odds of the challenges combat presents. The real problems women in combat will confront are much more complex and pertain to subjects relating to pregnancies, infections, and physical capabilities. Although there are few benefits of women participating in combat, the negative effects outweigh the number of positive amount. For most of American history, men have solely performed combat duties, until recently when the Pentagon
allowed women the right to as well. “We must begin setting physical standards for every job that both men and women will have to meet” (“Army to Step Up” 1). Although it may seem like a great idea, women have caused themselves to confront new risk where conditions are never 100% positive. “The field of deployment tends to be a very dirty environment…” (McGraw, Koehlmoos, Ritchie 10). Women will have to repress their human nature to reproduce. Women will also have to battle the possible infections caused by unsanitary deployments where water is contaminated and bathrooms are scarce. Women would be required to endure the physically demanding environment that comes with war. The New York Times article, “Army to Step up Efforts to Recruit Women,” states that, “Women are injured at a higher rate than men” (3). There are more risks for women in this field of work that have yet to be fully secured and supported. Some individuals may argue that one’s gender shouldn’t matter in times of battle and that women have served for years without much conflict. “The US military has only had two 4 star women generals in the entire history of the US military” (“Women in Military”). Women have previously managed to achieve high roles in military leadership before they were allowed into combat zones. “…women are already serving, fighting, and dying in combat” (Kamarck 20). Women can physically handle tough conditions, maybe not at the capacity as a man, but they can very well defend themselves if their life and country are at risk. “The military should take the most qualified women who meet both the physical and mental standards of the infantry…” (Nicolas 58). With proper training, women could become tough soldiers who can serve their country to the best of their abilities. Those who believe women are as capable as men argue that women should receive the same opportunities. This also gives women the chance to fight for more equal rights, which has been an issue for decades, by overcoming sexism and obtaining leadership roles in combat. “…our goal is to raise efforts on a par equal to similar efforts devoted specifically to males” (McGraw, Koehlmoos, Ritchie 8). With the addition of advanced weapon technology, hand –to-hand combat is less likely, thus giving women a better chance at operating a mission. The best advantage of allowing women in combat is having an extra set of boots on the ground to fight the enemy. Numbers are crucial in times of war, and the more fighters a country can obtain on its side, the better. Kristy N. Kamarck, analyst in Military Manpower, posits, “…it is more difficult for service members to advance without combat experience” (2). In the end, it comes down to if men and women would both work to accomplish one goal, victory, and if, together, they could use their differing perspectives to achieve that. Although this is possible, other factors are more important to consider. All factors are at stake when pursuing the life and death situations in war. The slightest change in health or mentality could lead to a sudden death on the battle field, which could happen with the addition of women in combat. Healthy young men and women in the same unit of work tend to form intense sexual bonds that could hinder one’s capability to focus on operational tasks. While the love affairs occur, it could cause women to become pregnant while serving overseas where medical facilities are less likely to be as advanced and available. If a woman become pregnant, the woman would have to leave the site, causing a vacancy in her position that could be crucial to that unit’s success. “Abortions are illegal in many countries.” (Kate, Koehlmoos, Ritchie 10). Since abortions would be impossible during deployment, the pregnant woman would be required to vacate her mission. . “…military women cannot deploy, and if they become pregnant in action, they must be evacuated” (Tepe, et al. 112). If the woman chose to stay and hide her pregnancy, she could become weaker and ill during the first few months, and others wouldn’t know she was pregnant because her belly wouldn’t be swollen yet. Concluding sentence With the unsanitary conditions in war zones, women would face several instances where clean water, bathrooms, and a place to maintain hygiene would be scarce. Although it may not seem like an interference at first, the impact this could have on women is crucial to sustaining their health overseas. In other countries, the luxury of gender specific bathrooms are not available, which could cause a woman many problems such as dehydration, urinary tract infections, and yeast infections within the body. “These issues can lead to a degradation of the medical health and effectiveness of service members…” (Tepe, et al. 10). Proponents of women in military who believe women are as capable do not consider, addressing the physical differences. Women are required to meet separate qualifications than men in order to obtain combat roles in the military that are physically less demanding than those of their counterparts. Anthony King, of Exeter University, says “…women cannot be regarded as fully equal in a Corps that prioritizes physical strength” (par. 1). Even if all the fittest women were in one platoon and the least fit males in another, the women would physically stand no chance against the men. “There is nothing going on in the infantry that men cannot do and for which they need women” (Eden 46). It would be difficult to accommodate the needs of women in combat zones by matching them up with female enemies in order to make it a fair fight. The overall point of war is to weed out the weak spots and destroy the opposition so that one side can be victorious; therefore, the enemy would annihilate the physically disadvantaged women fighters first. Even if there are more fighters on one side than another, if the additional fighters are not fully capable of battle, then it causes more lives lost than saved. As long as both genders are stationed in the same working unit, conflicts will arise due to the physiological factors that separate them, negatively affecting how well they perform military tasks.
The only way to eliminate the chances of women becoming physically incapable of performing their duties would be to segregate them from men, import sanitary wash stations, and make combat situations equal. All of these accommodations would take decades to apply fully and could worsen the potential for a gender friendly environment, and the changes would become extremely expensive. There is too much at stake by allowing women to jeopardize their lives out on the battlefield since conditions across the world have yet to be made universal for both men and women in combat. “…any reductions to the existing standards are potentially damaging to military readiness” (Kamarck
1). Women are simply not well suited for combat conditions, and the benefits they provide are not beneficial. Although it helps to have more people on one’s side during war, if they cannot perform appropriately, their failure doesn’t aid in victory; in fact, it can cause defeat. Working together, men and women will always face contradictory issues that could cause a unit to lose its focus on missions. Even unsanitary, or the absence of, bathrooms can cause women to fail to concentrate due to their health being compromised. Even if women are as fit as they possibly can be, their strength does not equal the full strength capacity of men. The United States military establishes high standards for males in order for the nation to be successful and lose as few lives as possible. Therefore, the United States military would be safer to remove women from duty until some issues women would be facing are resolved.