Women in Military Combat
Name: Nour Beiruti
Since world war 1, women have been part of the military service and contributed to many heroic acts. Unfortunately, till this day, women are still banned from serving in military combat in some countries with the assumption of not being adequately fit to participate in front line battle. Despite what many people believe, women should be allowed in armed combat because, women posses the same physical standards as men, have to carry the burden of quality, and need to change the mentality of women being inferior to men. Women are still treated differently in everyday life in many aspects such as physical strength, emotions and stamina. Women’s rights activists have helped throughout the years to gain equality and evidence shows that there are no differences between both sexes (as cited in Kirkwood 2013) claims "the profound physiological differences between the sexes proved that to be false, and it also showed that even accommodating women on the battlefield raised profound sociological and moral questions." (para. 3) . However, in the military there is no such thing. In 1948, legislation allowed women to serve in the military, but were not allowed to serve in combat. These conditions still apply although some branches such as the Army have found ways around this law. A woman will never be assigned to a unit strictly to fight in combat, but they can be used in combat support positions, such as military intelligence and air support positions. Of the 2.2 million soldiers that have served in Afghanistan and Iraq, 255,000 have been woman and make up about 14 percent of the U.S military.. So, if a woman can be deployed and experience the same horrible conditions, who is to say they cannot survive in combat? “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any other State on account of sex.” These words, taken directly from the nineteenth constitutional amendment, it applies almost
Since world war 1, women have been part of the military service and contributed to many heroic acts. Unfortunately, till this day, women are still banned from serving in military combat in some countries with the assumption of not being adequately fit to participate in front line battle. Despite what many people believe, women should be allowed in armed combat because, women posses the same physical standards as men, have to carry the burden of quality, and need to change the mentality of women being inferior to men. Women are still treated differently in everyday life in many aspects such as physical strength, emotions and stamina. Women’s rights activists have helped throughout the years to gain equality and evidence shows that there are no differences between both sexes (as cited in Kirkwood 2013) claims "the profound physiological differences between the sexes proved that to be false, and it also showed that even accommodating women on the battlefield raised profound sociological and moral questions." (para. 3) . However, in the military there is no such thing. In 1948, legislation allowed women to serve in the military, but were not allowed to serve in combat. These conditions still apply although some branches such as the Army have found ways around this law. A woman will never be assigned to a unit strictly to fight in combat, but they can be used in combat support positions, such as military intelligence and air support positions. Of the 2.2 million soldiers that have served in Afghanistan and Iraq, 255,000 have been woman and make up about 14 percent of the U.S military.. So, if a woman can be deployed and experience the same horrible conditions, who is to say they cannot survive in combat? “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any other State on account of sex.” These words, taken directly from the nineteenth constitutional amendment, it applies almost