Should Women Be Allowed to Serve in Combat Positions in the Military

Women in Combat

The participation of women in the war against Iraq has once again focused attention on the question of women in the military.

Many have argued that because of biology and psychology, women are inherently unsuited for military life in general and to combat in particular. However, this argument ignores how women's participation in the military has steadily increased since the Korean War. Today, women can now attend public military schools and are eligible for promotion to the highest ranks. This paper argues that as women's role in society continues to evolve, then so must the role of women in the military. This includes allowing women to serve in combat positions during times of war.

Those opposed to women in the military base their arguments on the assumption that biological differences between men and women make women unable to fulfill combat duties. Syndicated columnist Mona Charen, for example, believes in "fundamental differences between the sexes" (523). Physically, Charen argues, men are stronger than women. Their weaker strength and capacity for pregnancy supposedly make women liabilities in combat. Charen also believes that the presence of women will interfere with male camaraderie and expose vulnerable young women to sexual harassment (523-524).

Combat assignments are tense assignments and are fraught with danger. To get through these assignments, unit members require deep male bonding. The presence of women is thought to interfere with this bonding.

Finally, opponents like Charen argue that women should be kept out of the male bastion of combat duty for their own good. Putting women in with the males in such a tense environment exposes female soldiers to sexual harassment. At its worst, Charen fears that allowing women to serve in combat duty would pave the way for sexual attacks (Charen 523-524).

However, proponents of letting women serve in the military challenge these biologically deterministic views. Vivian Norwood, for example, points out that a study conducted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) concludes that women are more resistant to temperature extremes as well as disease. In addition, women are also able to cope better with situations that demanded high stress and isolation (Norwood 525). Biology aside, Norwood correctly argues that inappropriate harassment already exists within the military, in the form of hazing (Norwood 525). These violent rituals, however, do not mean that vulnerable young men should be kept out of the military. In addition, the arguments regarding a woman's deleterious effects on the bonding of male soldiers is largely anecdotal and reminiscent of the same arguments used by people who protested racial integration in the military.

Today, the racial integration of the military has evidently not resulted in an erosion of camaraderie. There is thus no reason to believe that a woman's presence in a combat unit would have the same deleterious effect on morale.

There are also several important examples of how women have successfully served in combat duty with honor and distinction. During the Persian Gulf War, for example, Air Force Captain Anne Weaver Worster flew a refueling tanker deep into Iraqi airspace four times so fighters and bombers could increase their range. In doing so, Worster brought her plane and its flammable cargo within range of air to surface missiles and anti-aircraft fire. Army Major Rhonda Cornum volunteered for a helicopter mission to rescue the pilot of a downed F-16 plane. Cornum's Black Hawk was shot down, and she was held prisoner for a week before being released (Eskind 1991). Additionally, many people in the field assert that the distinctions between combat and non-combat duties were arbitrary. For example, women in the Army were still banned from direct combat divisions such as infantry. However, they were allowed to work on Patriot Missile Units, a division charged with shooting down incoming Scud missiles. Navy women could not serve aboard combat ships like destroyers, but they were on support ships that provided combat logistical support during the gulf operations. Female members of the Marine Corps were also banned from combat. However, 170 female leathernecks of the 2nd Marine Support Group were stationed in the desert, near the Kuwaiti border when the ground attacks began.

For all intents and purposes, women have been serving in positions that have placed them in danger, regardless of whether or not a position was identified as a combat zone.