Women In The Military

5 Pages 1268 Words

Imagine this, one day you’re in the classroom, relaxing with your family, or at work. The next day you’re being summoned by military personnel who bark orders, degrade, and threaten you. They go on to dress you in their clothes, cut your hair the way that they want to, take away you’re right to free speech, freedom of religion, right to assemble, make you wake up when they say, eat when they say, and even go to the bathroom when they say. This is not a return to the late 1960’s or 1970’s Vietnam era, this is a possibility for the year 2002 and beyond. Today’s argument is not about how much pressure your drill sergeant is going to put on you, but rather should women be faced with the same military oppositions than that of men. There is no reason to why women cannot serve in the military, but women are not prone to handle the conditions of front-line modern combat.
Men and women are treated unequally in regards to military service. Men are required to register for the Selective service. With very rare exceptions, every man residing in the United States 18 to 26 years of age is required by the Military Selective Service Act to register with the Selective Service System (Quindlen 1). Yet, on the eve of war with Iraq, which will require millions of U.S. military personnel, absolutely no women are required to register. While women are allowed to perform most jobs in the military, they are still restricted from some combat roles. This gender inequality towards women stems through the thought of females lack of physical strength, psychological emotions to combat, and the possibility of sexual abuse they would suffer if captured.
According to the Defense Almanac, women range somewhere between 30,000+ in the U.S. Army. Women are not allowed into fields were major conflict might arise, such as: Special Air Service, army ground troops, combat engineers, armored tank drivers, artillery, defense guards of air fields or navy ...