Argumentative Essay: The Role Of Women In The Military

For many years, women have been struggling for the right to be equal to men. On December 3, 2015, in a historic transformation of the American military, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said that the Pentagon would open all combat jobs to women.“They’ll be allowed to drive tanks, fire mortars and lead infantry soldiers into combat. They’ll be able to serve as Army Rangers and Green Berets, Navy SEALs, Marine Corps infantry, Air Force parajumpers and everything else that was previously open only to men” (Ashton, 2015). The questions now that need to be answered are, are women as physically capable as men, are they more targeted when overseas to get kidnapped, and if not, is disallowing half a nation’s population for one job really worth …show more content…
Women can be just as effective as men when it comes to combat roles. They just need to be given a chance to let them prove themselves. In fact, 160 women died serving in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, according to the Washington Post’s count.In light of those female soldiers’ deaths, it was sort of an anticlimactic in January when Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced the opening all combat roles to women, to begin this spring. He was following the plan first set in motion in 2013 under his predecessor Leon Panetta.
“The tradition of combat roles being a male bastion is another hindrance. Not only do some men resent the idea of women in combat roles but there can be some issues in units or combat theaters where there is a subculture of masculinity or chauvinism.” (Lombardo, 2015) Men are not very open to women being in combat roles, and In some situations, men may act foolishly to protect women in their combat units. Harassment and resentment of the presence of women in a hyper masculine military subculture is likely to become a problem. Some men even think the fact that a …show more content…
“An estimated 300,000 women in uniform have served in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Female service members have earned more than 10,000 combat action badges and Bronze Stars, respectively, and at least 12 Bronze Stars with a "V," (Data by Women in International Security.) It is also a well known fact that male service members are prohibited from looking at or speaking to Afghan women on patrols and from touching them at routine checkpoints to search for weapons and explosives.. The military has responded by creating Female Engagement Teams, which are attached to Army and Marine ground combat units, live in the same forward operating bases, and even conduct foot patrols, but were not formally assigned to those units. Women assigned to the CSTs were tasked with engaging with and talking to the female population, earning their trust, and finding out where insurgents were hiding. Women also began flying combat missions in the mid-1990s. And the definition of a front-line soldier was blurred, if not decimated, by the realities of terrorism, and IEDs. an. Women are already in harm’s way, and they are serving willingly,

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Argumentative Essay: The Role Of Women In The Military