Women in Combat
Literature Review Question: What does literature reveal about women in combat? How does society view women in combat?
Literature
Review:
Imagine being a U.S
soldier on a mission in Kabul, Afghanistan in search of a member of the
Taliban. You’re part of a team that consists of five men and one woman. You get
on a helicopter to get to your destination. Shortly after you have reached your
destination and you and your team wait patiently atop a mountain in the
distance to scope out the situation. You split into two smaller units of three
and make your way toward to the village where your culprit suspected to be. You
are leading your team, signaling them when it is clear to move. Suddenly, you
disrupt an IED that has been placed in the ground by the Taliban. Seconds
later, you find yourself in a pain you have never felt before. You look down
and see you’re missing a leg and are bleeding profusely. You feel someone apply
pressure to your wounds and look down and it is the woman U.S soldier that is a
part of your force. Does it matter that it is a woman helping you? Can she
provide you with the same help that a male soldier could?
America’s Armed
Forces is a complete voluntary system. There are about 2.3 million people who
make up the Armed Forces, including the different branches: Marine Corps, Army,
Navy, Coast Guard, and Air Force. Only about 15% of the 2.3 million people are
women (“Women in the Military Statistics”).
Women
have been serving since 1775 during the Revolutionary War. They would serve as
nurses, cooks, and laundresses only if they proved to be helpful and if the
commanding officers approved. Between 1917 and 1918, women were beginning to
have more roles in the Military. These were the last two years of World War I
and 33,000 women served as nurses and support staff. More than 400 women died
in the line of duty. From 1962 to 1972, during the Vietnam War, over 7,000
women served. They served mostly as nurses in all five divisions of the
Military, Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, and Coast Guard- all volunteers. In
2008, 16,000 women served in Iraq, Afghanistan, Bosnia, Germany, Japan, and
other related areas (Time Line: Women at
War). These statistics show that over time, the number of women serving has
grown and their roles have expanded. Many women were and still are becoming
more involved in combat and fighting for our country. Despite these trends,
negative voices are heard.
Although
women have proved to be effective in combat, there are many concerns that
people face. The main concern is whether or not women can perform to the same
level that men perform at. Kingsley Browne, a journalist, makes a very one
sided argument that putting women into combat is a very “Disastrous Decision”.
He says, “The physical differences between men and women are obvious, as few
women have the strength, speed, or aerobic capacity of even the average man”
(Browne). The physical difference may be a make or break for the women who fight
in combat. It is natural that men have a much stronger physique and when it
comes to fighting in war, it is very important to be physically strong and fit.
It is believed that women have a
more important, traditional role to fill- motherhood. Mark Davis says, “Women
are amazing people, often with talents and contributions beyond what any man
brings to the table” (Davis). He also says, “It is because womanhood is special
and sacred that we should not send out daughters, wives and mothers off to be
killed, maimed, or taken prisoner” (Davis). Davis has a different view point on
the topic of involving women in combat and through the use of ethos and pathos,
he brings up religion and the traditional roles women play in life.
Another main reason why people are
against having women fight in combat is because of the desires that arise when
you mix young men and women together. Anna Simons, a journalist, says, “As for
the three problems, the first is that every sentient adult knows what happen
when you mix healthy young men and women together in small groups for extended
periods of time. Just look at any workplace. Couples form. At some point, how
couples interact- sexually, emotionally, happily and/or unhappily- makes life
uncomfortable for those around them, Factor in intense, intimate conditions and
you can forget about adults being able to stay professional 24/7” (Simons). The
main concern that Simons presents in her argument is whether or not the men and
women stationed and at war would be able to stay professional and ignore their
desires to interact sexually and emotionally. She then says, “Inconvenient
truth number two is that men and women have been each other’s most consistent
distraction since the beginning of time. To pretend that we don’t know what will
happen when men and women are thrown together for prolonged periods in
emotionally situations defies common sense” (Simons). She has a very strong
opinion and argument that integrating women into combat may be a bad decision
based solely on the fact that the men and women could form situations within
themselves that would prevent them from being professional while on the job.
She then concludes her argument with, “The only thing that should matter is
whether the presence of women will contribute positively to the combat
effectiveness of combat units” (Simons). This reveals that there are obvious
things to consider when integrating women into combat units; both the men and
women would have to stay professional and ignore their natural desires.
Supportive voices are beginning to be heard. Joshua S.
Goldstein, states that women are an effective aspect to war and perform well.
He says, “The United States, the world’s preeminent military force, has
successfully integrated women into the military on a larger scale than ever in
history” (Goldstein). Over time, more women have volunteered to actually fight
in combat. Goldstein says, “Most are in healthcare and administration,
traditionally feminized occupations, but a growing number has participated in
combat…Women have fought in wars rarely, but effectively on numerous occasions”
(Goldstein). For an example, “In Afghanistan, 4,000 US women soldiers (as of
2009) had also played an important role in interactions with civilian
populations. In strictly de-segregated societies, US women soldiers form an
indispensable link to local women who may provide intelligence to head off
trouble planned by their male relatives” (Goldstein). Women are very helpful in
what they do when it comes to talking to the civilians. The US women soldiers
were able to communicate and get the women civilians to trust them and give the
soldiers input on what their male relatives may be planning. That is an
extremely helpful and smart tactic of the United States to use. So, it is
proved that although there may not be many women fighting, they are effective aspect
to war and do perform well.
Along
with the sexual tension that could arise, the greatest concern involves the
cases that don’t get attention. Collins says, “The biggest safety concern for
women in the military is actually not so much enemy fire as sexual attacks from
fellow members of their own service. Because the crime is so underreported,
it’s impossible to say how many women suffer sexual assault while they’re in
uniform, but, 3,192 cases were recorded in 2011” (Collins). Collins argues that
the military is a bad environment for women solely because of the threat of
sexual assault from fellow military combatants. But, he does think of a way to
draw attention to this concern. He says, “Allowing women to get the benefits of
serving in combat positions won’t make that threat worse. In fact, it might
make things better because it will mean more women at the top of the military,
and that, inevitably, will mean more attention to women’s issues” (Collins). He
thinks that allowing women who are capable to fight in competitive positions
would bring more attention to women’s issues. But, some will argue that it is
not about equality and women’s issues, but rather whether or not allowing women
to fight in combat positions will be in the benefit of our country.
There
was little research found on why women should be involved in fighting in
combat. This has a lot to do with the fact that most people are too caught up
on focusing on the negatives. The results can be interpreted in three different
ways. One being that there just is not enough interest in women to join the
military. In today’s society, there just might not be enough interest in women
to join the military simply because of the threats that come along with it. Second
being that most people see women as a minority when it comes to the military,
but what is that based on? Physical strength, possibly. But, 15% of today’s
military is women (“Women in the Military Statistics”). That number could grow
over time. The last way that these results could be interpreted is that maybe
people want to suppress this growing trend. Many of the negative aspects of
women fighting in combat came from male sources and that could possibly be the
reason why there is little positive documentation of women in combat. The men
might not want women fighting alongside them. In conclusion, literature reveals
that most of today’s society see’s women in combat as a negative aspect to
fighting at war.
Gap
Identification:
The bulk of literature reveals that most people are
focused on the cons that women would bring to fighting in combat. It is mostly
men who are proposing these negative thoughts, which reveals that there is
still some sort of gender bias present in today’s society. Further inquiry into
the dynamics between gender and the attitude of women in combat is necessary.
This may lead one to ponder:
Research
Question:
What does gender
have to do with the attitude towards women in combat?
Methodology:
Our society is
trying to eliminate gender bias, but it is still an issue present in fighting
in combat. Because of the visibility of this issue, I decided that a
quantitative collection of opinions would best support my findings. Of course,
a qualitative data collection would be more in depth, but it was important to
just investigate the pure and simple relationship between gender and the
attitude towards women in combat.
Data
Collection Process and Instrument:
Using
the Likert Scale, I asked my journalism class, “Are you male or female?” and
then stated “Women should be allowed to fight in combat” and the student would
either strongly disagree, disagree, have no opinion, agree, or strongly agree.
Lastly, I asked the student to state their reasoning. The student’s opinions
remain anonymous. I took an equal amount of male and female responses and then
compared the results, based on gender.
Sample:
I decided it would be
best to use my Journalism class as my sample for my data collection. My
journalism class is made up of both males and females ages 14-18. I felt that
this was the best sample to use since I had easy/ simple access to getting
their opinions and teens would be the best sample for this research question.
Students this age are the next wave to be introduced to fighting in combat
seeing as this is the time for those moving on in their lives to enroll if they
wish. Also, teens in today’s society are aware of the issue of gender bias.
Data
Analysis
Male
|
Female
|
Agree:
3/10: 30%
|
Agree:
0/10: 0%
|
Strongly Agree:
7/10: 70%
|
Strongly Agree:
10/10: 100%
|
Three out of ten males
agreed with the statement: Women should be allowed to fight in combat. But,
seven out of ten males strongly agreed with that statement. From the female
perspective, ten out of ten females strongly agreed. I did not include strongly
disagree, disagree, and no opinion because no one chose any of those as their
opinion. So, 100% of the people who answered this questionnaire AGREE that
women should be allowed to fight in combat. Most of their reasoning was based
solely on the fact that women and men are equal and if someone is willing to
fight for their country then they should be able to do so. One female even
said, “Women are stronger than men” in her reasoning for choosing Strongly
Agree.
Findings
The results from my
survey tell me that the teens that make up today’s society are much more aware
of the gender bias that is present that the adults who make up today’s society.
It also tells me that gender does have something to do with the attitude
towards women in combat because although 30% of the males who were involved in
answering my questionnaire “Agreed”, 100% of the females who were involved in
answering my questionnaire “Strongly Agreed”. It was interesting how not one
person had an opinion other than agreeing that women should be allowed to fight
in combat because most of the literature reveals that mostly males have a
negative opinion towards the idea of women fighting in combat. But, my sample
was teens in today’s society and most of the samples in literature were adults.
Conclusion
So, what does this all
mean? This could mean many things. The literature revealed that there is a very
negative attitude towards women in combat, especially in the adults in today’s
society. But, my findings reveal that the teens who make up today’s society
have a very positive attitude towards women in combat, even the males, and
teens are much less gender bias. This is important because the teens that
completed the survey are the next wave of people who could enroll into combat
and they could be the ones making a difference in ignoring the gender bias.
Future research should focus on finding the more positive things that women
bring to the table when it comes to fighting in combat.
Work
Cited
Browne, Kingsley.
"Putting Women in Combat Is a Disastrous Decision." US News.
U.S.News & World Report, n.d. Web.
12 Nov. 2014.
Davis, Mark. "Mark
Davis - Military and Society Threatened by Women in Combat." Townhall.com. N.p., 25 Jan. 2013.
Web. 12 Nov. 2014.
Goldstein, Joshua S.
"War and gender." Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender.
Springer US, 2004. 107-116.
"Here’s Why Women
in Combat Units Is a Bad Idea." War on the Rocks. N.p., n.d.
Web. 19 Nov. 2014.
Time Line: Women at War. Colonial Williamsburg,
2008. PDF file.
Collins, Gail.
"Arms and the Women." The New York Times. The New York
Times, 23 Jan. 2013. Web. 20
Nov. 2014.
"Women in the Military
Statistics." Statistic Brain RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Dec.
2014.
"Women in Combat:
Maybe? Yes?" The New York Times. The New York Times, 27 Nov.
1992. Web. 08 Dec. 2014.
