Gender Inequality: Military

Ray Odierno
Gender inequality is a hot topic in reference to the military as October comes to an end. According to an article by the Army Times by Lance M. Bacon on October 22, 2011, "Congress in the 2011 National Defense Authorization Act required the defense and service secretaries to review policies “to determine whether changes are needed to ensure that female members have an equitable opportunity to compete and excel in the Armed Forces.” That report was due to Congress on April 15, but the Pentagon was granted an extension through October." Proponents of women being allowed in combat argue that women are already dying in combat, should be recognized for their service, and are highly qualified, therefore, should be used as an asset to the United States Military in all roles disregarding their female gender.

Bacon reports that few details are known about what is to come with the Nation Defense Authorization Act, but displays Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno's discrepancies as foreshadowing for what is to come. Odierno states that he is not pleased with what has been decided. Bacon conveys:

“I was not involved with this specific report. It was done before I got here,” Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno said recently. “And the reason I want to clarify that is because I am not real happy with it. I don’t think it represents some of the things that our women are doing in combat.”

“We need them there. We need their talent,” he said. “This is about managing talent. We have incredibly talented females who should be in those positions. We have work to do within the [Defense Department] to get them to recognize and change. We did not get there at this time in this report, and I’m focused on this and I will spend some time on it.”

When I decided to do my blog on this, I was speaking with my friend who has honorably served four years as a marine straight out of high school. We both believed that the real issue wasn't that women were not fit for the same jobs as men in the military, but that we still socialize women and men in extremely traditional gender roles. Most women are not taught that service or even a career in the military is a primary goal of females as a gender, and most men are not taught that women could be assets during combat. In the same article by the Army Times, he story of Sgt. Christine Baldwin displays our feelings of socialization, but proves that initial feelings are not true to outcomes in all cases:

Baldwin recently returned from an eight-month tour with Operational Detachment-A teams 1324 and 1315 in Tahlequah, in northern Afghanistan’s Kunduz province. She served as part of a cultural support team that builds relationships with and serves the female population that will not respond to men.

Any time you are placed at the tip of the spear, you’d better be sharp. It was a lesson that Baldwin, a computer graphics artist, learned the hard way.

Her inclusion on the team started with a five-day assessment, which Baldwin called “the most intense five days of my life.” They were pushed to their physical limits. They wore rucks for 10 straight hours while conducting land navigation. Psychological evaluations were thrown in. They were deprived of sleep while their capability, capacity and endurance were tested.

“If someone had told me everything I had to do beforehand, I would’ve been like ‘There’s no way,’ ” Baldwin said. “Afterward, was like, ‘Yeah I can do that stuff, and I am just as tough as those guys.’ ”

Baldwin had nothing but comp

liments for her teammates, who she said fully accepted her as a member of the unit.

“I had my apprehensions about going in there,” she said. “But once we got in, we told them where we were coming from and they told us where they were coming from. We went out on a few patrols right away and showed them that we were physically able to do this and there were no issues.”

Sgt. Christine Baldwin, Left

Hopefully stories like Christine Baldwin's and influence like Ray Odierno's will lead us to more egalitarian gender norms, even outside the military.