Women In The Military

For several years in our history, women have fought to earn a position in several different roles in our world; whether it be fighting for the opportunity to participate in the forming of government parties, or achieving a job status in areas that are usually seen by society as being on the masculine side. However, after all these conflicts between women and society, a solution still has not been reached. Besides fighting for the right to vote or run for office, or achieving a role in a masculine viewed occupation, there is still the conflict of allowing women to serve in a country's armed forces. When a person enrolls into the military they receive some sense of satisfaction knowing that they have the opportunity to serve their nation and do so in one of the most respected ways possible. However, there has always been a debate as to how women should be able to serve their country. Various crimes that have occurred against the female sex in the military have raised debate as to whether the armed forces are doing enough to stop or solve this problem. The situation at hand is not how to deal with the problem of allowing women into the armed forces, but in specific, it deals with the problem of placing women in combat situations. Some may believe that the answer to this question is a simple no due to the fact that there are some limitations set upon women that prevent them from doing as good of a job as a male enrolled in the military. This issue has sparked great conflict in our society and until it is solved it may only get worse.

In several battles that led up to World War Two, women have held various positions in the military; however, these positions were only on the administration or health care side. Following World War One, the government received pressure from women's activists groups and realized that it would require several more troops (Juno Beach Centre, 2003). This pressure and need for troops produced the Canadian Women's Army Corps (CWAC) in 1941 (Juno Beach Centre, 2003). Following the formation of this organization, Canada's navy and air force also began enrolling women into the profession. Several military schools have also been accepting women into its doors; yet there was still controversy as to whether these women would excel. The answer came in 2000 when West Point Academy in the U.S.A. presented its first female valedictorian, Rebecca Marier (a Corps Regimental Commander), to lead its graduating class (United States Military Academy, 2007). These organizations and successes by women led to several more doors being opened in allowing women into the armed forces.

As these doors were being opened, women were now able to be included as enlisted members or officers within the forces. This brought a conclusion to the problem of women being allowed to join the military, however, it sparked a new controversy of allowing women to be placed in combat type situations. Several military leaders are being pulled into debates arguing that allowing women into combat situations will only lower the standards of the military. The main reason behind this theory is that women are physically weak in completing the objectives that are put in place in combat type situations. Women's activists groups believe that modifying current equipment to better the needs of women could solve this problem, however, the money spent on this task could be better used to increase the capabilities of current equipment rather than transforming them in ways that will not benefit soldiers in achieving military objectives. Another reason of this belief is that women will find themselves in such close quarters with young males, and even females, for durations that can last for long periods of time that can easily lead to sexual immoral behaviour or even the expense of pregnancy (Wikipedia, 2007).

Besides the inabilities of women in the military that put the pressure upon recruiting centers to place women in combat, there are also certain moral issues that do not agree with the act of women fighting in war. There are regulations put in place that disallow the act of discriminating amongst gender when hiring personnel.