Wonen in US military Essays

Wonen in US military Essays Wonen in US military Essay Wonen in US military Essay Essay Topic: Zone One Status and role of women in the US Army has been always considered as controversial and highly debated issue. The events of 9/11 are often understood as representing a fundamental shift within the nation, irrevocably changing the course of events in the US.   Along with other changes that are still unrecognized by national consciousness, September 2001 is a significant moment in American history precisely because, even if it led to a reification of some traditional gender roles, it also presents an important opportunity to reconsider womens role in the nation, and in the US Military particularly. On one level, the nation and the media have turned to traditional notions of masculinity and femininity to make sense of the ideological and political chaos following the attacks and expanded by the uncertainties of both the legitimacy and the usefulness of Americas war in Iraq. On another level, political and cultural discourses reflect an increased preoccupation w ith the role of women in war due to a visible collapse of traditional binaries and responsibilities in war. In the contemporary politics of representation, the figure of the female soldier is a challenge to the traditional war story, and also a transformative site in which traditional boundaries of public and private obligations to the nation are blurred and reconfigured.   This paper aims to discuss historical, political and social aspects surrounding the roles, functions and challenges of women in the US Army.HISTORICAL PHASES OF WOMEN’S STATUS CHANGE IN THE US MILITARYFrom the historical literature perspective, there are several enduring factors governing the evolution of womens roles in the United States Army. Foremost among these are cultural attitudes - the prevailing societal norms that determine the appropriate roles for women. In 1917 when women were first enlisted into the US Military, social norms dictated that a womans place was in the private sphere where her primary obligation was to her spouse and her children (Jones D., 1997). Fulfillment of this obligation was regarded as a fundamental cornerstone of society and the state. Therefore any woman who sought fulfillment outside of the narrowly prescribed confines of the home became a subject of suspicion and ridicule. Since the primary function of women was to produce and nurture children, any divergence from this socially-prescribed path brought with it an assumption of sexual deviancy. Such attitudes are remarkable in both their persistence and consistency to the present day. Cultural attitudes are in turn affected and informed by the next four factors. Political trends, such as the consequences of political enfranchisement of women and their greater participation in public life have helped to redefine the nature of the relationship of women to the state and to society.The first was militarization, the act of enlisting women in the armed service which took place between 1917 and 1947. W omen were permitted to serve in the army in strictly limited roles and in sex-segregated reserve organizations. The navy established the Yeomen (F) during the First World War and the WAVES (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service) in the Second World War. Public acceptance of the unprecedented idea of women in the military was mitigated by the exigent circumstances of the prevailing national emergency and strong feelings of patriotism (Jones D., 1997). The second phase of womens service in the army, occurring between 1948 and 1966 was characterized by marginalization. The Women in the Armed Services Integration Act of 1948 incorporated women into the regular branches of the armed forces, but there were restrictions on the number allowed to serve (no more than 2% of the overall manpower strength); restrictions on rank and enlisted ratings (job specialties) and a prohibition against service on ships and aircraft or in any duty with the potential to expose them to combat (Jones D., 1997).A great deal of effort was directed toward cultivating public acceptance of military service for women in peacetime. The third phase was a transitional period between 1967 and 1993 when policies towards women in the army evolved in response to the end of conscription and the creation of the all-volunteer military; federal judicial rulings and legislation that struck down long-standing assignment policies, and two highly publicized scandals (USS SAFEGUARD in 1987 and Tailhook in 1991) prompted comprehensive reassessments of internal attitudes and policies towards women in the US Military (Jones D., 1997). During this phase, much of the progress made by army women was the result of military leadership reacting to public and congressional pressure.The final phase is an integration, which only began with the passage of the Defense Authorization Act of 1994 repealing the combat exclusion laws. Although navy women are now allowed to serve in the warfare specialties of surface wa rfare, aviation and special operations, they are still precluded from serving with the submarine and special warfare communities. The majority of women with warfare specialties and enlisted qualifications serve in the Surface Warfare community. Although women now constitute more than fourteen percent of the total manpower strength of the U.S. Navy, their representation in the warfare communities is only a fraction of that. Integration continues to be an incremental and ongoing process.CONTEMPORARY STATUS OF WOMEN IN THE US ARMY: ANALYSISDuring the 1960s and 1970s, subsequent creation of the National Organization for Women (NOW) in 1967, and the National Womans political Caucus (NWPC) in 1971, culminated in the favorable vote for the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) in 1972.  Ã‚  Ã‚   Subsequently, the Supreme Court decided in Roe v. Wade (410 U.S. 113) that women had a right to an abortion, and more importantly, the principal right over their own bodies and their reproduction (Jones D ., 1997).   The majority of social science specialists points to the tremendous impact that feminist concerns with issues of economic equality, womens reproductive rights, and labor concerns have had on contemporary gender relations.   1960s and 1970s women experienced a transformation in their self-perceptions and their anticipations for their future roles in the nation. In the military, women took on the gender discriminatory dimensions of the policies regarding pregnancy and motherhood and by 1975, the Executive Order (EO 10240) giving the military permission to discharge a woman if she became pregnant, or a parent (by adoption or as a stepparent), was eliminated by the Secretary of Defense. In May 1974, Congress changed the minimum age for the enlistment of women to age 17, the same as for men, and on October 7, 1975, President Ford signed Public Law 94-106, permitting women to be admitted to all service academies beginning in 1976† (Jones K., 1990:129).   In 1996, B aldwin (1996) in the research aiming to reveal glass ceiling practices in the US Army collected data from 123,000 army candidates for promotion. Baldwin’s findings (1996) indicated that women were still underrepresented in middle officer ranks, were promoted at lower rates than males, and moreover their promotion rate differences did not increase consistency with rank.In January 2005, President Bush re-affirmed his administrations policy on women in war by publicly stating, No women in combat. But, in a context in which recruitment and retention numbers are low, and the end of the war against terrorism is far from sight, the ban on women in certain position in the armed forces has larger repercussions that go beyond the politics of gender and the role of women. In support of the administration a House Subcommittee led by the Chairman of the House Armed Service Committee in May 2005 proposed a measure that would add to a previous 1994 rule and bar women from forward support un its that could lead to direct combat (Neroni, 2005). Critics argued that in a time when reportedly more than 200,000 women are on active duty in the US Army, and an additional 150,000 serve in the US Guard and the Reserves the measure would result in 22,000 military jobs being closed to female military personnel (Neroni, 2005).   In contrast to this measure, some advocated implementing a collocation policy (Hartsock, 1982) that deploys mixed-sex noncombatant units alongside all-male combat brigades which, while in conflict with the military policy banning women from combat zones, would solve the problem of finding enough personnel to fill the ranks as political instability and military situation in the Middle East continues.The Center for Military Readiness, represented by its President Elaine Donnelly, critiqued the collocation policy arguing, The United States Army plans to force female soldiers into land combat units, despite current regulations and a law requiring prior notice to Congress (Dowler, 2002: 160).   Even as the possible elimination of the collocation policy is still being debated, members of the House Republicans abandoned the measure that would add to the 1994 ban on women in combat soon after it passed on a 61-1 vote in the House. Arguably the abandonment of the measure should not be interpreted as a sign of support for women in combat; rather it is a clear indication of the political significance of the figure of the female soldier.;