This article offers an approach, not an answer. It concludes that any of the three branches of government could permit women to serve in combat units. Women have been formally barred from serving in combat ships or aircraft by a 1948 law-the Women's Armed Services Integration Act. Because the sponsors of that legislation concluded that it was impossible to distinguish combat and noncombat roles in the Army, the Secretary of that service was given discretion to designate combat units which would be filled only by men. Congress could change the law. The judiciary could decide that the law, or the Army's exercise of discretion, was unconstitutionally discriminatory. The President could issue an executive order ameliorating the law's application. The nature of the inquiry into whether there should be a change, and the criteria applied, will differ depending on the branch of government involved. While that proposition is unremarkable, the distinction seems to have escaped the attention of most proponents and opponents of the combat exclusion laws. Although the considerations that should apply can only be outlined, the debate is more complex than is commonly suggested.
When I heard Leon Panetta's announcement about lifting the combat restrictions on women in the military, I immediately thought of former Army National Guard Sergeant Paigh Bumgarner. Bumgarner had deployed to Iraq, where she had served as a convoy gunner in a unit that came under fire. "Once we got through," Bumgarner recalls, "they tried to hit us with a VBED [vehicle-borne explosive device], but I ordered 'No one gets close to this convoy, so it was taken out, a confirmed kill." Bumgarner told me, in a interview for my book, When Janey Comes Marching Home: Portraits of Women Combat Veterans, that she put the remains of her best friend in a body bag. She got the medics to bandage up the soldiers who had sustained shrapnel damage. As she recalls, "I remember during the craziness of everything, the first sergeant [we were escorting] came up and tried to take over, and I was like, 'I'm in control of this convoy….After that, all the guys were like, 'I'll go anywhere with you. I'll follow you anywhere.'"
Women's bodies are scrutinized and objectified in western societies broadly. For servicewomen however, the military is a specific site where women's bodies receive close examination and scrutiny. Military members must adhere to height-based weight standards to remain in compliance. For servicewomen, the military is an important part of their life, and as such, it has a pivotal role in shaping their identity. The purpose of this study is to examine women's experiences of managing and responding to the weigh-ins, particularly the ways it shapes their collective self-esteem. Data for this study consist of ten qualitative interviews conducted with servicewomen. Findings demonstrate that women struggle to meet the weight standards, feel devalued when they cannot do so, and sometimes construct counternarratives to reject negative self-evaluations.
Although the US military officially bars women from serving in active combat, in Iraq and Afghanistan the lines between battle and supply roles are blurred. More than 235,000 women have deployed to combat zones, with 129 killed. Photos by Sascha Pflaeging. In interviews with dozens of women for her book When Janey Comes Marching Home, author Laura Browder found women combat veterans were surprisingly eager to deploy. Many said they found it easier to fight a war than deal with the pressures of home life.
Demi Moore never perspired in the movie "G.I. Jane", she sweated. And she had to do so in order to convey how much work was involved in becoming the first female member of a combat-oriented Special Operations team. No woman currently serves in such a unit. But what Moore's performance suggests is that if only the right female were given the opportunity to prove her ability to meet the same physical standards as the military's most elite combat soldiers, then even these men would have to grant her their grudging respect. She would belong, and presumably pave the way for other gritty women.
The issue of American women in combat is something that has recently come to the forefront of American politics. In January of 2013, Leon Panetta, then Secretary of Defense, issued legislation that legalized and allowed women to actively participate in direct ground combat roles that had been previously been closed to them. However, controversy still remains over the aspect of female soldiers truly becoming integrated into dangerous combat situations. Drawing on Department of Defense records, first-hand accounts from female soldiers, and other reports, this paper examines reasons why women should be allowed to serve among men in dangerous direct ground combat operations. I briefly recount the history of women actively participating in war efforts, beginning from the Civil War up to the current war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Using this historical context, I then argue that female soldiers have been serving in direct combat in the Iraq and Afghan wars due to the changing nature of the battlefield. This sets the basis for my argument that women should be allowed to fight alongside their fellow soldiers on the front lines and be able to apply for jobs that require a high physical and mental state. This presentation and paper brings light to a subject that requires immediate attention and urges America's armed forces to reconsider their position of allowing women to serve in ground combat.
Women have been serving in the military in steadily increasing numbers for decades. Nevertheless, the military remains one of the few areas in which the U.S. government decides what roles are open to women based on de jure exclusions. This Article examines the law governing de jure classification, noting that a mere normative belief about women's proper place in society is an insufficient basis to justify a sex-based exclusion. It then probes the most common rationale advanced in support of the continued de jure exclusion of women: physical strength. The Article examines four problems with the physical strength rationale: (1) stereotyping – the assumption that no woman can do the job without testing the abilities of the individual woman; (2) differential training – the failure to account for the potential for improvement for women who often have less prior physical activity; (3) trait selection – measuring only tasks that are perceived to be difficult for women, while ignoring equally mission critical tasks that women may be better at performing; and (4) task definition – not considering if there are other ways to get the job done. Each of these problems reveals a distortion based on an underlying normative belief that the military should be a male realm. It is this belief, not the reality of physical strength, that motivates the de jure exclusion, the very type of justification forbidden by law, and detrimental to women, men, and the military mission.
Diese Dissertation untersucht die Entstehung eines neuen literarischen Fachbereiches des 21 Jahrhunderts: Die historisch-kritische Aufarbeitung der Beteiligung weiblicher Diensthabender im U.S.-amerikanischen Militär und die Darstellung ihres Einsatzes in den bewaffneten Konflikten der jüngeren Vergangenheit, mit vorwiegend literarischen Beschreibungen der Erlebnisse aktiver Soldatinnen und weiblicher Veteranen aus dem Irak-Krieg. Aus den Erzählungen der Frauen wird deutlich, dass bis jetzt ausschließlich die physische Kapazität über die Befähigung zum Dienst an der Waffe entschieden hat. Die ersten zwei Kapitel behandeln die historischen und theoretischen Rahmenbedingungen für Frauen in der U.S.-amerikanischen Streitmacht. Das dritte Kapitel erörtert die geschlechtsspezifische Ungleichverteilung sowie die zwiespältige und vielschichtige Auseinandersetzung mit diesem Problemkreis. Im selben Kapitel wird auch betont, dass die Frauen selbst durch ihre eigene Entscheidung diese erstarrten Heeresstrukturen in Frage stellen. Der Fokus des vierten Kapitels liegt auf ausgewählten Werken zu dem Thema dieser Arbeit. Es sind dies die verfilmten Frauenchroniken Lioness (2008) und Poster Girl (2010) sowie die Dokumentation The Invisible War (2012), die das scheinbar unausrottbare Phänomen der sexuellen Übergriffe im Heer und deren zweifelhafte juristische Behandlung in den Mittelpunkt stellt. Weitere kritische Beiträge zur laufenden Debatte über den umstrittenen militärischen Einsatz von Frauen in Kampfhandlungen und den Maßnahmen der Heeresleitung zur teilweisen Geschlechtertrennung liefern drei literarische Texte: Kayla Williamss Love My Rifle More Than You: Young and Female in the U.S. Army (2005), ihr Fortsetzungsbericht Plenty of Time When We Get Home: Love and Recovery in the Aftermath of War (2014) und Jane Blairs Kriegsbericht Hesitation Kills: A Female Marine Officers Combat Experience in Iraq (2012). ; This dissertation examines the rise of a markedly new literary field of the 21st century: the historical-critical exploration of the role of women in the U.S. military, and the conceptualization of their position in the countrys recent conflicts, focusing on first-hand accounts of female active-duty soldiers and veterans of the Iraq War. Throughout the womens narratives, it becomes clear that the physical strength argument entails a fundamental normative metaprinciple, dividing the U.S. military into combatants and non-combatants. The first two chapters provide a historical and theoretical framework, covering the participation of women in the U.S. Armed Forces. The third chapter discusses the gender-specific prevalence and the binary dichotomies and diversities of gender discourse in the military. It emphasizes that the anachronistic approach of politics and society needs to be challenged by women who choose to emerge from the shadow of patriarchal discourse. The focus in the fourth chapter lies on the analyses of the filmed female chronicles Lioness (2008) and Poster Girl (2010). The third documentary, The Invisible War (2012), highlights the ongoing issue of sexual assault in the military, its impact on female military personnel, and the fact that criminal proceedings largely remain open to doubt. The analyses of Kayla Williamss memoirs Love My Rifle More Than You: Young and Female in the U.S. Army (2005) and the follow-up Plenty of Time When We Get Home: Love and Recovery in the Aftermath of War (2014), as well as Jane Blairs war chronicle Hesitation Kills: A Female Marine Officers Combat Experience in Iraq (2012) offer other critical approaches to the current debate on the issue of female participation in combat and how to deal with the military policy of partial segregation. ; eingereicht von Alexandra Reisinger ; Abweichender Titel laut Übersetzung der Verfasserin/des Verfassers ; Zsfassungen in dt. und in engl. Sprache ; Graz, Univ., Diss., 2015 ; OeBB ; (VLID)852353
The article of record as published may be found at http://doi.org/10.1080/10242694.2018.1467104 ; This paper offers a first view on the potential economic outcomes for American women serving along-side men in combat roles. Specifically, this paper examines the impact of deployment and exposure to intense combat for women who served in the most high-risk occupations open to them in Iraq and Afghanistan on their subsequent use of GI bill benefits for higher education. It also compares these women to men who served in the same capacities and women who served in lower risk occupations. Women in general, and in these occupations in particular, were more likely than their male counterparts to use the GI bill. Following deployment, this paper presents robust evidence that women in all capacities, and men, were more likely to use their GI bill benefits. Moreover, exposure to intense combat, which was far more likely to impact these women than other women, detracted from their propensity to use the GI bill. This negative impact on pursuit of higher education was similar for both men and women. Taken together, this paper provides evidence that deployment may benefit the young men and women alike who serve in the U.S. military, and that both suffer together when faced with exposure to intense fighting.
The article of record as published may be found at http://doi.org/10.1080/10242694.2018.1467104 ; This paper offers a first view on the potential economic outcomes for American women serving along-side men in combat roles. Specifically, this paper examines the impact of deployment and exposure to intense combat for women who served in the most high-risk occupations open to them in Iraq and Afghanistan on their subsequent use of GI bill benefits for higher education. It also compares these women to men who served in the same capacities and women who served in lower risk occupations. Women in general, and in these occupations in particular, were more likely than their male counterparts to use the GI bill. Following deployment, this paper presents robust evidence that women in all capacities, and men, were more likely to use their GI bill benefits. Moreover, exposure to intense combat, which was far more likely to impact these women than other women, detracted from their propensity to use the GI bill. This negative impact on pursuit of higher education was similar for both men and women. Taken together, this paper provides evidence that deployment may benefit the young men and women alike who serve in the U.S. military, and that both suffer together when faced with exposure to intense fighting.
"H.A.S.C. no. 102-38." ; Shipping list no.: 92-0535-P. ; Distributed to some depository libraries in microfiche. ; Microfiche. ; Mode of access: Internet.
This brief is about stressors during military service that OEF/OIF female veterans experienced and how they coped with the stress. In policy and practice, female veterans should tell healthcare providers of their healthcare needs, and should form support groups with other veteran women; family members should support returning female service members; the VA should adapt its services to address the needs of female veterans, policymakers should allocate funding toward creating non-VA mental health and substance abuse counseling, and the VA should offer gender-specific mental health programs. Suggestions for future research include analyzing differences between age groups and length of time separated from military service, studying female veterans over time to examine how they cope, and analyzing whether military service branch and job assignment affect coping strategies.
