Leader
ELITE MEMBER
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2010
- Messages
- 29,159
- Reaction score
- 9
- Country
- Location
Where a Woman's Place Is on the Front Lines
The Pentagon made big news this week when it announced it was opening up more combat positions to women in the U.S. military. These 14,000 positions include tank mechanics and frontline intelligence officers. However, about one-fifth of active-duty military positions, including the infantry, combat tank units, and Special Operations commando units, will remain off-limits. The change doesn't go far enough for some, like California Rep. Loretta Sanchez, who called it "ridiculous" to "open a few positions at the battalion level to basically create a pilot program." But it goes too far for others like presidential candidate Rick Santorum, who worries that having women in combat could compromise operations since "men have emotions when you see a woman in harm's way."
In a policy debate like this, it might be useful to study the experience of countries where women are already allowed to fight. But finding just how many of these countries there are can be surprisingly difficult. Some countries have no formal restrictions on women joining combat units but rarely allow it in practice. Others, like Japan and Switzerland, allow women in some combat positions, but have not engaged in combat in recent history.
Then there's the issue of what constitutes "combat." There are rarely defined front lines in a war such as Afghanistan or Iraq, so driving a support truck or working in a medical facility can quickly put rear-echelon troops in a battlezone (remember Jessica Lynch?). This week's rule change in the United States was largely a reflection of the fact that women are, to a large extent, already participating in combat. Despite the restrictions in place, 144 American women have been killed and 865 wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001, according to the Defense Department.
The number of countries that have opened frontline combat positions is also larger than you might think (or than media reports sometimes suggest). A 2010 survey by the British Ministry of Defense listed Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, and Sweden as countries that allow women in "close combat roles," defined as "engaging an enemy on the ground with individual or crew served weapons, while being exposed to hostile fire and to a high probability of direct physical contact with the hostile forces personnel." Australia joined that list in September 2011 when it opened its front-line units -- including one of the largest contingents in Afghanistan -- to women.
A handful of other countries could probably also be added. South Korea has begun opening up more frontline positions to women, including in artillery and armored divisions. Women have fought in Eritrea's military since its war of independence from Ethiopia in 1991 -- at one point they made up 30 percent of the country's combat forces -- and are required, along with men, to serve a year and a half of military service. Women have flown combat missions as fighter pilots for Britain, Pakistan, Serbia, South Africa, the United States, and others.
Even among the countries identified in the MoD survey, some restrictions remain. Dutch women are barred from submarines or the Marines. In France, submarines and riot-control units are off limits. While the French infantry is theoretically open to women, in practice they make up only 1.7 percent of combat troops.
In Israel, which is well known as one of the few countries where women are drafted, the policy is evolving. Santorum cited Israel as a country that doesn't allow women on the frontlines because of the psychological effect it has on men. But in fact, the Israeli military does allow women in the vast majority of combat positions.
@Foreign policy
The Pentagon made big news this week when it announced it was opening up more combat positions to women in the U.S. military. These 14,000 positions include tank mechanics and frontline intelligence officers. However, about one-fifth of active-duty military positions, including the infantry, combat tank units, and Special Operations commando units, will remain off-limits. The change doesn't go far enough for some, like California Rep. Loretta Sanchez, who called it "ridiculous" to "open a few positions at the battalion level to basically create a pilot program." But it goes too far for others like presidential candidate Rick Santorum, who worries that having women in combat could compromise operations since "men have emotions when you see a woman in harm's way."
In a policy debate like this, it might be useful to study the experience of countries where women are already allowed to fight. But finding just how many of these countries there are can be surprisingly difficult. Some countries have no formal restrictions on women joining combat units but rarely allow it in practice. Others, like Japan and Switzerland, allow women in some combat positions, but have not engaged in combat in recent history.
Then there's the issue of what constitutes "combat." There are rarely defined front lines in a war such as Afghanistan or Iraq, so driving a support truck or working in a medical facility can quickly put rear-echelon troops in a battlezone (remember Jessica Lynch?). This week's rule change in the United States was largely a reflection of the fact that women are, to a large extent, already participating in combat. Despite the restrictions in place, 144 American women have been killed and 865 wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001, according to the Defense Department.
The number of countries that have opened frontline combat positions is also larger than you might think (or than media reports sometimes suggest). A 2010 survey by the British Ministry of Defense listed Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania, and Sweden as countries that allow women in "close combat roles," defined as "engaging an enemy on the ground with individual or crew served weapons, while being exposed to hostile fire and to a high probability of direct physical contact with the hostile forces personnel." Australia joined that list in September 2011 when it opened its front-line units -- including one of the largest contingents in Afghanistan -- to women.
A handful of other countries could probably also be added. South Korea has begun opening up more frontline positions to women, including in artillery and armored divisions. Women have fought in Eritrea's military since its war of independence from Ethiopia in 1991 -- at one point they made up 30 percent of the country's combat forces -- and are required, along with men, to serve a year and a half of military service. Women have flown combat missions as fighter pilots for Britain, Pakistan, Serbia, South Africa, the United States, and others.
Even among the countries identified in the MoD survey, some restrictions remain. Dutch women are barred from submarines or the Marines. In France, submarines and riot-control units are off limits. While the French infantry is theoretically open to women, in practice they make up only 1.7 percent of combat troops.
In Israel, which is well known as one of the few countries where women are drafted, the policy is evolving. Santorum cited Israel as a country that doesn't allow women on the frontlines because of the psychological effect it has on men. But in fact, the Israeli military does allow women in the vast majority of combat positions.
@Foreign policy
