| It is very nice to see the number of women in active duty nowadays. Some highschool female friends of mine joined the Army after graduation. According to them, having women serving in non-support roles really changed some ways their comrades think about women in a positive way (as of today, women are still not part of the active combat units - i.e. the ones sent out for assualt duties, but now they are not limited to traditional support roles, such as nurse / radio communication officer in HQ / cook / officer assistant.)
I oppose gender segregation in the military, for it forster the notion that the "true bond" can only exist in a "mano de macho" fashion. A study indicated that if a male has worked under a female superior, it would be much less likely for that male to commit domestic violence against his female spouse.
Opponents of that view suggests that mixing women and men in the military would be harmful to the women and expose them to sexual crimes committed by the soldiers serving with them. They also argue that it would not be the men's fault since it is a "highly aggressive, competitve, and inherently testosterone-driven" society they live in, and hence they suggest the women would be drawing the men to commit crimes otherwise would be prevented - "they[the male soldiers] would be hot-blooded men acting on their instincts [in a military environment]".
I am disgusted by such suggestions, which are frequently made by female opponents of a mix-gendered military. I am sure there are many men, myself for one, who would treat their female comrades as sisters and not degrade themselves by behaving "instinctly" in any disrespectful ways. As for the argument that women "drawing" the male soldiers to commit crimes - those soldiers are criminals and should be locked away or removed from the force, no matter how bravely they've fought and served - they are just criminals with medals. If they are sexual predators preying on their fellow soldiers, they are worse than the terrorists killing innocent civilians. A crime is a crime, and we cannot appease them by not integrating the military, fearing that they [criminals] might strike.
Sure, we can "protect women from harrassment" by keeping them out of the military, out of the university, out of the schools, out of the automobiles, out of the professional fields, and out of public and keep them in a veil like some certain countries do, but what would that accomplish? Gender segregation would only lead to a dominant class of gender and a subserviant class of another gender. We all know how it turns out.
Our country made it this far by integrating people and ideas, not segregating them. We embrace the difference and strive to give everyone opportunity, not denying them. This fundemental principle extends to the gender equality in opportunity as well. |