Women and War

Photo courtesy of SirKnight#4


***I'd like to preface this blog entry by saying I am against war. I am by no means encouraging women to join the army. I am just pointing out that the women who want to join the army are still not treated as equals.***

Protecting your country and standing up for your rights is a human urge. There is a universal desire in all of us to help your fellow man (or at least I like to think so). For some, signing up for military service allows them to fulfill this desire.

So why must women be prohibited from certain positions in the army? Only 88% of jobs in the American military are open to women, and 70% in the UK! What's up with that?

1. Women aren't strong enough
I'm not so sure about this. Women in the army during the World Wars held positions that were physically demanding. Women would have to haul huge bags of laundry, carry big metal cauldrons and pots full of food, and hauled injured bodies into the nursing stations. And women have proven their strength in numerous preliminary boot camp training.

2.Women are too sensitive to deal with death
The first time someone has to kill another person is always traumatizing. But in war, death becomes common and the shock wears off. Women in the Red Army during WWII were equipped with guns and were not afraid to kill. Reina Pennington interviewed several of these women, including Major Liubov Novik in her book Women in Combat in the Red Army. Novik tells her, "Whenever I recall the past now I am seized with terror, but at that time I could do anything- say, sleep next to a dead person, and I myself fired the rifle and saw blood. I remember only too well the especially strong smell of blood in the snow...but it wasn't that bad and I could go through anything."

3. Women should stay at home to take care of the family
This relates to a whole other debate about the traditional role of women as housewives. Men are equally capable of taking care of a family. Women don't have special powers that make them better at it than men. And I highly doubt that women would miss their kids more than men. I think a mother and a father love their kids equally.