Where are all the women in a position of power in the military? Most average Americans may ask themselves that when they see high-ranking military officials briefing the nation publicly on the news. If you look up the names of top military officials from each branch of the military the results will show not many female names if any for the Army and Marine Corps top officers. For as long as this nation has been around women have had to fight each step of the way to gain equality in terms of human rights, but somehow until October of 2015 the Department of Justice and The Pentagon were able to restrict what positions they made available to women. In Fort Benning, Georgia on October of 2015 two women, Kristen Griest and Shaye Haver broke down gender barriers by successfully graduating what is arguably the military's toughest test: Army Ranger School. By catching national headlines, the women's incredible accomplishment finally brought about the discussion of whether to lift all restrictions on women's positions in the military. If anyone looked deeply into military history they would see that gender inequality is still extremely prevalent, and journalists like Mark Thompson of TIME magazine have experienced these issues first hand while going on tour with infantry groups in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Women are joining the military now more than ever before, and some military officials, especially in the Navy, believe their physical makeup is actually better suited in certain positions than men. That is of course only if the military's legislative powers allow a woman to fill those positions. Being in the military is a constant fight for women, from proving that they are as physically capable as men, to living and working in a male dominated atmosphere. Hospital Corpsman First Class Tarren Windham told Dani Moritz in an interview that female soldiers exist, "around sexual bias and rampant sexual crimes that often go unreported because it is done by superiors." (Moritz, Women in the Military). After enough research and locating enough credible sources to support the main ideas of this essay, it will prove that The Department of Defense and The Pentagon were aware of their blatant inequality, how deep sexism really runs within the military, and how much it affects women officers. Sexism is rampant in all branches of the United States military and unless something is done to address these issues, even with restrictions lifted, women will never get a fair chance to lead.

The limited role of women in our nation's military has always been on the back burner and as recently as last year, The Pentagon had no intention of ever taking it off the back burner. Military officials have used the cliche that mental disadvantages plague women in battle, along with glaring physical limitations, but this age old assumption was proven illegitimate. Tia Ghose an experienced military journalist for livescience.com says the military is still under the impression of, "the old cliche is that women and men think so differently that it's as though they were from different planets. But when it comes to their brains, the difference is more akin to living in nearly identical houses in a generic suburb." (Ghose, Women in Battle). This misconception is made evident by the rumors of military outcry that the first two women to pass Army Ranger School were held to different standards both in physical and mental testing, during their time at the school. Major General Scott Miller a guest speaker at the graduation ceremony addressed those claims immediately, saying: "Ladies and gentlemen ... standards are still the same ... a 5-mile run is still a 5-mile run. Standards do not change. A 12-mile march is still a 12-mile march," (Neuman, Female Soldiers Graduate Army Ranger School). Another head military official, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, said in a press conference after the restrictions on women were lifted that, "standards would not be altered to accommodate more female soldiers in combat positions. "Equal opportunity likely will not mean equal participation by men and women in all specialties," he said, indicating that smaller numbers of women would likely migrate into combat." (Wiser, Military faces great pressure to lower standards). The argument that no woman is physically capable enough to fight in direct combat situations was proven inaccurate and could no longer hold up as an excuse for the restrictions set in place for women in combat without drawing public attention. The Department of Defense has made it clear through, " A study in the Journal of Applied Physiology found that men had an average of 26 lbs. (12 kilograms) more skeletal muscle mass than women. Women also exhibited about 40 percent less upper-body strength and 33 percent less lower-body strength, on average." (Ghose, Women in Battle). This study used to be the basis of why women were not allowed on the frontlines until the 1st Lt. Shaye Haver and Captain Kristen Griest showed that some women, when given the opportunity are gifted enough to overcome natural physical limitations. The significance of their feat has no ceiling; these two women secured the biggest victory for females in their battle for equality within the military. Soon after the Major General's comments, on December 3 2015, The Department of Defense announced they would lift all gender based military restrictions starting in 2016.

The issue of women's equality within the military is still an extremely prevalent issue even though all restrictions on women in the military have been lifted. The "Gentlemen's Club" atmosphere of our armed forces fosters intense sexual bias. Hospital Corpsman First Class Tarren Windham explains a common occurrence for a female soldier being transferred to a new unit, "Sometimes, before you even check into a command [present orders to superiors after being transferred], they will look at the orders of the incoming personnel and see that it's a woman. The first thing people start talking about is, 'I wonder if she's hot, I wonder if she puts out, I wonder if she's fat.'"(Moritz, Women in the Military). These immature comments are only part of a larger picture: sexual bias inhibiting a women's ability to progress in her career path of choice. Major Eleanor Taylor of the Canadian Military sees career paths of her peers ruined far too often, "As combat duty is usually regarded as necessary for promotion to senior officer positions, denying female personal this experience ensures that very few will ever reach the highest reaches of military and so further entrenches sexism." (Taylor, Women in Combat Pro's and Con's). The inability to be exposed to intense combat scenarios that could alter a soldier's career path is one of the main reasons why it is hard to find high-ranking female officials, not because there aren't enough applicants to choose from. Tarren Windham also added in her interview with Dani Moritz that she had even been told that she, ""shouldn't try and work outside of [her administrative duties] because that's what girls are good at." (Moritz, Women in the Military). A segment from an article by TIME Magazines senior writer Mark Thompson addresses the fact that some military branches leave no hope at all for a women soldier's advancement through combat rankings,

"The Air Force and Navy, which do little fighting on the ground, have already opened up 98% of their slots to women, and their uniformed leaders have approved going all the way. But that has been a relatively easy choice compared with the decision to add women to the ranks of combat infantry in the Army and the Marines. While the Army, which currently allows women in 82% of its jobs, is green-lighting all jobs for women so long as they can meet certain physical standards, the Marines are holding out, Pentagon officials say. Marine ground-combat units, which make up 25% of Marine slots, should remain all-male bastions, according to recommendations from corps officials." (Thompson).

       The United States Marine Corps remains adamant that their brand of fighting is not physically conducive to a women's body and puts them in too much harm physically. Earlier in the essay mentioning the two women who had graduated the Army Ranger School, who made it possible for The Department of Defense to be able to appropriately lift all legal restrictions women had within the military. The Department of Defense waived the restrictions much to the dismay of the many top Marine Corps officials. The Marine Corps is still the biggest motivator of the militaries "Gentlemen's Club" condemnation and shows that with only 8% of their entire personnel being female. That is 6% lower than the second lowest branch, The Army, at 14%, followed by Navy at 18% and, the Air Force at 19% nearly one-fifth of all personnel in the Air Force are women (Thompson, Sending Women to War). 

The Air Force plays a unique role in the argument of women's equality within the military because senior Air Force officials were the first to declare that women could fill a unique role within their branch, and the hiring of women for certain positions became necessary not mandatory. Women have been on the forefront of aerial combat for sixty plus years. The first military organization to fully incorporate women created a branch within the Air Force just for women pilots called WAF (Women in the Air Force) was formed by President Harry Truman in 1948 after he signed the Women's Armed Services Integration Act allowing women to serve directly in the military. This simply allowed women to serve in positions military officials deemed fit for women. The military caught on quickly that women make inherently adept fighter pilots because of their size in relation to a cockpit (WAF, WAF History). The Air Force is now 19.1% female and that includes Secretary of the Air Force, Deborah Lee James and Air Force Materiel Command General Ellen Pawlikowski. These two women are close to the peak of their selective career paths within the military and provide an example of females who were given opportunities' to thrive, and taking those opportunities' without being held back (Air Force Senior Leaders).

The second most inclusive branch towards women, the Navy, parallels the Air Force in their acceptance of women. The Navy currently has one Admiral and three Vice Admirals that are women, showing people every day that, once given the opportunity, women can lead any group of people. Admiral Michelle Howard is the active Admiral and she is the first women and first African American to ever hold the position (www.public.navy.mil, Top Officers). The Air Force gets credit for being the most accepting towards women soldiers, but the Navy has made strides in offering new positions to women even while restrictions were in place for other branches. The Navy and Air Force have ushered in the era of reliance on women soldiers but have been fought every step of the way by their fellow military branches the Marine Corps and the Army.

The Marine Corps and the Army are the main reasons why the military is referred to as a "Gentlemen's Club" by female soldiers like Hospital Corpsman First Class Tarren Windham. Military officials believe infantry and artillery units are not suited for women. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter said in his Pentagon press briefing, that the Marines stood firm on their position until the end, "While the Marine Corps asked for a partial exception in some areas such as infantry, machine gunner, fire support reconnaissance and others, we are a joint force, and I have decided to make a decision which applies to the entire force,"(Tilghman, All Jobs open to Women in Military). 

 "According to Defense Department data, as of February 29, 2012, a total of 183,714 service members are deployed (20,062 were female, or 10.92%)." (Burelli, Women in Combat: Issues for Congress) these statistics highlight the lack of equality women receive. Women find it hard to progress in the Marine Corps and the Army so they often times find other professions entirely. 25% of positions in the Marine Corps are closed to women, which is a quarter of the entire branch. The Marines take the criticism head on, and use the same type of response each time when confronted with a question regarding females in infantry units, 

"To move forward in expanding opportunities for our female service members without considering the timeless, brutal, physical and absolutely unforgiving nature of close combat is a prescription for failure," an internal Marine study completed in August concluded. "Those who choose to turn a blind eye to those immutable realities do so at the expense of our corps' war fighting capability and, in turn, the security of the nation." (Thompson, Sending Women to War)

Marines fear that the physical limitations of women will result in very view women qualifying for infantry roles. Outside pressure groups will press the military to lower standards to include more women. General John F. Kelly acknowledges that without lowering standards, very few women will be able to qualify. The Marine Corps objection is that with the political correctness of contemporary times means that at some point a civil rights groups will speak out, Gen. Kelly says, "There will be great pressure, whether it's 12 months from now, four years from now, because the question will be asked whether we've let women into these other roles, why aren't they staying in those other roles?"(Wiser). Female soldiers have never asked for standards to be lowered, although why should pressure from outside the military immediately effect the decision of lowering standards? Public outcry for the issue of women's restrictions in direct combat only picked up after the two women passed Army Ranger School. 

Another problem that holding women back within the military creates, is a safety issue for women who are in field analysts and communications positions right off the frontlines or on them. These triage units are susceptible to ambush and the female marines can find themselves with less training but in the same amount of danger as their male counterparts. Zoe Bedell a Communications Officer who served in the Marine Corps for 4 tours of service, gave a TEDx talk at Harvard Law School about her experience overseas she said, "If you go on patrol everyone is wearing the same uniform, everyone is wearing the same gear, everyone is carrying the same rifle. When we get shot at you better believe we are shooting back" (Bedell, TEDx Talks). An intense claim like the one Zoe Bedell made truly put the entire issue of women being restricted from fighting on the frontlines into perspective. Bedell and her unit are some of the select few females who were on the actual frontlines of combat in any type of position. Bedell's official role was a field engagement officer, she commanded a battalion of 28 female marines that would go into towns and speak with the women and children and report back to their infantry units what they have discovered. Bedell described that situation of entering a village, "there were 2 female marines assigned to each infantry unit, and these women would be usually the only women assigned to the infantry units" (Bedell, TEDx Talks). These women would enter hostile villages with less training than the rest of the infantry units, but in the same amount of danger. Bedell has seen female soldiers get wounded far too many times in battle because they weren't trained to respond to an enemy ambush. The lack of safety has been on the Department of Defenses mind lately, they ordered an official study be performed framing the issues of health and health research for women in the military. Three doctors published the study and in the introduction they explain, "there is currently no systematic institutional structure in place to regularly and methodically examine gaps in policy, research, and treatment for issues related to women in combat." (McGraw, Koehlmoos, Ritchie 1). The attention to detail given to research into men's physical capabilities and limitations is well documented throughout military history, but until this report was published no official Department of Defense studies have focused on solely women's health in regards to frontline combat.

The study published by Dr. Katie McGraw, Dr. Tracey Koehlmoos, and Dr. Elspeth Ritchie can be a symbol of change for women who want to serve their nation. As women are allowed into all positions of the military it shows that the Department of Defense realizes now the role women can play in any facet of the military. The Department of Defense and Pentagon are now devoted to change the reputation of the worlds finest military system as a "Gentlemen's Club" to an organization that promotes women's equality. Before the restrictions were lifted, the United States Military was "one of the last organizations where gender discrimination is institutionalized" (Bedell). The fact that the United States in a time where political correctness is everything, were able to allow the military to hold back females from certain combat positions is almost unheard in the age of social media. As the issues moves along the cry for standards changes from outside pressure groups will only increase, but that is not what the issue is supposed to be about. The issue is, women should not be restricted from any combat positions, whether or not they will qualify for a spot in the unit does not matter, all that matters is that both genders are given equal opportunities.

