When you think of the military, would you think that gender plays a major role in the ability for an institution to perform well? Well according to decades of debate, society has been built to believe that women have neither the physical nor emotional strength to work with men in these positions, which puts down women who are already involved. On the other hand, there are those who do believe that women do not hinder the success of men, therefore contradicting what people have been predisposed too. The debate of the integration of women into these institutions has been a long one, but there is new hope to come out it with each passing year. The United States, along with various other countries, are looking to increase this inclusion and to expand the roles for women into the male-dominated field. It is important that society opens up to the acceptance that women have the capability to prove themselves as a strong matchup against other men, which has been done before. I’ve come across this issue personally due to the fact that my mother is in the Air Force. She receives great criticism for what she does, mainly because she is a woman in a position of command over many men, who in turn work under her. Her work is tough and the fact that her co-leader is also a women astonishes me, because a majority of people have been brought learning that men are the more dominant gender. The gender inequality that is expressed by this societal behavior is what drives me to explain why women should not be looked down upon for pursuing careers in the military field due to the long history of successful women who paved the way and the ones who are in the process of making history in today’s century. 

The Revolutionary War, the leading start for the advancement of women being integrated into the Armed Forces. Since then, women have fought alongside men as nurses, cooks, and laundresses. Even though they weren’t necessarily on the front-line fighting, they were put into supporting roles to fight for the lives of their soldiers. Due to their efforts, “the importance of women in support positions in prior wars convinced the Army to open the military to women on an official level” (“How Roles Have Changed for Women in the Military”), which led to about 30,000 job openings for women to go into service. The emergence of battleground hospitals during the Civil War pushed some women, the ones who worked as nurses, closer to the front line than previously before as other women sought to disguise themselves and enlisted under an alias to be able to serve on the front line to get into the battle. World War I and II were critical points because women became more involved in the non-combat aspects, such as becoming pilots, drivers, and mechanics, as well as working in their traditional positions too. After the strides women made throughout the Civil and World Wars, “Congress passed the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act, permitting women to serve as permanent members of the military” (“TIMELINE: A History of Women in The US Military”). Now during this time, the only branches opened up to women were the Army and the Navy, but because the progression of women involvement in wars led to strides over to the Air Force and Marines. In the later 1900’s, females across all the branches were given the opportunities to fly in combat missions and serve on combat ships, which overturned the previous statement that female sailors and marines could only serve on non-combat ships. Women were on a streak of successful achievements until in 1994 the Secretary of Defense, Les Asprin, ruled that women could not serve in units who were primarily ground combat. This ban would last for several years until in January 2013, Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta lifted it and proposed a two-year deadline for the military to complete integration because “the military wants to move as quickly as possible” (“Women in Combat: History and Future”), and since then there have been various acts and policies set in place to ensure their compliance. 

With 14% of women belonging to the armed forces, “more than 165,000 women are enlisted and active in the armed services with over 35,000 additional women serving as officers” (“A History of Women in the US Military”). Many of them have been recognized for their achievements and I’m going to shed light on a few of them; some from decades ago, and others from recent times. Emma Edmonds served in many battles during the Civil War under the alias “Franklin Flint Thompson” as a male nurse in the 2nd Michigan Infantry. She also acted as a Union spy, which she used multiple aliases. Although her time was cut short due to a break out of Malaria, “she was awarded an honorable discharge from the military, a government pension, and admittance to the Grand Army of the Republic as its only female member” (“Seven Famous Women Veterans”). Elise Ott, who was originally a nurse out of New York, served as a member of the Army Nurse Corps that was commissioned to second lieutenant where she had the opportunity to participate in the first ever air evacuation. The air evacuation was a success and Ott earned “the first U.S. Air Medal, the first given to a woman in the U.S. Army, for her role in the evacuation flight” (“Seven Famous Women Veterans”). Grace Hopper was a commander in the United States Naval Reserves and worked on the Bureau of Ordinance Computation Project. She was credited with creating a program that essentially was known as the first compiler. There is a destroyer and supercomputer named after her in remembrance of all she had done while she was in service. Ann Dunwoody is the first women to serve as a four-star general for both the United States Armed Forces and the Army. Her most major impact while in service was becoming commander of “one of the largest commands in the Army, employing more than 69,000 employees across all 50 states and 145 countries” (“Seven Famous Women Veterans”). Kristen Greist and Shaye Haver are the first women to complete the U.S Army’s Ranger school and graduate with their Ranger tabs. A noted point about these women is that these women “completed the course to the same standards as their 94 male classmates” (“First Female Soldiers Graduate from Army Ranger School”), which consisted of obstacles such as, a five-mile run, along with a twelve-mile march. As stated, there has been a multitude of successful women who have entered service and even today the tradition still continues on.

One of the main issues concerning women in the military is in the decision of if women should be allowed to work in combat units, and has been an issue for many years now. There have been multiple policy changes concerning this topic where one rule would explain that women are not allowed to, but it would eventually get overturned by another rule stating that women were in fact allowed to because it’s time "to create a level playing field for all qualified service members” (“Report: Women Should Be Allowed in Combat”). Although our world today has become more accepting of women wanting to join the military, many are still doubtful due to three main reasons. The first reason is that women in this role “could hinder cooperation with some allied nations where men are culturally opposed to working with women” (“Women in Combat Jobs”). The second reason is that women are seen as physically unable to fulfill the fitness standards. Even though there have been policy changes regarding gender integration, one thing not changing is the training standards required by all who wish to serve in the infantry. And lastly, the “backbone” of a unit is seen to come from the bonding that male soldiers experience, and that women disrupt the unit’s cohesion. Another problem women deal with, which makes some claim they shouldn’t be included into troop units, is the problem of sexual harassment. In 2011, many accounts, “3,192 reported cases of sexual assault” (“Women in Combat: History and Future”) to be exact, were recorded. These examples are stated to show the negative connotations that women receive. Women are constantly put down because of these and while statistically facts involving things such as the strength differences between men and women is correct, they are constantly pushing themselves to prove that they are worthy of the positions they are in.

As expressed throughout this essay, it is in my hopes that I make aware how impactful women have been towards the military. Since the start of the most major wars known in U.S. history, women have been alongside men. Whether it be serving on the front line in disguises, nursing the wounded, or working in the more non-combat positions, women have seen and been through it all. All the negative statements made by people, mainly males who opposed the idea of gender integration, have been disproved by many women, such as Kristen Griest and Shaye Haver. These women showed the bravery they have by not giving up when things got tough and eventually became the most talked about women in the past few years after their graduation from the United States Army Ranger School. People look down on women because they don’t believe they are emotionally or physically fit to keep up with men, and that their inclusion harms the unit cohesion that men usually experience with just a male group. This discrimination has been put down by many policies that the government has implemented to ensure that a societal acceptance of women in the military comes out of it. Yet, not everyone wants to agree with these statements made by the government, even though women have obviously shown that they are capable of keeping up with the male counterparts, and sometimes even surpassing them. Women should not be looked down upon when in these military positions due to all of the reasons stated because gender integration in the military was fought for by many and those who still don’t agree with this congregation of men and women need to realize how far the world has become advanced over the centuries. 
