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Women's rights in the military
Women's rights in the military
Women's rights in the military
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The progress made towards the institution of women in the military and the compensation for as well as the prevention of the hardships that come with such a title is commendable and brings Canada another step closer to a “just society”. Every occurrence or milestone from the Nursing Sisters to Operation Honour has left female veterans with a rich history to look back on; per contra, the Canadian government still needs to make amendments to change the state of this ever-present issue. In order to drive the feminist force within the military, Canada is setting out on a ten-year hiring surge aiming to enlist approximately one thousand women per year (The Star: Looking for a few good women — Canada’s military goes on a hiring spree).
Increasing
the number of women in the military means that the Armed Forces need to target women in its recruiting process and raise interest in military service as opposed to framing it as a man’s job. Combat trades are open to both sexes equally and the military aims to graduate women from military colleges at the same rates as men. Kingston’s Royal Military College predicted that 200 students were to graduate in 2016 but only 20% would be women (The Star: Looking for a few good women – Canada’s military goes on a hiring spree). Although this is an increase from previous years, the school has set a new goal of 25%. Lieutenant-General Christine Whitecross, commander of Military Personnel Command in the Canadian Armed Forces says, “[…] I’m hoping it’s going to be a telltale sign for the future” (The Star: Looking for a few good women – Canada’s military goes on a hiring spree). Women in Canada have begun to spread into trades such as mechanics, plumbing, and carpentry – what used to be seen as men’s jobs – the same integration needs to happen to the Armed Forces. Attracting more females in to military comes with an obstacle of fear. Women are increasingly becoming aware of the sexualized undertones and harassment within the military and this is discouraging for women looking at a career in the Armed Forces or otherwise. To counter this, Whitecross states that the military has been upfront about efforts to transform the culture, including Vance’s formal mission titled OP Honour to “eliminate harmful and inappropriate sexual behaviour” (The Star: Looking for a few good women – Canada’s military goes on a hiring spree). “It’s allowing us to be very transparent and honest about what’s happening today and how change is coming,” Whitecross said. “We’ve got to get better at the way we treat people. That is the underlying truth” (The Star: Looking for a few good women – Canada’s military goes on a hiring spree).
Within Megan H. Mackenzie’s essay, “Let Women Fight” she points out many facts about women serving in the U.S. military. She emphasizes the three central arguments that people have brought up about women fighting in the military. The arguments she states are that women cannot meet the physical requirements necessary to fight, they simply don’t belong in combat, and that their inclusion in fighting units would disrupt those units’ cohesion and battle readiness. The 1948 Women’s Armed Services Integration Act built a permanent corps of women in all the military departments, which was a big step forward at that time. Although there were many restrictions that were put on women, an increase of women in the U.S. armed forces happened during
Firstly, women played key supportive roles in the army, even though they were not necessarily foot soldiers; they still contributed greatly to the allied victory in World War Two. When Canada finally decided to allow women to participate in the war, many did not hesitate and was willing to sacrifice their life to protect their country. There were a total of 16221 women enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), 20497 in the Canadian Women’s Army Corps (CWAC), 6665 in the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service (WRCNS), and later on in the war about 4439 women entered the nursing servic...
Since the resolution of World War II, the United States has been involved in over fifteen extensive military wars. Recent wars between Iraq and Afghanistan are being fought over several issues which affect women in both the United States and the other nations. While the military is often thought of a male dominated institution, women are present and affected all throughout the system as soldiers, caretakers, partners, and victims. Transnational feminists often fight against war due to the vulnerability that is placed on women during times of war. Despite often being overlooked, there is no doubt that women are heavily included in the devastating consequences of war.
Due to the a sentence of working men's, women were suggested to do men’s work, such as making clothes for oversea men, filling bullets and shell bombs with materials, and many more occupations and works that were once the ‘privilege’ only to men. After WWI ended, women were forced to leave their occupation and return back to their life as typical ‘house maids’. This did not only cause the women’s anger and rebellion due to the fact that their jobs were taken away from them, but it also planted seeds deeply within women’s hearts of the consciousness of gender inequality. Before women in Canada had ever taken on jobs before, their lives were all about pleasing their men and baring, caring for their children. Women did not have a life of their own before the famous The Person’s case, led by Emily Murphy, Irene Marryat Parlby, Nellie Mooney McClung, Louise Crummy McKinney and Henrietta Muir Edward; however , that is to say after the women in the prairies had granted votes for them. To resume, the newly funded experience for the women due to their new jobs had sparked the courage and anger in them. This can also explain the year of women first received their rights to vote in 1916, barely two years after the outbreak of WWI. While women’s men were away fighting during WWI, votes were given to women during conscription so that the wives could vote in place of their husband.
When the Women’s Auxiliary Army Corps was established in May of 1942,2 women were not conscripted like their husbands, fathers, and brothers;3 their service was wholly voluntary, and as such the WAC had difficulty acquiring its projected quota. A variety of theories had been proposed in an effort to explain this shortage of volunteers. For example, some presumed that since America, unlike Europe, was not being bombed, the women here did not feel a similar sense of urgency to join the Army. This excuse, however, was considered unacceptable because Canada, a country which also remained unscathed, seemed to have no problem with female recruitment. By the year 1944, more than 37,000 of the 12,000,000 Canadian women had joined the armed forces, as opposed to the 175,000 of the 135,000,000 American women.4 Others suggested that many women felt obliged to stay home in order to support their parents or friends whose sons or husbands had already gone to war.5 One Saturday Evening Post writer even bla...
Should women serve in combat positions? The Combat Exclusion Law has dealt with this question since the 1940’s. As time continues, the question remains. The military has increased the percentage of females allowed to be enlisted and commissioned in the services as well as increasing the positions allotted to them (Matthews, Ender, Laurence, & Rohall, 2009). Keenan posits “women have served with distinction in … the Revolutionary War…as volunteer nurses and were only occasionally in the direct line of fire…four nurses evacuating 42 patients while the Germans bombed their field hospital…” (the DoD Combat Exclusion Policy) pg. 21.
Before World War I, women assisted the military during wartime mainly as nurses and helpers. Some women, however, did become involved in battles. Molly Pitcher, a Revolutionary War water carrier, singlehandedly kept a cannon in action after a artillery crew had been disabled. During the
Most women in Canada before World War One (WWI) were treated poorly compared to the men. Women were dehumanized and were not looked as any worth or value. During WW1 women’s roles in Canada changes to a great extent. The war influence change in the work force and politics. Women had to take on jobs of the men who went to war to keep the established economic system running. In 1911 before the war 16.6% of the female population of 2,521,000 participated in the labour force. During the war in 1921 the participation rate increased from 418,486 female workers to 563,578. War changed their roles greatly as before women were housewives, they would raise the children and do household chores. Now during the war they were needed as men went overseas
To start off, the ability to take part in military activities, both on the home front and overseas, was one of the major improvements for Canadian women during World War II. Firstly, during the World War II Canadian War effort, numerous Canadian women enlisted to serve their country and participate in combatant and non-combatant roles. These large enlistment numbers were seen as “45,000 women enlisted during the war (21,000 Canadian Women's Army Corps, 17,000 Royal Canadian Air Force - Women’s division and 7,000 Women’s Royal Naval Services)” (CBC.ca, 2012). Through the context of this quote, it is seen how women fled to the chance to serve for the military and how they were accepted. These high numbers in enlistment and acceptance show that Canadian women were starting to be more perceived as equal as they got to partake in these ro...
"Update: Women in the Military." Issues and Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 29 May 2007. Web.
With the advent of the 1920s and the signing of the Nineteenth Amendment came a rapid movement toward women’s rights. It sped up with the beginning of World War II where six million women went to work in military factories, producing ammunition and other military goods for the sixteen million troops fighting abroad. The end of the war brought the realization that American women could work just as hard and efficiently as American men. Thus the idea of feminism was born. From here, the momentum continued before taking a hit with the loss of the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1980s. This only caused women to fight harder and soon a new generation of independent women arose in the early 1990s. Nowadays, self-sufficient women can be found everywhere as CEOs in companies like PepsiCo and Kraft Foods or as associate justices on the Supreme Court. However, all the strides taken thus far had its origins not in businesses or the government but in the military. Since Joan of Arc first picked up a sword to fight for the French, women have disguised themselves as men in order to fight for their country and for their own personal independence. For example, during the Civil War (1860-1865), nearly three hundred women fought bravely in support of both the Northern and Southern cause (Weiser). Yet despite their bravery, three hundred seems trivial next to the approximately three million male soldiers that fought next to them (Weiser). The majority of contributions came from the women who stayed within the societal boundaries of the time. Unfortunately, most accounts of women in the Civil War focus on the hidden soldiers and not the supporting housewives. With such a small amount of women defying the norm, one has to wonder to what extent did women ...
The problem of women fighting in combat along with their male counterparts is not a one-sided problem. Elizabeth Hoisington has earned the rank of Brigadier General in the U.S. Army, leads the Women’s Army Corps and believes that women should not serve in combat because they are not as physically, mentally, or emotionally qualified as a male is and that ...
Jane brings up an issue of equality that has been a topic of discussion for decades: whether or not women should be allowed to serve in military ground combat and special forces roles. A history of women in the United States military dates back to the American Revolution. It was not uncommon for women to disguise themselves as men and fight alongside the males. More women served in World War I and World War II, primarily in nursing, administrative, and communications support roles (McGraw, et al., “Women in Combat: Framing the Issues of Health and Health Research for America’s Servicewomen,” 7). In 1948, the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act was signed, allowing women to serve as permanent members of the military, though in gender segregated units with a majority of occupations still closed to women. In 1976, the Department of Defense began gender integration of the service academies. (Wechsler Segal, et al., “The Role of Leadership and Peer Behaviors in the Performance and Well-Being of Women in Combat: Historical Perspectives, Unit Integration, and Family Issues, 28). In 1993, women were allowed to serve as fighter pilots, but in 1994, the Department of Defense excluded women from ground combat roles. The topic of gender integration continued to be a heated issue, sparking the release of G.I. Jane in 1997. The role of women in combat has drastically changed during recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Modern warfare no longer has a true “front line,” and many women have actually been “in combat.” This has necessitated recent changes in the military. Women were allowed to serve on board submarines beginning in 2011. In January 2013, then Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta removed the 1994 ban on women in combat, with intentions for full integration as of January 2016 (McGraw, et al., 8). Current Secretary of Defense, Ash Carter, declared in December 2015 that all combat roles would be open to women beginning in January 2016. Despite the move
The story of America’s military woman can be traced to the birth of our nation. During the American Revolutionary War, the 18th and 19th centuries, where women served informally as nurses, seamstresses, cooks, and even as spies and were subject to Army’s rules of Conduct. Though not in uniform, these women shared soldier’s hardships including inadequate housing and little compensation. Women have formally been part of the U.S Armed Forces since the Inception of the Army Nurse Corps in 1901. In 1973 the transition to the All-Volunteer Force marked a dramatic increase in the opportunities available for women to serve in the military. As of September 30, 2009, the total number of active duty women in the U.S was 203, 375, and women made up 14.3 percent of the U.s armed forces (Robinson). Women are a crucial role in c...
Should women be allowed in the military? My answer was at first a resounding “no.” However, once I started my research, my opinion changed. In 1948, Congress passed the combat exclusion law that prohibited women in the Air Force, Marines, and Navy to hold combat positions; however, the Army can assign these duties as they see fit (Schroeder). Some people assume that Americans are not ready to see a woman wounded or killed in war; however, there are female police officers that are wounded or killed daily (Schroeder). How can we rationalize that a woman has the right to die protecting our local communities but not our country? If a person chooses to be in a combat field, and can pass the physical demands required, gender should not be an issue. The arguments of physical differences and cohesion among the troops are valid arguments but not substantial enough to prevent women from serving in frontline combat roles within the military.