Military Gender Equality

If women meet the qualifications for a certain combat job they should be allowed to serve in it. Gender equality is a big deal in the United States, some believe in it, others do not. In the military, when it comes to certain jobs, gender equality is unlikely mostly due to physical attributions. According to Task and Purpose, ”Male and female recruits going into combat arms jobs must complete six pull-ups; a three-mile run in under 24 minutes and 51 seconds; perform 60 ammo-can lifts in two minutes; conduct a movement to contact in 3 minutes and 26 seconds or less; and maneuver under fire within 3 minutes and 12 seconds” (Clark). Clearly, the requirements for combat jobs were made gender neutral so that all recruits were given an equal opportunity to be

Females who wish to have a combat occupation must work hard to be able to fulfill the requirements. There are not many females who qualify for the combat jobs, but the ones who do, deserve the opportunity. One study reveals that “Six out of seven female recruits - and 40 out of about 1,500 male recruits - failed to pass the new regimen of pull-ups, ammunition-can lifts, a 3-mile run and combat maneuvers required to move on in training for combat jobs, according to the data” (Baldor). Based on the research, many females did not pass the requirements for the combat jobs, which was predictable. For the females who did pass the run, pull-ups, ammunition-can lifts, and the 3-mile run, they one-hundred percent deserve to be allowed in combat. The requirements are gender neutral which shows that if any females pass them then they are just as capable as men to conduct the job just as well. Although many oppositions say, “The female soldier is, on average, about five inches shorter than the male soldier. She has half the upper-body strength, lower aerobic capacity, and 37 percent less muscle mass”