Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced Jan. 24 that the Pentagon would be lifting the ban on women fighting in combat. This ban has been sexist since its inception and its end has been long overdue.
In an effort to fulfill the United States’ founding ideals of fairness and equality, the ban was lifted, allowing women to fight in combat for the first time in 19 years, Obama said in his inaugural address Jan. 21.
For years we have witnessed the progression from oppression of women to the freedom women merit. Starting with Rosa Parks, we have seen countless women stand and fight for their rights.
Women have had a very limited part in the military, having only ever been allowed to take minor roles that were away from the front lines. Since 1994, women have been banned from participating in combat, making it difficult for them to advance their careers in the military.
Women should be allowed the same opportunities as men, and the government’s interference in their career opportunities is unjust and unnecessary.
Within modern warfare, we are seeing a more sporadic front line; there is not a definite way to determine where the combat is going to be at all times. With wars such as those being waged today in Afghanistan and Iraq, non-combat units are being forced to battle as if they are on the front lines. This puts women in precarious situations: To defy a mandate in order to protect those in your unit.
Women have been forced to be on the front lines for years, battling alongside the men in their infantries. There is no reason why it has taken the government this long to lift the ban, which has caused women nothing but problems since its installment.
Gen. James Amos told USA Today in an interview Jan. 29 that the Marine Corps was not planning on opening up all positions within the Marine Corps to women. He cited the “lowering of standards” as the reasoning.
If this is the case, then the Marine Corps is justified in its actions.
It is a well-known fact that women are not typically as strong as men.
Women should have the right to choose and attempt to do whatever they want; this does not mean they have the right to be whatever they want. There is a difference between earning what you can and being given what you want.
The military has the responsibility to allow any citizen in the United States to try and obtain any position they want within the public sector, regardless of whether or not they fit all of the qualifications.
Discrimination against women for their gender and stereotypical flaws should not be allowed in any area of the workplace, especially the military.
