WASHINGTON – Over the past year, the U.S. armed forces, an institution laden with tradition and routine, has undergone a big change in one of its most controversial policies. Soon it may experience another.
In March, the Military Leadership Diversity Commission sent its latest report to Congress and the President, questioning the fairness of denying women the right to serve in certain combat units.
By doing so, they say, women, who make up roughly 14 percent of the armed forces, are unable to advance up through the ranks the same way as their male counterparts do.
According to the report titled “From Representation to Inclusion: Diversity Leadership for the 21st-Century Military,” females in the reserves are promoted at a rate 10 percent lower than the rates for men in the reserves.
The reasons for barring females from serving in any ground-combat unit smaller than a brigade range from disrupting squad cohesion to emotional strain; but the main reason, said Al Pessin, a veteran Pentagon correspondent for Voice of America, is lesser physical strength.
As an example Pessin, in a lecture to Medill graduate students, asked if they would rather have a 5-foot-four, 120 pound female student with them if wounded in combat, or a 6-foot-1-inch, 190 pound male student. They all pointed to the male student.
But in their report, the commission said they are not advocating that “women cannot reach senior leadership levels without being in tactical career fields or that a large number of women will choose to enter tactical career fields if given the opportunity.” As the policy is written, though, barriers exist that prevent women from obtaining leadership roles.
Just this year, the ruling was overturned barring women in the navy from being allowed on submarine missions. Starting with this year’s Naval Academy’s graduating class, females will be permitted on submarine tours.
The main issue with females serving on submarines is the lack of separate space, so only female officers, who are traditionally given their own quarters, will be permitted on the ships at first.
Kathryn Cogswell, a navy boarding officer, said being a female in the armed forces is extremely difficult because there is often a lack of respect and very little privacy. That was a similar issue that for years held up the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’’ policy toward gays. It was repealed last December.
“Allowing women to serve in combat roles would definitely help with the respect issue,” Cogswell said.
Given her career trajectory the combat restriction doesn’t affect her, but if it were an issue in the Navy she would be very upset with the policy, she said.
Since the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’’ many think it is only a matter of time before women are allowed to fill any role for which they are qualified.
According to a Poll by MSNBC.com where 21,326 people responded, 50.5 percent were in favor of women serving in military combat roles, 45.5 percent were opposed and four percent didn’t know.
