| Part of Series | War in the First Person |
| Length | 58:59 |
| Licensor | Open Source |
| Producer(s) | Open Source |
| Formats | Interview, Limited Series |
| Topics | News, War, Women |
| Produced | March 26, 2007 |
| Added to PRX | June 28, 2007 |
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Four Iraq veterans -- three women and one man -- talk about women in combat and sexual violence in the military.
http://www.radioopensource.org/women-in-war/
English
American women are serving, getting injured, and dying in Afghanistan and Iraq in numbers far greater than in any previous war. Over 160,000 women have served there, and so far 72 have died in Iraq. Most significantly ? because there are no front lines but plenty of ambushes and roadside IEDs ? many women are, for the first time, engaging the enemy even though they?re not in ground combat units.
Women were allowed in the peacetime military soon after WWII, but it wasn?t until the 1970s that they were admitted to the service academies and integrated into regular units in all of the forces. Women were prohibited from any combat position until the 1990s, when they were allowed to fly combat aircraft and serve on combat ships. They now make up roughly 15 percent of the armed forces, but they still don?t serve in several combat arms branches ? most notably the infantry.
Because so many women are experiencing violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, it?s adding tension to a longstanding battle over women?s right to serve in every part of the military. At issue ? from the perspective of men who?d rather not see women in the infantry ? are on-the-ground realities of unit cohesiveness; distraction because of sexual attraction; women?s physical strength; problems of women and men sleeping, showering, and using bathrooms together in the field; and men?s willingness to send women into dangerous situations. In other words: anything that might detract from a mission?s effectiveness. Military women who want all doors open to them say these arguments echo old ones against integrating black and white units ? and that all of them have ready answers. Other countries (like Canada and Germany) already allow women in ground combat.
The elephants in the room here are sexual harassment and assault. Some believe they bolster arguments against allowing women in the infantry. Others feel they?re a symptom of a macho military culture that refuses to accept women as equals. Rape and harassment are unquestionably a problem in the military, but they?re part of civilian life, too. So are they any more prevalent in the armed forces? If so, what are the reasons? How significant is the fact that women are a small minority and therefore easy to pick on? How much of the solution lies in better training? Or in leadership at all levels?
