Please Assess My Essay: Women in Military: More Combat Roles for Women

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AOA Guys.

I have written this essay on an expected topic for the CSS 2018. (I have read somewhere that this topic is expected for CSS 2018)

I have taken help from the internet, obviously.

I want the seniors as well as the newcomers to please assess this essay and provide your valuable feedback.

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Women in the Military: Combat Roles for Women

Outline:

1. Introduction
2. Women in Ancient Warfare
3. Women in World War I & II
4. Women in Combat Roles
5. Women in the Pakistan Armed Forces
6. Feminism in Pakistan's Military
7. Sisters in Arms
8. Women in Pakistan Air Force
9. Physical, social and cultural issues
10. Academic Studies
11. PROS AND CONS OF WOMEN IN COMBAT
12. Conclusion

For thousands of years in a substantial number of cultures and nations, women have served in various roles in the military, from ancient warrior women to those currently serving in current armed conflicts.

While the majority of combatants in most cultures have been men, a number of women in history have fought alongside them. In the American Civil War, there were women who sometimes even fought cross-dressed as men. Fighting on the battlefront was not the only way women involved themselves in war. Some also served as nurses and aides.

Despite various roles in the armies of past societies, the role of women in the military, particularly in combat, is controversial and it is only recently that women have begun to be given a more prominent role in contemporary armed forces. As increasing numbers of countries begin to expand the role of women in their militaries, the debate continues.

More recently, from the beginning of the 1970s, most Western armies have begun to admit women to serve active duty in all of military branches. In nine countries women are conscripted into military.

The role of women in ancient warfare differed from culture to culture. Warfare throughout written history mainly has been portrayed in modern times as a matter for men, but women also have played a role. Until very recently, little mention of these exploits was included in retellings of history in most countries, aside from the Amazons.

Female deities, whose origins predate historical records, are present in most early cultures. Often they were portrayed as warriors, which signals a pervasive presence of women among such activities prior to a profound change in many human cultures after the adoption of agriculture as the typical sustenance (and which enabled protracted warfare with large armies).

Their influences, the roles of women rulers, and those of significant women, were retained in many of these cultures so strongly that no layers of new legends, ideals, and myths were able to obscure them completely.

In Great Britain just before World War I there were 24 million adult women and 1.7 million worked in domestic service, 800,000 worked in the textile manufacturing industry, 600,000 worked in the clothing trades, 500,000 worked in commerce, and 260,000 worked in local and national government, including teaching. The British textile and clothing trades, in particular, employed far more women than men and were regarded as 'women's work'.

While some women managed to enter the traditionally male career paths, women, for the most part, were expected to be primarily involved in "duties at home" and "women's work". Before 1914, only a few countries, including New Zealand, Australia, and several Scandinavian nations, had given women the right to vote, but otherwise, women were minimally involved in the political process.

The two world wars hinged as much on industrial production as they did on battlefield clashes. With millions of men away fighting and with the inevitable casualties, there was a severe shortage of labor in a range of industries, from rural and farm work to urban office jobs.

During both world wars women were needed by the national war effort to undertake new roles. In Great Britain, this was known as a process of "Dilution" and was strongly contested by the trade unions, particularly in the engineering and ship building industries. For the duration of both World Wars, women sometimes did take on skilled "men's work". However, in accordance with the agreement negotiated with the trade unions, women undertaking jobs covered by the Dilution agreement lost their jobs at the end of the First World War.

Some nations allow female soldiers to serve in certain combat arms positions. Others exclude them for various reasons including physical demands and privacy policies.

The United States military has most of their positions open to women. There are some restrictions because of physical demands that women cannot meet such as Special Forces positions.

Women have been involved in the U.S. military since 1775, but more in the civilian fields of nursing, laundering, mending clothing and cooking. Several hundred women enlisted and fought in the US Civil War, nearly all of them disguised as men, many discovered on the battlefield and in hospitals after becoming wounded. In 1917 Loretta Walsh became the first woman to enlist. But it was not until 1948 that a law was finally passed that made women a permanent part of the military services. In 1976, the first group of women were admitted into a U.S. military academy. Currently, approximately 16% of the graduating West Point class consists of women.

In the years 1990 and 1991 some 40,000 American military women were deployed during the Gulf War operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. But not one woman was able to take on any form of combat. From 1994 on a policy prohibited women from being assigned to ground combat units below the brigade level.

According to statistics from 2013, 15.6 percent of the U.S. Army's 1.1 million soldiers, including National Guard and Reserve, were female. That year, women served in 95 percent of all army occupations.

Women in the Pakistan Armed Forces are the female soldiers who serve in the Pakistan Armed Forces. Women have been taking part in Pakistani military since 1947, after the establishment of Pakistan. Currently around 4,000 women are serving in the Pakistan Armed Forces. In 2006, the first women fighter pilot batch joined the combat aerial mission command of PAF.

The Pakistan Navy prohibits women from serving in the combat missions, especially in the submarine force command. Rather they are appointed and serve in operations involving military logistics, staff development and senior administrative offices, particularly in the regional and central headquarters. There has been a rise in the numbers of women joining the combat PAF in recent years.

In the 1930s and early 1940s, Muslim women who would go on to opt for Pakistan played an extremely vital role in the success of the Pakistan Movement. The founding mothers of Pakistan include Fatima Jinnah, Begum Ra'ana and Shireen Jinnah.

“Be prepared to train the women in combat..... Islam doesn't want women to be shut up and never see fresh air”
— Muhammad Ali Jinnah, c. 1940s

In 1948, the first lady of Pakistan Begum Ra'ana took the lead in starting the women's voluntary service in 1948 to support the medical and logistics for the Pakistan Armed Forces engage in the Indo-Pakistani war of 1947. This led to the formation of a women's unit in the Pakistan Army Corps of Medical; a first attempt was also made in introducing the combat training program for women but such attempts were dismissed by General Frank Messervy. In 1949, the first lady took personal initiatives and established her own Pakistan Army Women National Guard (WNG) with a few combat courses introduced. The unit's first GOC and chief controller was Begum Ra'ana, with the rank of brigadier.

In the 20th century, women were restricted from participating in active duty combat operations, although a sizable unit of women soldiers was deployed in hostile areas to support the medical operations only.

In 2002, Shahida Malik was promoted to two-star rank and was the first female Major General. Shahida Badshah was the second woman to be promoted to Major General. In 2015, brigadier Nigar Johar, became the first woman to command in the history of the Pakistan Army. She was given command of multidisciplinary tertiary care hospital. In 2017 she became the third woman in Pakistan to reach the rank of major general.

Lieutenant Colonel Shahida Akram Bhurgri, of Pakistan Army Medical Corps, is the first female doctor from Sindh to be commissioned in the Pakistan Army.

Apart from the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and the post-1971 war, due to a growing need for ground forces, women were needed in roles in the field. The manpower shortages spurred the army to allow women to take part in fields related to medicine and engineering. Since its establishment, women have been historically barred from battle in the Pakistan Army, serving in a variety of technical and administrative support roles. Since 2004, women have been trained in warfare, but are not part of any fighting formations. Women who are appointed to high-ranking positions usually participate in medical operation planning.

On 14 July 2013, 24 female officers in the Pakistan Army, mostly doctors and software engineers, successfully completed a paratroopers' course at the Parachute Training School, becoming the first group of women to do so in the military's history.

In 2003, the PAF started a new combat program by inducting women to be trained as fighter pilots. In 2006, the first batch of women fighter pilots joined the combat services of the PAF. The then vice chief of army staff General Ahsan Saleem Hyat handed certificates of honor to the successful men and women cadets in the PAF Academy. Women fighter pilots the F-7 fighter jets and are trained in carrying out the bombing and aerial combat missions.

The women in PAF also operate a feminist organization, the Pakistan Air Force Women Association (PAFWA), to promote women to join the PAF as combat pilots and to promote women's health in the Air Force.

One of Pakistan’s few female fighter jet pilots was killed in a training crash Tuesday, the air force said in a statement, adding that she was the first of its women pilots to “embrace martyrdom”.

Flying Officer Marium Mukhtiar and Squadron Leader Saqib Abbasi were flying a training mission on an FT-7PG aircraft and encountered a “serious in-flight emergency” during the final stages, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) said in a statement.

“Flying Officer Marium embraced martyrdom and became the first lady pilot from PAF to attain this great honour,” it said.

Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Shareef has expressed condolence with the bereaved family of Marium. The army chief paid tribute to the flying officer and her sacrifice. “She was indeed a role model for women and pride of Pakistan,” General Raheel said in his condolence message.

Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) released a video honouring women serving in the armed forces. The video features brave daughters of the country who have broken stereotypes to work alongside their male counterparts, keeping Pakistan safe.

Many believe having both men and women in a combat unit reduces unit cohesion. Marine Corps study released in September 2015 found that women in unit created to assess how female service members perform in combat were significantly injured twice as often as men, less accurate with infantry weapons and not as good at removing wounded troops from the battlefield, according to the results of study produced by the service.
The research was carried out by the service in a nine-month long experiment at both Camp Lejeune, N.C., and Twenty-nine Palms, Calif. About 400 Marines, including 100 women, volunteered to join the Ground Combat Element Integrated Task Force, the unit the Marine Corps created to compare how men and women do in a combat environment.

The research found that male Marines who have not received infantry training were still more accurate using firearms than women who have. And in removing wounded troops from the battlefield, there “were notable differences in execution times between all-male and gender-integrated groups,” with the exception being when a single person—”most often a male Marine” — carried someone away, the study found.

There may be some social explanations for why unit cohesion is lower in mixed gender groups. As noted by many female soldiers, the way that they are viewed by male soldiers is often detrimental to their participation in the unit. For instance, the female soldiers are often labelled as “either standoffish or a slut”. In order to avoid being labelled as either of these, a female soldier has to spend time with fellow soldiers strategically. This means that she is careful to not spend too much time with any one male soldier, and this often has an isolating effect. In several instances, women will also be considered less skilled than the male soldiers, so will not be given the opportunities to complete tasks that they are qualified to do and will continuously have to prove themselves as capable. Therefore, lack of cohesion with units could be because of female soldier’s perceived incapability to be a soldier.

There are worries about romantic or sexual relationships developing, potentially inappropriate fraternization, or that a woman might get pregnant.[citation needed] Some people are not willing to accept the risk of women being captured and tortured and possibly sexually assaulted, which happened to then-Major Rhonda Cornum. Some argue that there is a shortage of male combat soldiers and that women should not be treated as second-class citizens in the military.

According to Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, author of On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society, Israeli soldiers reacted with uncontrollable protectiveness and aggression after seeing a woman wounded. Grossman also notes that Islamic militants rarely, if ever, surrender to female soldiers, lessening the IDF's ability to interrogate prisoners. On the other hand, Iraqi and Afghan civilians are often not intimidated by female soldiers. However, in such environments, having female soldiers serving in a combat unit does have the advantage of allowing for searches on female civilians. Children and women are more likely to talk to female soldiers than to male soldiers.

A study conducted by Matthews et al. 2009 to examine the attitudes of West Point cadets, Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) cadets, and non-military-affiliated students from civilian colleges toward a variety of roles that women may serve in the military. The results showed that military cadets were less approving of women being assigned to certain military jobs than non-military students.

A number of arguments have been raised in defense of military policy that bans women from combat roles. Below is an overview of, the pros and cons, the key arguments put forth in support and against the enlisting of women soldiers into combat units.

While the majority of jobs in the armed forces are open equally to men and women, there are some to which women are just not physically suited. The standards of physical fitness have been set to suit men, and women attempting to reach them will over-stretch themselves. In addition, combat units engage in activities designed to suit men’s capabilities. Women serving in integrated units will suffer higher injury rates as a result of this.

Some women will be able to meet the required standards, but most will not. While integration of women into combat is possible for those qualified, the small number versus the additional logistical, regulatory and disciplinary costs associated with integration do not make it a worthwhile move.

Men, especially those likely to enlist, maintain traditional gender roles. In some situations, men are may act foolishly to protect women in their combat units. Harassment and resentment of the presence of women in a hyper masculine military subculture would likely become a problem. Both male and female prisoners are at risk of torture and rape, but misogynistic societies may be more willing to abuse woman prisoners.

On the other hand, as per the principles of leadership and team building apply equally to women as to men. As long as you protect qualification standards and give no impression that anyone is getting a free ride, integration, while not without bumps, will be much less dramatic than people envision.

As long as an applicant is qualified for a position, one’s gender is arbitrary. It is easy to recruit and deploy women who are in better shape than many men sent into combat. It is possible to calibrate recruitment and training standards to women. Extra pre-training for muscle building can also be used to reduce female injury rates. In modern high technology battlefield technical expertise and decision-making skills are increasingly more valuable than simple brute strength.

Allowing a mixed gender force keeps the military strong. The all-volunteer forces are severely troubled by falling retention and recruitment rates. Widening the applicant pool for all jobs guarantees more willing recruits. Women, who choose to become active combat soldiers, are unlikely to shirk their duty by becoming pregnant after a call-up as these women have willingly joined the army.

Training will be required to facilitate the integration of women into combat units. Cultures change over time and the masculine subculture can evolve too. Many previously masculine professions have been successfully opened to women over the past century.

In the modern world of combat (Afghanistan, Iraq), all women serving in the military are exposed to “front-line risks”. Support for women serving in the armed forces has not wavered as warfare has changed, a clear sign that the necessity of women serving in combat is recognized.

Women are more effective in some circumstances than men. Allowing women to serve doubles the talent pool for delicate and sensitive jobs that require interpersonal skills not every soldier has. Having a wider personnel base allows militaries to have the best and most diplomatic soldiers working to end conflict quickly.

As combat duty is usually regarded as necessary for promotion to senior officer positions, denying female personnel this experience ensures that very few will ever reach the highest reaches of the military and so further entrenches sexism. Women have to be given the same opportunities as men, in the army in order to have the same opportunities they have to be exposed to the same risks.