Opinion: U.S. Moving in Right Direction on Gender Equality
Wednesday, Jan. 23, the Pentagon lifted its ban on women in front-line, combat positions. During a news conference at the Pentagon on Thursday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said, "The department's goal in rescinding the rule is to ensure that the mission is met with the best-qualified and most capable people, regardless of gender." This is a big step for gender equality in the United States and the Military and the second move towards equality that the military has made in less than three years.“Don’t ask don’t tell” was the first repeal of old policy and allowed gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military. This repeal, in my opinion, showed the shift in the mentality of Americans over the years and the growing belief that equality should be added to the military’s formula for success. The most recent actions to allow women in combat take another step toward that equality.As of 1994, the Pentagon’s policy was that women could not serve in an army level below ‘brigade,’ usually working out to be around 3,500 soldiers. Britain has similar rules regarding its military. In 2010, it chose not to change its stance, barring women from serving in combat or infantry groups.According to the Pentagon, women account for 14.5 percent of military members serving under the status of active-duty. Each branch will have until 2016 to apply the changes. Some units may even apply for exemptions, but this is still a big step in the U.S. Military.Critics have said that this stance will be damaging in the long term, but other developed nations have taken the same stance, including Israel and Canada. Some are claiming that this move could create more than 230,000 jobs. Government finally got it right with this one. Some people claim that men and women are just too biologically different, that women aren’t as physically adept to military combat as men, but I say let them at least have the option. If a woman, an American citizen, wants to fight for her country by going into combat through a U.S. military branch, then she should be able to do so. After this action, women might not be able to serve in any and every unit of the U.S. military, but real combat will be an option. There’s some real progress made in gender equality.