The number of women that join the military has been improving from decade to decade. In the UK, studies show that in every ten-people enrolled in the military, one of them is a woman (Carreiras, 2006). In as much as the number of military women is increasing, the tasks offered to them once they enroll cannot be compared to the tasks allocated to men with the same level of training. Women are considered fragile even in the military (Carreiras, 2006). They are mostly trained to be engineers and doctors.
The military struggles to accept women due to various reasons. The major reason being, the thought that mixed teams always lack coercion. Mixing women and men while performing military tasks is a risk that many countries are not willing to take since they think women are a distraction to men. This problem, however, could be solved by offering training and leadership skills. Training men and women to be disciplined enough to respect each other and to respect the rules of their various stations is the only way to maintain the high standards set by the military.
In Afghanistan, women have been given the opportunity to match with men to war zones and have turned out to be successful. Criminal organizations like the Al Shabab have taken up the chance and given their women combat jobs (Carreiras, 2006). Research shows that women in the AL Shabab team wear suicide bomb vests and take the front line when it comes to fighting. Using women in their military has helped Al Shabab win their missions as their teams are bigger in number and they do not discriminate people with regards to gender (Carreiras, 2006).
Wars fought in this century are different compared to wars fought in 1914 or 1945. Back then people who joined the military were judged according to gender as opposed to ability. The number of female veterans in 2017 had increased to 11%. Women have been given the same opportunities like men on paper but not in actuality (Castro, Kintzle, Schuyler, Lucas, & Warner, 2015). Most military groups tend to push women out of combat forgetting that wars in this century involve women and even children. Women enrolled in the military have a higher chance of getting a female criminal like a suicide bomber to abandon their mission as research proves that men have failed 5 out of every six times they have tried to persuade a female criminal to abandon their mission.
Women enrolled in the military have reported many complaints in regards to sexual assault. Women sacrifice so many things in their lives like having and raising a family to be part of the military, but instead of serving their countries as they envision, they end up being sexually assaulted by fellow militants (Castro et al., 2015). In 2014, 20300 women in the US military were assaulted by people higher in command. 56% of that number of women were sexually violated twice (Castro et al., 2015).
62% of the women who reported the rape cases were faced with retaliation and encouraged to drop their complaints since they could destroy the careers of those in higher ranks. 41% of the reported cases were never investigated (Grindlay and Daniel, 2013). The cases of sexual assault have not reduced even as time changes. Women who are sexually harassed end up finishing their contract and walking away from the force forever. Even after they leave the service, they still face military sexual trauma due to the experience they went through. Research conducted in 2017 stated that 60% of women who were sexually assaulted while in the force have severe mental issues (Grindlay Skinner, Sullivan, Miller, Frayne, & Tripp, 2009). Most of those women have been diagnosed with depression. 25% of women who committed suicide in the USA back in 2016 were veterans (Grindla et al., 2009).
Sexual assault in the military should be terminated by ensuring that people found guilty of the offense lose their jobs as opposed to getting a part on the back and a warning. Permanently dismissing them will not make rape cases disappear, but it will also strengthen the discipline of people who join the military. Sexually assaulted people should also be given easy access to disability benefits. Easy access to the benefits will help victims come forward to seek the help they need and also control the number of veterans suffering from mental diseases and the risk of controlling suicide levels.
Finally, sexual assault cases should also be reported to a legal team and not to the army commander. Reporting cases to the commander have proven to be inefficient, and many cases have been swept under the rag, and the victims urged to drop the cases (Mengeling, Booth, Torner, & Sadler, 2014). When cases are reported to a legal team, the team can research and find out if the allegations are true or not and then decide the way forward. Commanders should not be given the final word on rape convictions.
In the US, rules against engaging in sexual activities with members in the military are very strict and thus women who end up being raped, are very afraid to speak up with the fear of being deployed. The fear of speaking out also prevents the women from accessing proper medical care and access to contraceptives (Grindlay et al., 2008). Lack of contraceptives makes women vulnerable to the chance of getting unplanned pregnancies. In the USA, contraceptives are provided by TRICARE which is the health insurance program. Research conducted back in 2011, showed that 60% of the women that had been deployed that year did not get contraceptives hence had to speak to a military provider on their birth control options before they left. 41% of the women who consulted the military provider and were given prescriptions said that refilling their prescriptions were a hustle thus most of them ended up not doing it (Grindlay et al., 2009).
Contraceptives should be offered freely to women who serve in the army often. Women engaging in consensual sexual activities should not have to feel unprotected and uncared for by their country. Women and men serving in the military should also have regular classes teaching them the importance of birth control and the effects of using various methods of contraceptives.
In conclusion, every military in the world should be tasked with the responsibility of making women feel like part of the military by providing women with uniform fitted for a woman as opposed to the male uniform which is usually too big and uncomfortable. In the United Kingdom, recruits are looking at a chance of working part-time (Oppermann et al., 2014). The armed forces bill 2017 when passed will help women balance between having and running a family and serving their country at the same time.
Reference
Carreiras, H. (2006). Gender and the military: Women in the armed forces of western democracies. Routledge.
Castro, C. A., Kintzle, S., Schuyler, A. C., Lucas, C. L., & Warner, C. H. (2015). Sexual assault in the military. Current psychiatry reports, 17(7), 54.
Grindlay C. S., Skinner, K. M., Sullivan, L. M., Miller, D. R., Frayne, S., & Tripp, T. J. (2009). Prevalence of depressive and alcohol abuse symptoms among women VA outpatients who report experiencing sexual assault while in the military. Journal of traumatic stress, 12(4), 601-612.
Grindlay, K., & Grossman, D. (2013). Unintended pregnancy among active-duty women in the United States military, 2008. Obstetrics & Gynecology, 121(2), 241-246.
Mengeling, M. A., Booth, B. M., Torner, J. C., & Sadler, A. G. (2014). Reporting sexual assault in the military: who reports and why most servicewomen don’t. American journal of preventive medicine, 47(1), 17-25.
Oppermann, B. (2014). Hawks, Doves, and the Canaries: Women and Conflict. Journal Article| Aug, 13(1), 11 am.
