workplace inequality?

For today’s blog, I will be analyzing the workplace.  The idea behind this is to draw conclusions from industries that are traditionally male dominated.  Since I only have in experience in one industry, I will be analyzing to United States military.

I enlisted in the U.S. Air Force immediately out of high school at the age of eighteen.  Although the Air Force had higher numbers of women in its ranks, it is still mostly considered a man’s profession.  Because of this, the unit I was assigned to, the 824^th Security Forces Squadron, had a few females in it.  Out of 160 some people I want to say we had about 20 women.

Now my unit was designed to deploy to anywhere in the world at a moment’s notice to respond to any contingencies the Air Force determined a need for us.  During my tenure, we were heavily involved in both Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.  Also, because our unit was designed to perform our missions “outside the wire,” men AND women were put in direct combat during every deployment.

This instantly flies in the face of official military policy which prevents women from being involved in combat roles.  Unfortunately, this doctrine was written during a time when wars were fought with definite “fronts” and “rears.”  With this, women were mostly involved in the rear, away from most combat. 

Nowadays, this has disappeared as we have journeyed into a world full of “asymmetrical warfare.”  This is when there are no fronts or rears, merely bases placed in the middle trying to control certain areas. 

Women are now moving into a combat role within the military, which represents a huge shift in how women are viewed.  Even though this has been done for years in the Israeli Defense Force, the U.S. military has declined to allow it, citing unit cohesion and battlefield pressures.  As our thoughts and perceptions change on women, the military is slow to catch up.  The Israelis proved that women are very capable warriors, yet our society and its ideas of hegemonic masculinity has failed to keep up.

Recently, the Pentagon has begun to accept the fact that women will play a larger role in combat in the future.  There are still some military occupations in which women do not have access to, but if we continue our shift from devaluing women in the military, I feel this will change.

Besides, if you want to know the real truth, my SNIPER partner when I was in was a female; not to mention one of the best shots I have ever seen.  Let me tell you, if you ever hear that a woman named Ashley-Ann is on the hunt for you, don’t run; you’ll only die tired.