Women in Combat Units: It's Still a Bad Idea; Journal article

摘要

Among the easiest predictions to make in this first year of the new century is that various interest groups will continue to lobby to open all U.S. combat units to women. At least five seemingly logical arguments can be anticipated: new post-Cold War missions require finesse, not brawn; 21st- century technologies are gender-neutral; an equal opportunity to serve is every American citizen's right; cohesion does not require that soldiers bond socially, only that they accomplish their tasks effectively; and our European allies are opening their combat units to women, therefore so should we. Each of these arguments flies in the face of common sense, however, and together they beg the central question, which is how would the integration of women improve a combat unit's survivability and the defense of the United States. What might convince lift-the-ban proponents to reexamine their premises. Disinclined as they are to listen to combat veterans and combat soldiers in this country, who are the only experts we have, perhaps they will turn to experts abroad, particularly as the Germans and British abolish their own combat exclusion laws. Perhaps the European experience will shed light on how effective integrated combat units can be. Actually, the fact that it is our allies doing this affords us an unprecedented advantage. We will be able to objectively study the consequences of mixing men and women in combat units. Let mixed units prove themselves to be as capable as single-gender units on the front lines or behind the lines in a long, drawn-out war. And then -- but only then -- we might consider following suit.