The battles women ought to fight: strategic considerations for feminists and the armed forces

摘要

AbstractudThis dissertation argues that combat roles in the United States' Armed udForces should be opened up to women. It does so firstly by establishing positive reasons ? benefits that would come from having women in combat ? and secondly by giving negative reasons ? uddemonstrations that the disadvantages of women in combat do not outweigh the benefits. Both for practical and principled reasons, udwomen should therefore be allowed to serve in combat. Subsequently, two chapters are devoted to the primary parties affected in this uddebate: the Armed Forces and women. This part of the dissertation explains why both these groups have an interest in repealing the udcombat exclusion. The Armed Forces have this interest as the combat udexclusion is part of a wider misogynistic culture that has come to hurt udthe Armed Forces. For women, access to combat is beneficial as it entitles them to the direct and indirect benefits connected to that udessence of military service. The overall conclusion is that allowing udwomen into combat is the right choice, both from a practical and from a principled point of view, and that this would benefit not only society, but also the Armed Forces and women as a group.