Discrimination in the Military
Discrimination in the MilitaryYes, the military does have sexual harassment and
discrimination against women in the nineties. "Firestone and
co-researcher Richard J. Hurns analyzed a 1988 DOD Survey of men and
women in the military and found that 51.8 % of men and 74.6% of women
reported either experiencing or knowing of sexual harassment. Amoung
the women surveyed, 70.1% had experienced "sexual talk or behavior at
the work place [that] created an offensive, hostile or intimidating
environment." Amoung the men, 36.9% gave the same answer."(1) The
percent of women being sexually harassed is much higher than the
percent of men being harassed. Even though it is not tolerated, it
still happens regardless of the consequences, even in the nineties.
While some women's experiences have been similar to those of black
men, their integration into the military has also differed in several
ways. Because of our society's fundamental belief that protecting the
home and going to war are a man's work, men from minority groups have
often been accepted more readily in the military than the women. Women
have been viewed as outsiders in a male environment. Discrimination
and harassment occurs for women because we are entering an all male
dominated area. Some areas are still restricted because of it. For
example: serving in direct combat capacities such as armor, infantry,
and special forces-branches from which much of the senior leadership
is drawn. "In 1994, the annual Navywide Personnel Survey included
questions on women's role for the first time. Some 65 percent of
officers and almost 50 percent of enlisted respondents said they did
not think women were fully accepted in combat roles. While
approximately 80 percent said harassment was not tolerated at their
command, almost half of all respondents disagreed that everyone is
treated equally in promotions and advancements."(2) Some of this is
bases on the presumed physical and psychological characteristics of
women which may interfere with their performances of some military
jobs. For example: the physical strength of women. People believe that
women are not strong enough to lift and carry heavy equipment or
wounded fellow soldiers and that we lack endurance to perform these
tasks over a lengthened period of time. Also, there is the idea that
women can not perform strenuous tasks quickly, like loading heavy
shells into a weapon. And combat is not for the weak and slow.
Although allowing women in combat remains a top priority, women are
now serving in virtually every other occupational capacity in all four
branches of the military. A large number of previously restricted
areas to women have been opened in the Army and Marine Corps, and the
Air Force has women training now for all previously closed career
fields. Even the Navy is improving, which is a shock on its own. Even
with increasing sexual harassment cases, the rising number of women
being recruited is not due to any idealistic vision of the right of
women to serve their country in...
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