Discrimination In The Military Essay Research Paper

Discrimination In The Military Essay, Research Paper

Discrimination in the Military

Yes, 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 uniform. One might say this trend is

driven by the need to recruit an increasingly intelligent,

well-educated, and fit military in the face of data that reflects the

shrinking amount of qualified male candidates. “By current estimates,

there are 191,399 women on active duty in all four branches of the US

Armed Forces, accounting for approximately 12.7 % of all active duty

Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Personnel. As of September 1995,

women accounted for 13.2 % of all officers and 12.6% of all enlisted

personnel. Approximately 16 percent of all active duty Air Force

Personnel (officers and enlisted) are women, followed by 13 percent of

the Army, 12 percent of the Navy, and about 4.6 percent of the

Marines.”(3) Sexual harassment is believed to be increasing, but one

must remember a lot of sexual harassment goes unreported. It is a

shame women are afraid to report cases for fear of being thrown out of

their job, or just plain lack of knowledge on where to go or what to

do. Women can get the feeling of not trusting anyone in the military

command easier than women for two reasons. One, 99 percent of

commanding ranks are taken by men, and two, men are more likely to

help men than women. A woman can not get help from a commanding

officer that’s a woman, because the commanding officer is probably in

a rut of her own. Women should join forces and overthrow the men in

charge. The US would see a dramatic difference in sexual harassment

cases reported. “A Pentagon Survey of 90,000 service members showed

that, overall, sexual harassment in the military is declining, but

still common, involving over half the women in the military. The

number of women reporting any type of sexual harassment in the

previous twelve months dropped from 64 percent in a 1988 s

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