Women can too fight

To the Editor:

Although it was published in the Herald's April Fool's edition, I found nothing funny about David Bookstaber's column "Women Can't Fight" [YH 4/2/99].

This blatantly sexist article presents a number of misleading facts and sweeping generalizations to support Mr. Bookstaber's contention that combat is no place for women. To begin with, he states that half of the Army's male soldiers believe that women cannot pull their own load. Apparently, the other half believe that women can. And why on earth should we rely upon a measure as subjective as males' belief in their own superiority, when objective tests of women's ability are available?

Attempting to inject an objective note into his argument, Mr. Bookstaber compares the physical ability of the average man to that of the average woman. What he neglects to mention is that when it comes to volunteering for combat duty, we aren't talking about the average woman. We're talking about extraordinary women—physically strong, mentally capable of withstanding tremendous stress, and determined to prove themselves. Although the military shouldn't lower its standards so that women can participate in combat positions, it should establish gender-neutral standards that allow able soldiers of either sex to fight for their country.

The U.S. Air Force and Navy have already instituted policies allowing women to serve on planes and ships bound for combat. Bookstaber himself admits that upper-body strength poses no problem for female fighter pilots. In addition, a report released last year by the U.S. Naval Institute indicated that there was no job on ship that women could not perform for lack of strength or stamina. As for the issue of pregnancy, I would like to quote the same report: "Pregnancy is not a statistically more significant cause of manning problems than are injuries incurred during basketball and flag football."

Allowing women to serve in combat is not an issue of lowering standards. Instead, it is a far more treacherous issue, forcing society to change its views about women's proper place. When a proper command climate is established, gender distinctions tend to fade, and men and women come to work together as teammates, committed to the same mission and fighting to attain it. The idea that male soldiers will be too busy trying to protect women to perform their own duties represents a societal constraint that holds women back—not a reason to continue discriminating against them. This idea is rooted in the same misguided chivalry that declares women "the weaker sex."

Battlefields are rarely glorious, and combat is always ugly for both men and women. Yet if a soldier capable of meeting appropriate standards volunteers for combat, she deserves a chance to fight for her country.

—Celina Croteau, SM '00
Reserve Officers Training Corps member

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