Pros and Cons - Debbie Newman, Ben Woolgar 2014

Women fighting on the front line
Section E. Social, moral and religious

The status of women in the armed forces varies from country to country. In 2013, the USA lifted its ban on women fighting in combat infantry units, joining Israel, Norway

and Canada among others. But many countries including the UK, Russia and India still have a ban.

Pros

[1] Equality is at stake here. No woman who wants to fight for her country, and passes the necessary physical and mental tests, should be prevented from doing so because of her gender. Women have proved themselves in all walks of life, despite prejudices to the contrary. This last bastion of sexism must be removed.

[2] Women have proved themselves capable of this type of work; they fight on the front line in the German, Australian and Canadian armies, they do similar frontline jobs in the emergency services and they serve on naval ships on the front line. Including them on the front line does not compromise the efficacy of the army.

[3] Having women on the front line produces a more balanced force and reflects all the other parts of the armed services. It also provides a wider pool of recruits to pick from, which should ultimately improve quality. An overly ’gung ho’, testosterone-driven approach can lead to poor behaviour and the presence of women may actually help this.

Cons

[1] The armed forces must put quality before equality. When people are risking their lives, we cannot ask them to compromise their security for the sake of a social crusade. Women’s rights are not set back by this as there are many routes to a successful career in the forces. This reflects the ’equal but different’ principle which also means that sports teams can be all one gender.

[2] Women cannot match the physical strength and endurance of men, and their psychological and hormonal profile is not well matched to the aggressive demands of close combat. It is possible that some women may pass a theoretical test, but that does not mean that they will stand up to the conditions of real combat.

[3] Having women on the front line will compromise the ’band of brothers’ spirit. Men treat women differently; this could manifest itself as the men wanting to protect the women and therefore making bad combat decisions, or it could also lead to resentment and bullying of the tiny number of women who passed the physical test and found themselves in a unit. Romantic attachments could also undermine the team.

Possible motions

This House would allow women to fight on the front line.

This House supports a ban on women in the infantry.

Related topics

Affirmative action

Pacifism

National service, (re)introduction of