Proposition:

Women should be allowed to serve in

all roles at the military.
Introduction:

In philosophy, courage has been defined as the willingness to risk one's life in battle. That
form of courage is said to be the most basic human virtue and attribute, and it's denied to
women simply because they are women. That's very disrespectful, and, more to the point,
it's a denial of women's constitutional right to full and equal citizenship.
Thank you ladies and gentlemen. Today we are debating the resolution: Women should be
allowed to serve in all roles at the military. I am Rebecca Ponce and we on the affirmative
team strongly support this resolution. I will give you three reasons: Equality, education and
streght.

Open Speech:

EQUALITY
Ban On Women In Combat Is Discriminatory.
A high-level military advisory panel is set to recommend that the armed services overturn its
policy barring women from serving in combat roles, a step that would remove a key structural
barrier for women trying to advance their military careers. Women currently make up 14.6
percent of the active-duty military. Since 2001, 137 female service members have been killed
in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since 1994, women have been barred from serving in
units at the level of battalion and below that engage in direct ground combat.
A draft report by the Military Leadership Diversity Commission, a group established by
Congress in 2009, concludes that the current policy is outdated and discriminatory.
Commissioners include 24 senior retired and active-duty members of the military, in addition
to leaders in the business community and academia.
"The Commission recommends that DoD and Services remove a structural barrier for
women," reads the report, which commissioners met to review Thursday and Friday. "The
current DoD and Service policies barring women from direct ground combat career fields and
assignments have been in place since the early 1990s. As previously described, these policies
constitute a structural barrier that keeps women from entering the tactical career fields
associated with promotion to flag/general officer grades and serving in career enhancing
assignments. The Commission considered four strands of argument related to rescinding the
policies."
The National Organization for Women first passed a resolution supporting women acting in
combat roles in 1990. "Women in the military are exposed to the same kind of dangers that
combat service exposes a soldier to, but the difference is that the women are not getting
combat pay, and they're not getting combat-related opportunities for promotion," NOW
President Terry O'Neill said in an interview with The Huffington Post. "So it's only fair to
recognize that women belong, as much as men do, in combat units."

EDUCATION
Women in the military are usually more educated than men.
The military population is an educated one; standards for women are generally higher than
those for men. Virtually all enlisted women (99.8) are high school diploma graduates. While
the comparable percentage for enlisted men is currently only slightly lover (97 percent(,
enlisted women are noticeably more likely than enlisted men to have attended college (27
vs. 21 percent). Nearly all officers have at least a college bachelor’s degree, and an increasing
number of women are graduates of service academies; 1990 marked 10th year women have
graduated from the military academies of the Army, Navy and Air Force.

STRENGHT
My opponent might say that women and men are different.
It’s true that each gender has different ways of relating and solving problems. There are many
jobs in the military that do not require physical strength, but are very necessary in time of
war. Some women DO have the physical (upper body) strength to do historically male duties;
they should be permitted combat duties. Certainly women are capable at general duties
including, word processing, document management, code deciphering, food/laundry
services, battlefield strategies...etc. With this understanding, it is time to end the country's
double standard that requires men (between the ages of 18 and 25) to register for the
Selective Service while not requiring the same of women.Some women are stronger and
more aggressive than many men. Why shouldn't such exceptional women be allowed to
serve in combat? History has many examples of women who served in this capacity from
colonial times to the present. Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley (Molly Pitcher) took her wounded
husband's place at the battle of Manmouth. Margaret Corbin fought in the artillery at
Manhattan in 1776. Women in the Continental army were paid for their services and
provided in this way for their children. These women were not considered "a bunch of
eccentrics". They were the sort of "good patriotic Americans" from whom the D. A. R. are
proud to claim descent.

Ladies and gentlemen, I have given three valid points such as equality, education and
strength. I have clearly shown you that women should be allowed to serve in all roles at the
military. Thank you for your time.
Cross Examination:

Is banning women in combat discriminatory?

Is physical capability and excuse for excluding women?
Has women developed with success throw military history?
Rebuttal:

The Military Leadership Diversity Commission has company: Nearly three-quarters of

Americans agree that women in the armed services should be allowed to serve in ground
units that engage in direct combat.
The Equal Pay Act of 1963 prohibits discrimination in pay on the basis of sex. As long as an
applicant is qualified for a position, one’s gender is arbitrary. It is easy to recruit and deploy
women who are in better shape than many men sent into combat.
My opponent clearly stated that "women are not as physically capable as are men”. But is
countered with the fact that some women are more capable than some men. The solution is
not to prohibit all women into combat, but to establish physical standards for entry and if a
woman can pass, let her in. Opponents feel that women lack the strength and stamina to
perform in direct combat; including the belief that women couldn’t move a wounded fellow
from the field to safety. Even though there are documented cases of nurses doing exactly
that in Korea.
Women's supposedly lower levels of aggressiveness have been, historically, no obstacle to
many women's participation in combat. Furthermore, contrary to the idea that women are
too soft-hearted to kill, not only did Soviet snipers coolly shoot down dozens of German
soldiers, but in various cases women took the lead in cruelty and torture, especially of
prisoners.
When women have found their way into combat, they have performed as well as men have.
Women in combat support roles, furthermore, have had little trouble fitting into military
organizations, and have held their own when circumstances placed them in combat. They
can fight; they can kill. Yet exceptional individual women who wanted to go to war had to
overcome stubborn resistance from men or adopt male disguise.
In the 19th century Dahomey Kingdom of World War II, women made up to the military, and
clearly contributed to the war effort. They were a military asset which increased the
effectiveness, in some cases even turning the tide of battle.
We don't just have to speculate about how women would perform in combat conditions. We
know now that they've performed, and performed well.

Evidence:

There's a whole range of explanations for why women must be excluded, everything from
the idea that they don't have sufficient physical strength, to the notion that they will disrupt
the psychological bonding in the unit, to the notion that men and women can't serve closely
together because they need privacy from each other, to the assertion that the men and
women will form romantic and sexual attachments that will prevent them from engaging the
enemy effectively, to the claim that men will try to protect fallen female comrades rather
than continuing to fight, to the idea that the prospect of losing women's lives will undermine
the public support for the war. Each of these claims rests on stereotypes that are injurious
to women because they fence us out of the very places where power is exercised," Coughlin
said. "This is a classic case of special protections for women serving to confine them to
subordinate roles.

Pros and Cons for Women Joining the Military

By Leigh Anthony, eHow Contributor

Pros and Cons for Women Joining the Military

According to the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation, there are
more than 200,000 women serving on active duty in the U.S. military and more than 140,000
serving in the Reserves and Guard. Women comprise approximately 16 percent of all military
members serving America, and there are both pros and cons to women joining the military.
Like men, women who join the military can find themselves in a job that is relatively recession
proof. America will always need members serving in the military, regardless of how the
economy is performing. Historically, military members have been awarded cost of living
raises in most years, even when the civilian population as a whole have experienced raise
freezes. In addition, raises in the military are given as time in service and rank increases.
Pro: Opportunity for Advancement
The military provides many opportunities for advancement, regardless of gender. Because
the promotion system in the military is tied to earning points for training, education,
assignments and leadership roles, women generally have an equal opportunity for
advancement in enlisted ranks and in lower officer ranks. In higher officer ranks, when
politics come into play for appointments, women have historically been at a disadvantage.
However, this may be beginning to change, as a woman was nominated as a four-star General
in the Army for the first time in 2008.

Read more: Pros and Cons for Women Joining the Military | eHow.com
http://www.ehow.com/about_5406386_pros-cons-women-joining-
military.html#ixzz1fV2FCXLh

Ban On Women In Combat Is Discriminatory, High-Level Military Panel States

WASHINGTON -- A high-level military advisory panel is set to recommend that the armed
services overturn its policy barring women from serving in combat roles, a step that would
remove a key structural barrier for women trying to advance their military careers.

Women currently make up 14.6 percent of the active-duty military. Since 2001, 137 female
service members have been killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since 1994, women
have been barred from serving in units at the level of battalion and below that engage in
direct ground combat.

A draft report by the Military Leadership Diversity Commission, a group established by

Congress in 2009, concludes that the current policy is outdated and discriminatory.
Commissioners include 24 senior retired and active-duty members of the military, in addition
to leaders in the business community and academia.

"The Commission recommends that DoD and Services remove a structural barrier for
women," reads the report, which commissioners met to review Thursday and Friday. "The
current DoD and Service policies barring women from direct ground combat career fields and
assignments have been in place since the early 1990s. As previously described, these policies
constitute a structural barrier that keeps women from entering the tactical career fields
associated with promotion to flag/general officer grades and serving in career enhancing
assignments. The Commission considered four strands of argument related to rescinding the
policies."

In many ways reflecting the debate over allowing gay men and women to serve openly, the
commission's draft language rejected the argument that integrating combat forces would
hurt unit morale and cohesion, saying that experience does not bear out that claim:

First, the Commission addressed arguments related to readiness and mission capability. One
frequently-cited argument in favor of the current policy is that having women serving in
direct combat will hamper mission effectiveness by hurting unit morale and cohesion.
Comparable arguments were made with respect to racial integration, but were ultimately
never borne out. Similarly, to date, there has been little evidence that the integration of
women into previously- closed units or occupations has had a negative impact on important
mission-related performance factors, like unit cohesion. ...
Furthermore, a study by the Defense Department Advisory Committee on Women in the
Services (2009) actually found that a majority of focus group participants felt that women
serving in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan have had a positive impact on mission
accomplishment. Additionally, panel members on this topic at an MLDC meeting cited the
need to bring to bear all talent: The blanket restriction for women limits the ability of
commanders in theater to pick the most capable person for the job.
The National Organization for Women first passed a resolution supporting women acting in
combat roles in 1990. "Women in the military are exposed to the same kind of dangers that
combat service exposes a soldier to, but the difference is that the women are not getting
combat pay, and they're not getting combat-related opportunities for promotion," NOW
President Terry O'Neill said in an interview with The Huffington Post. "So it's only fair to
recognize that women belong, as much as men do, in combat units."
Joe Davis, director of public affairs for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, said his organization
has no resolution opposing or supporting the women in combat issue.
"The current DOD policy is to not assign women to combat units, yet irregular warfare, such
as in Iraq and Afghanistan, places those in combat support or combat-service support units
in just as much risk as the infantry," Davis said. "Regardless of what the commission
recommends, this issue will be an open debate for some time."
Marty Callaghan, the media director at the American Legion, said that while they have not
yet taken a position on the draft report, last summer at its national convention, members
passed a resolution saying the Legion would "initiate efforts to encourage the repeal of the
Department of Defense's policy governing the assignment of women in combat situations."
The commission's report is expected out in March. "DOD will look at the recommendation
and go from there," Pentagon spokesman Marine Corps Col. Dave Lapan said. "We'll see what
the nature of the report is when it's done."

UPDATE: Women are currently allowed to serve in Army units supporting ground combat
forces. Although their job is not technically to engage in combat, there is no real established
front line and many of these individuals are exposed to combat.

Facts About Women in the Military, 1980-1990




Factsheet produced by the Women's Research and Education Institute that disucsses roles
for women in the military, how women in the military are viewed by the public, and the
role of minority women in the military. Also includes timelines for women's involvement
in each branch of the military.
Preparation and dissemination of this factsheet have been supported by grants to WREI from
the George Gund Foundation and the Ford Foundation, with additional assistance from E.I.
du Pont de Nemours & Company.
The Women's Research and Education Institute (WREI) is an independent, national, public
policy research and education center whose mission is to identify issues affecting women
and their roles in the family, workplace, and public arena, and to inform and help shape the
public policy debate on these issues.
Overview
Since 1973, when the male draft ended and the All Volunteer Force began, the percentage
of women among U.S. military personnel has increased dramatically, from 1.6 percent in
1973, to 8.5 percent in 1980, to 10.8 percent in 1989.'
Today, over 229,000 women serve on active duty in the military services of the Department
of Defense (DOD): the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force. About 15 percent of these
women are officers; this is about the same percentage as that of military men overall.
Although officers account for a larger proportion of total personnel in some of the services
than in others, only in the Marine Corps are the women noticeably less likely than the men
to be officers (seven percent vs. 10 percent).
A substantial proportion of all military women are minority women; in fact, minorities
account for a considerably larger percentage of military women than of military men (38
percent vs. 28 percent). Minority representation is larger among enlisted women (41
percent) than among women officers (19 percent), but the disparity is less than for men
(minorities account for 31 percent of enlisted men, 11 percent of male officers).
The military population is an educated one; standards for women are generally higher than
those for men. Virtually all enlisted women (99.8 percent) are high school diploma graduates.
While the comparable percentage for enlisted men is currently only slightly lower (98
percent), enlisted women are noticeably more likely than enlisted men to have attended
college (27 percent vs. 21 percent).
Nearly all officers have at least a college bachelor's degree, and an increasing number of
women are graduates of service academies; 1990 marked the 10th year women have
graduated from the military academies of the Army, Navy and Air Force.
Roles for Women in the Military in the United States...
In the United States, women in the military are thoroughly integrated into combat support
roles and the services depend upon the capabilities of women. No law prohibits women from
serving "in combat." Laws do prohibit the permanent assignment of Navy, Marine Corps, and
Air Force women to ships and aircraft engaged in a combat mission, and while there is no
comparable statutory prohibition for Army women, policies adopted by the Army and the
other services further restrict women's roles. Whether statutory, or a matter of service
policy, these prohibitions bar women in many career fields from being assigned to positions
necessary or advantageous to advancement and promotion. In the U.S. armed services
overall, 50 percent of military jobs are open to women, but the percentages vary greatly by
service.
Women in the Coast Guard, a part of the Department of Transportation, are not subject to
combat exclusion laws or policies. Consequently, all Coast Guard jobs are open to women.

How the American Public Views Women in the Military

Public opinion polls show that Americans strongly support women's participation in the
military except when it comes to direct, ground, hand-to-hand combat. And even that
exception may be less widely held than it used to be. In January 1990, in the aftermath of
the Panama invasion, a New York Times/CBS News Poll showed that 72 percent of those
surveyed thought military women should be allowed to serve in combat units if they wanted
to. A McCall's magazine telephone survey of 755 women, conducted in February 1990, found
even stronger approval: 79 percent of the respondents agreed that women should be
allowed to serve in combat units if they wanted to.
An extensive nationwide survey on attitudes concerning women in the military has not been
done since 1982, when a survey conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC)
showed strong public approval of women in the military. Eighty-four percent of the
respondents in that survey said they wanted to maintain or increase the proportion of
women in the military, and 81 percent thought the increased presence of women had not
reduced military effectiveness. While only 35 percent favored allowing women in hand-to-
hand combat, there was overwhelming support for women serving in the traditionally female
jobs that expose women to combat (e.g., nurses), and significant majority support for women
serving in less traditionally-female jobs associated with combat.

http://feminism.eserver.org/workplace/women-in-the-military.txt

I believe the military benefits from the unique talents and abilities of women. Women
deserve to be able to serve their country, just as much as men are. Women are just as capable
of the type of split-second decisions that military jobs can require and, with occasional minor
accommodations, women are just as able to perform physically as men can. Some people
believe that women's emotions would get in the way, but I also think that women have
shown themselves to be just as cool under pressure as men can. Yes FancyNicholas92
Yes, I agree that women should be in the military because, while they may not have the
muscular strength of men, some actually do. Women have proved to be an integral part of
our military. Not only in combat roles, but supporting roles as well. Everyone who chooses
to protect our country should be afforded the opportunity to do so. If we had no women or
minorities in the military, then our country would suffer. We need all the people we can in
the roles they excel at to help our country in this time of danger. Yes daeoux
In today's world, women should be allowed to have any profession they choose. I believe
many women are as well-suited to military life as men are. With the advent of vehicles and
long-range weapons, the need for hand-to-hand combat is almost nonexistent, meaning the
argument that women are weaker means nothing. It doesn't take a lot of muscle mass to pull
a trigger, so guns are the great equalizer. Also, since many women are far more independent
now than in the past, they should be free to choose whatever career path they desire. Yes
TrainLock
Yes, the country should continue to recognize equal rights for both sexes and allow women
in the military. This country should follow a principle of equal rights for both sexes. Women
who are capable of meeting the standards should be allowed to join the military and should
be allowed into combat positions they are currently restricted from. There is no reason to
prohibit this except for outmoded sexist ideas about women's weakness, helplessness, or
need to be protected. Yes tacomoon
Yes, women should be in the military because they have more of a pain resistance then most
men. Because of the manual labors and pain women are put through during child birth,
womens bodies have become much more resistant to pain so they can become more ready
for the tasks ahead. Yes Anonymous
Yes, women should be in the military because there is more than enough jobs for them. There
may be some jobs in the military that would be made difficult or impossible with a woman
in the group. But there are still more than enough jobs left that a women can do. I do not
believe that a woman can do anything a man can do in this day and age. But there remains
too much social stigma against women, and there are things they can do as good or better
than men. Instead of focusing on the jobs women are not allowed to do in the military, there
should be more focus into the areas that they already excel in. Yes H_Baird
Yes, women should be allowed in the military, because a lot of women are far tougher than
some men. Women should be allowed in the military, because quite honestly, I've met
women that are far tougher than men. If they want to do the job, then they should be allowed
to do it. Women are just as capable of doing a job as a man is, if not more so, in some cases.
Yes deceitfulx
Yes, long-standing law, known female capacities, and this country's commitment to fairness,
all require and demand it. The military has been expanding the range of jobs it lets women
perform for years. Congress hasn't forced it to do this. Instead, experience has shown that
qualified women are needed to perform all sorts of work. Even direct combat roles have, out
of necessity, been taken on by women in the heat of battle, and they have performed with
distinction: at least two won the Silver Star in the last decade. Or one could ignore
experience, and consider justice, reason, and the rule of law. Discrimination against women
in the armed forces rests on stereotypes, rather than individualized judgments, which invites
the spread of such bias across the economy and public life. And this sort of prohibition
violates the law. We could certainly change laws requiring equality, even the 14th
Amendment's guarantee of due process of law. But changing laws to restrict the freedom of
one class sets a dangerous, ugly precedent. Yes M4I4cFeIine
Women should be allowed to be in the military as they should be afforded equality in all
arenas of society. I believe that gender equality, even in the military, is crucial for the well-
being of our society. Women should be given the same opportunities to serve our country in
the military as men have. Yes SteenSigis
Women who want to serve their country should be allowed. We are at war now we need as
many volunteers as possible. We have many strong women serving there country honorably
now. Yes etchedgrphx
I support the that women may join the military, they should enjoy equal rights. I believe that
women should be allowed to join the military forces. But only in a non-combatant role.
Fighting in the front-line is no the job or suitable place for women. There is many types of
office jobs, nursing, doctoring and engineering job in the military. Women should be allowed
to join these jobs as much as men are. Yes SocialGalv
Women are in every field, so they should also be in military. I agree that the women should
be in the military. Nowadays we can see that the women are seen in every field in comparison
with the men, and they have started excelling and taking over in each and every profession.
So, they should not be discourage in the field of military because of their physical
appearances. Yes I0rFashion
There's a place in the military for women. I do believe that there is a place in the military for
women. But, I think that we should be thoughtful and reasonable about that place. Women,
especially those with children, should not be placing themselves in the line of fire everyday.
I believe in saving the women and children, first. It should be taken into careful consideration
before women are put in a position to face actual battle. Men have been engaged in violence
and warfare forever. This is a relatively newly acquired skill for women. And, also, a women
who is of childbearing age - her body might have to serve as a vessel of life for a child. So,
when they are exposed to all the chemical, physical and emotional hazards of warfare it could
effect a child down the road.

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