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Leah Malburg

Prof. Sobocinski

ENG 1201

29 March 2020

How does sexism affect women in the U.S. military?

Every day people ignore the gender inequality that is very much evident in our armed

forces and society as a whole. Women are faced with cruel discrimination that prevents them

from reaching their full potential in everything they do. Some people may think that because

both genders are legally equal that sexism is nonexistent in society. They are very much wrong;

burdens are placed in front of women every single day making them feel belittled and fragile.

The U.S military has set lower standards for women creating stereotypes that limit every

women’s full potential. Women have been proven to be essential to all four branches of the

military because of their hard work and diligence but, sexism is adding unnecessary barriers to

each woman's life in the military. They must overcome stereotypes, sexual assault,

discrimination, difficult standards, and many more burdens every single day. These actions are

difficult to conquer but once they do nothing can stop them.

The United States military has allowed women to fight along men for this country for 77

years now. This doesn’t mean that it has been easy for them. Throughout the process of enlisting

and training women are faced with many stereotypes that can add barriers that make doing their

job more difficult. Each year more and more women join the military and over time some

stereotypes have diminished but many remain. In December 2015, the secretary of defense,

Ashton Carter, announced that all combat positions would be open for all people, women
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included starting in 2016. This decision has helped the military reach its full potential. When

limiting some jobs to only men the military was holding itself back. Countless women are fully

capable of preforming each position just as well or even better than the men that currently carry

out the position. But now each job may be filled with the person who is perfect for executing all

the duties for that specific job. Just because all combat jobs are available to women does not

mean that they will be assigned to them. Who ends up getting the job depends on the

commanders that assign the jobs and most of those commanders are sexist against women.

A huge reason why they are

sexist against women is that women

have different, easier requirements for

joining the military than men do. The

physical fitness standards for the four

U.S military branches are different for

women than they are for men. In the

Army, females must do three-fifths of

the number of pushups that men do.

Males must do 71 push-ups and

females must do 42 push-ups. The 2 mile run time limits are different as well. Fig. 1. This bar

graph shows the difference in standards in the army for men versus women (Spivak). Males must

run it in under 13 minutes and females in under 15 minutes and 36 seconds. Although the sit-up

requirement is 78 for both genders. This downgrades the thought of women in people’s minds

because they don’t have to be as strong as men to join the Army. These standards create more

stereotypes that women must deal with while in the military. I think that a gender-neutral Army
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physical fitness test would clear many stereotypes that are created for women. For many jobs, the

standards should be gender-neutral because they require the same mental and physical strength.

The standards should be updated for many reasons, women play a much longer role in the

military than they used to, also combat has changed greatly since the last time the standards were

re-evaluated. They could fairly integrate women into combat jobs instantly if the standards were

gender-neutral, and this would be ideal for the military. Each person would be expected to do the

same amount of work as the next person, no matter the gender or age. This would make the

whole operation more effective but, that is not the case. It is impossible to suddenly integrate

women into all military jobs and take the jobs away from men. The way that integration is going

to come about is going to be a slow process. Similar to the civil rights movement, it is going to

take many years to reach equality. Over time, more women are going to join the forces and fill in

for jobs that were previously held by men who have retired. Without lowering the standards for

women this process is going to take time. People must accept that fact. Furthermore, it is going

to take many years for the military to be fully integrated with women whilst retaining uneven

standards. Even with women integrated into all jobs, there will still be unspoken stereotypes

adding barriers to all women due to the uneven physical expectations. The stereotypes will

always be there. Women and men will eventually be equal when looking into their rights and

capabilities in the military but there will always be the thought that women are less than men.

There is no way to change that, it must be accepted by society.

There are two types of sexism in society. One is hostile, defined as unfriendly;

antagonistic. This type is very easy to notice in society. Hostile sexism includes negative views

towards a certain gender, mainly female. Many people think women aren’t as strong as men or

aren’t as smart as them. These are examples of hostile sexism, and they can be seen every day all
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around the world. The United States is one of the better countries in the world when it comes to

women's’ rights and gender equality. In countries like South Korea and Saudi Arabia, women are

very limited in what they can do. In Saudi Arabia, women were forbidden to drive motor

vehicles until June of 2018 and in South Korea, it is very challenging for women to become

employed. On the other hand, there is benevolent sexism. Benevolent sexism often appears as

positive gestures but is a damaging insult towards a gender, typically women. Benevolent sexism

is perceived as a compliment by women, making them feel as if they deserve more care and that

they must be protected. A man holding a door open for a woman is an action of benevolent

sexism, you can find it everywhere you look. It also indicates that women are weak and sensitive

which does not come off as a compliment, but it still qualifies as benevolent sexism because the

person indicating sexism is directing it as positive. In some cases, women may be aware of the

benevolent sexism that is going on every day and don’t even mind it. Some women enjoy the

effects even though it is an insult. If a man wants to do you a favor, why stop him? Allowing

men to treat women in such a way can save females money, time and effort. Men will pay for

your meals, do some yardwork for you, and they will happily do any odd job you don’t want to

do. It may help you now but, in the long run you are just allowing yourself to be constantly

thought of as a lesser person. Is that worth saving yourself a few extra dollars or minutes? The

longer women allow this behavior the worse the sexism will get. Soon enough women won’t be

able to make their own living without being married to a man who can support them. That is

undoing everything that so many strong and influential women in history dedicated their lives

working towards.

Not only is benevolent sexism seen as a compliment, it is seen as normalcy. Benevolent

sexism occurs every day to every woman and society accepts it. Think about it, every time a man
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offers to open the door for a female or carries her bags, he is doing this because he has been

taught that women need help. Men are taught that women aren’t capable to do almost anything

without help. It has gotten to the point where a woman takes offense when men don’t offer to

help them. Women are degrading themselves because that is what they are taught to do. Women

want men who “treat them like a lady” but, do they really want that? Do they want a husband

who thinks they are superior and better than them? Men and women are allowing this benevolent

sexism to occur right in front of them. It has become status quo to see women as submissive to

men and it is not meant to be changed. Benevolent sexism has become so normal in society that

it has become invisible. This type is much more common now than hostile sexism because it can

go undetected. But in the past, hostile sexism was much more evident and women would tolerate

it.

Benevolent sexism is shown throughout the United States military. Sexism has become

part of the culture in the military and that must change. Women must overcome many barriers

when enlisting including, the unfair difference in standards, fear of sexual harassment,

stereotypes, and unprofessional behavior from men. Commanders in the military often don’t

notice the degradation that women have received. If they treat women equally people would

think that he or she is doing their job wrong. Women must exceed the expectations that are set

for them to show that they are deserving of challenging jobs in the military. Women are

overlooked unless if they stand out and do much more than what is expected. This shows that the

stereotypes that prevent women from being equals make them fight harder than they need to. The

saying what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger is very relevant in this situation. Stereotypes not

only motivate women but almost force them to become the best version of themselves. These

stereotypes help show why women are necessary in the military. Without them women would
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not meet their full potential as often as they do whilst in the military. Imagine if men had to

prove themselves and exceed their expectations as often as women, the U.S. military would be

unstoppable. Furthermore, women are aware of the benevolent sexism that is occurring

throughout the military causing them to work twice as hard to get their jobs done.

Simultaneously, the military is stopping itself from reaching its full potential by adding

unnecessary burdens for these women who wouldn’t stop for anything to overcome. Sexism is

only hurting the military and people must understand that. It is delaying almost everything that

needs to get done because men are making women’s jobs a lot harder than they need to be.

Women are overlooked for their hard work because nobody notices how much more time and

effort that they need to put into every job that they do.

Standards for women in the military must be addressed. Men and women are different

and there is no way of thinking that is not true. But the fact that men and women are both

capable of handling the same burdens is overlooked. Gender-neutral standards should be the goal

of the U.S military. This would allow the military to reach its full potential by having each

person no matter the age or gender be able to do all duties. Lowering standards for women is

wrong for many reasons. It allows women that are not prepared to join in combat just to be

seriously injured and or not helpful. It also makes women look as if they aren’t as strong as men

and that they aren’t capable of doing all the jobs that men can. But that is not always the case,

most women that join the military can complete just as difficult or even more difficult tasks than

men can, and they don’t get the chance to prove themselves. Micha Ables tells an inspiring story

about women's work ethic in the article “Women Aren’t the Problem. Standards Are”. She

writes, “I once had a male soldier, fresh out of all-male infantry basic training, fall out of a ruck

march after less than a quarter mile with only thirty-five pounds of weight on his back...I also led
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a company ruck march where two male soldiers fainted and one male noncommissioned officer

outright quit, while one female soldier refused to stop walking even as she wheezed through an

asthma attack. While serving in the Army’s only air assault division, I had a young male soldier

repeatedly fail to meet the basic gender-neutral physical standards required to attend Air Assault

School. These soldiers’ genders did not help or hurt our unit; their fitness, fortitude, and

abilities—or lack thereof—did. The solution to these problems is to create appropriate, realistic,

age- and gender-neutral standards for combat arms—not to ban any entire demographic group

because there is a weak standard in place.”. Moreover, this inspiring story proves the necessity

for gender-neutral standards. The cause of most issues with physical performance in the military

is the overall capability of carrying out tasks. Some people can run 2 miles in less than 13

minutes but aren’t physically able to carry 40 pounds on their back for miles. This is not

dependent on the gender of the soldier it depends on the physical abilities of the soldier. The idea

of individual standards is a proposal that the 4 branches of the U.S. military should investigate. If

any individual, no matter the age or gender, can meet the standard for a specific job then they

should be put into that position. Standards should be based on personal attributes of each person.

Is the person a hard worker? Do they hold themselves accountable? Are they selfless? These

should be the standards that all people are held to. When it comes down to a life-threatening

situation the factor that is going to determine the survivability is not going to be the number of

pushups one can do in a minute. It is going to come down to who can fight through the pain and

suffering. What the soldier looks like should not be a factor in if he or she can do the job well, it

depends on their physical and mental abilities to carry out the task. Over half of the battle is

mental, for almost any goal a person is trying to achieve.

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Physical stereotypes aren’t the only big problem with women in the military. Men make

sexual gestures toward women in the military too often. The largest problem is within the Marine

Corps. The Marine Corps. is composed of 93 percent male and only 7 percent female. Those

numbers are very surprising to everyone who reads them. Overall, the U.S. military workforce is

composed of 15 percent women. I think that everyone notices that these small numbers are

creating a large problem within the U.S. military. Hanna Kozlowska explains some of the sexual

incidents that occur within the military in her article, “To Combat Institutional Sexism, the

Military Must Recruit More Women”. She writes, “The latest US military scandal is shocking in

its both scale and the level of malice: Hundreds of current and former Marines posted and

commented on nude and sexually suggestive photos of female colleagues in a 30,000-member,

private Facebook group. Yet, another scandal targeting women emerged as no surprise, with

similar incidents in 2013 and 2014.” As a result, this information is very hard to grasp. It is

almost unbelievable to think that these actions are continuing to happen throughout the military

in the 21st century. Women are a necessity to the U.S. military, and it is very wrong to continue

to treat them in this way. The Marine Corps. May have the largest amount of sexual assaults, but

it is not the only branch with issue pertaining to assault. In the past year, 4.9 percent of women in

the U.S military have been sexually assaulted. In the Marine branch alone, the percentage was

almost 8 percent. Sexual assault is and will continue to be a very stupendous issue within the

military. The shameful actions of men will not stop, in the military or any place of work. The

only solution, or partial solution to this matter is integrating more women into all branches of the

military. Integrating more women into the military is not as easy of a fix as it seems to be.

The Marines are struggling to recruit more women and everybody knows why. After the

Facebook scandal went public women have been steering away from the Marine Corp. Because
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who would sign up to be publicly humiliated and discriminated against. Each branch of the

military is focusing on integrating more women. The army has made a reachable goal of a 1

percent increase in female recruiters. The marines have made a very modest goal of changing the

ranks to be 10 percent female and ninety percent male. That would mean increasing the female

ranks by three percent. This does not sound like it would be that difficult, but it will be a very

challenging goal to reach. The air force is the most women integrated branch of the military and

it has shown that with more women, the branch runs much more effectively. The Air Force also

has the least amount of sexual assaults which allows everyone to infer that is a large reason why

the Air Force has the most women. Recruitment of women is proven to be a difficult task for all

branches of the military especially the Marines.

Sexual trauma in the military has affected thirty percent of women in active duty.

Partically due to when it comes to reporting it, there is an additional barrier all women must

cross. In the article, “Sexual Violence is a Serious Problem for Women in the Military” Jane

Hoppen explains how women can be hesitant when reporting acts of sexual violence. She states,

“Many victims are often reluctant to report sexual trauma or cannot find methods for reporting

the experience to those with authority. When military women do report sexual trauma, they are

often encouraged to keep silent, further harassed, or not believed. Reports are often ignored, or

the female soldier herself is blamed. The daily situation becomes one of invalidation and

constant fear. The betrayal is a devastating one for these women, soldiers committed to

protecting a country that most often doesn't return the favor” In other words, women are coerced

into thinking that they shouldn’t report acts of sexual violence because it won’t make a

difference or they will not be believed. This is quite common within the military and women

continue to allow it to occur. Divulging negative information about a male soldier is a difficult
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decision for a woman to make, and most of the time if she decides to go through with it there

won’t be any consequences for the male party involved. Some women may even see it as a waste

of time because of how little men are punished for their sexual acts on military grounds.

Women may not have a choice when it comes to divulging negative information about a

male who sexually harasses her on duty. Many women may get harassed by a male who is their

superior and the male may threaten to take away the woman’s job if she reports the sexual action.

This puts women in a very tricky spot. Hoppen states, “For women in the military, sexual trauma

usually occurs in the very setting in which the victim works and lives...the woman might find

herself still working with and taking orders from the man who raped her. Imagine the sense of

helplessness and powerlessness, as well as the risk for more victimization.” Moreover, women

may have to risk becoming the victim of sexual harassment many more times in the future just to

keep their jobs. This leaves women with a horrendous choice. Do they quit their job that they

have worked very hard at or stay quiet and deal with the awful and unimaginable helplessness

that the rapist every single day? It should never come down to this but unfortunately this occurs

often in our society and we don’t even see it. If the women have children or another person that

they must financially support, they will have no choice but to stay in their work environment.

This adds to the degradation every woman feels every day while at work. This is very much

wrong but unfortunately, it occurs very often within the military and in other workplaces. In

some circumstances, the female may be blamed for the sexual action performed against her. In

this instance, many women are scared to report a sexual crime because they may end up getting

themselves punished for the very actions of a man. Sadly, this fact may never change. Integrating

more women into the military and workplaces will not change the thoughts that men have or the
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actions men take. You cannot change men but you can change the environment that is all around

us.

Women may have a disadvantage in the military due to stereotypes, but scientifically they

may also just not be as genetically prepared as men. Men are more structurally built for military

jobs than females are, almost everyone knows that, but what they don’t know is why. In the

article, “Recruiters Should Inform Women of Health Risks Involved in Military Service” Julie

Pulley and Hugh P. Scott explain the differences in women’s and male’s physical capabilities.

They write, “On average, an adult male produces 10 times more testosterone than an adult

female, which almost doubles his muscle mass. (The average woman possesses only 55% to 58%

of the upper body strength of the average man.) Testosterone also causes development of a

heavier and stronger skeleton in males... adding greater strength for load-bearing tasks...It

increases the size and function of their hearts and lungs and consequently males have 40%

greater aerobic capacity, and higher endurance compared with females.” Furthermore, women

are at a huge disadvantage when it comes to the physical fight in the military. But that does not

mean that they are unable to be effective and active soldiers. Women are capable of reaching the

same physical readiness as men they just have to work a little bit harder. No difference in

standards can close this gap, women must put in a lot more effort to reach the same performance

as men. Working harder is not that big of a challenge for women as I have previously stated. The

stereotypes that women are faced with force them to work harder weather they want to or not. If

a woman decides to join the military, she usually knows what she is getting into and wants to

work harder and outshine the males. This motivation allows women to find the desire to

overcome the sexism and show everyone what they are capable of. Once a woman achieves her

goal, she is proud to be a woman because it just shows everyone that she is that much stronger.
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Women must face stereotypes, sexual assault, discrimination, difficult standards, and

many more burdens every single day. These harmful actions make women feel belittled and

fragile, but it will not stop them. The U.S. military has identified the problem and plans to fix it,

but they must get more women integrated into all combat jobs in every branch of the military for

this to happen. Both hostile and benevolent sexism must be diminished for women to make the

most positive impact that they can make for this country. Some women must face one of the

worst crimes, sexual assault and they will do so while continuing to work with the men who

conducted it upon them because this country’s military needs them. It is no question that women

are essential to the military. If all four branches of the U.S. armed forces want to reach their full

potential, changes are essential. Women use these stereotypes as motivation to reach their

potential and once they do it is just that much more impressive. It shows how hard each woman

works and proves that she wants to help serve this country and she is the best suited person for

the job. The U.S. military will thrive with women at the top of its ranks. With more women

integration and less gender discrimination, the U.S. military can become the best in the world.
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Works Cited

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mwi.usma.edu/women-arent-problem-standards/.

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