Shoul Transformational Leadership

Improved Essays
Combat Leadership
Women currently make up more than 14% of the 1.4 million active military personnel but were not allowed to serve in over 230,000 combat positions; despite that they have increasingly served at the front lines (Goudreau, 2013). In 2013, the U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta decided to allow women to serve in military combat roles, reversing a 1994 policy that excluded women from serving in combat units. This ensures that the best person is in a leadership position regardless of their sex. For instance, if the best sniper is a woman, it should be her in that role. On the contrary, some people believe that women are not physically built like men, attempts to integrate them may lead to lowered standards overall. Additionally, women in combat units may negatively change the dynamics, creating conditions of sexual competition and sexual harassment. Old-fashioned sexism involves overt contentions that women are inferior and that their roles should be restricted to those consistent with femininity (Young & Nauta, 2013).
During the time of drafting in the military, the Supreme Court held that Congress should receive great deference in the area of military affairs and national defense. Because of combat restrictions on women, the Court found that men and women were not “similarly situated” for draft registration purposes and, thus, the Military Selective Service Act did not offend the Due Process Clause (Ivey, 2014). Congress carefully considered its decision to exempt women from the military draft. Based on the testimony of military officers and civilian officials from the Department of Defense, Congress determined there was no military necessity for registering females. When comparing Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union, the perspective reveals differences in what dimensions are perceived as problematic in the relation of gender and combat and what are the conditions shaping this perception (Fieselera, Hampfb, & Schwarzkopfc, 2014). The conditions become apparent under which combat functions are made available to women, and also explores the long-term effects of the reconfiguration of the gender order under war-time conditions. Equality The issue of equal participation in the military is further clouded by "progressive" policies that set lower physical standards for women's participation in the armed forces. Such differential standards make more women eligible to participate (of course lowered standards for men would have the same effect) but the lower standard for women aggravates the existing conception that women are less physically suited for combat and military participation (Prividera & Howard III, 2014). Indeed, the standards indicate that women are generally inferior to men. So what is the solution? Similar standards could be set. If the standards are meaningful then simply expecting all participants to meet those standards would remove much of the stigma of "weakness." Many male soldiers are resistant to women's participation due to the fact that women will be less likely to help because of being less strong. They would then be a liability compared to a stronger individual. An equal standard would not predict or ensure that the strongest member of a unit is male or female, but it would ensure that all members of that unit were able to execute their jobs competently. An ongoing manifestation of ideological bias is the stateside issue of parenting and, in particular, single parenting. Men are recognized as great fathers for their service. Women are questioned as mothers because of their service. It is a simple extension of the classic argument that "the woman's place is in the home.” She is the child bearer / homemaker and should not be putting herself at harm’s way. Shared Leadership Leadership has become “central to the public conversation” and there has been “evidence of a shift in the very idea of leadership – a return to a more heroic, more inspirational definition than
…show more content…
During military basic training all soldiers are drilled to execute standard procedures and are continuously educated to respect the military hierarchy through systematically disciplining of inappropriate behaviors, this may explain why the transactional type of leadership, especially based on contingent rewarding, is conceived as the most appropriate in effectively leading a unit in a critical context (Di Schiena, R., Letens, Van Aken, & Farris,

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Mass Shooting Dbq

    • 375 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the military, women were originally not allowed to have combat positions, but now they are allowed to be in every one of them. Ashton Carter said, “To succeed in our mission of national defence, we cannot…

    • 375 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Before delving further into leadership and management theories and styles it is good to understand the difference between a manager and a leader. Bennis and Nanus (1985, p221) state that ‘managers are people who do things right and leaders are people that do the right thing.’ Yukl (2002, p7) goes on to suggest that leadership is the process of influencing others to understand and agree about what needs to be done and how it can be done effectively, and the process of facilitating individual and collective efforts to accomplish the shared objectives. However, Stodgill (1974:7) powerfully stated that ‘there are as many definitions of leadership as there are persons who have tried to define it.’ Although there are varying definitions to leadership…

    • 1531 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Sexism In The Military

    • 1541 Words
    • 6 Pages

    When some people think about prejudice the automatically think about racism, but there are multiple kinds of prejudice. Along with racism, there is ageism, sexual prejudice, weight prejudice, and sexism. Sexism is important to everyone but specifically to women. Sexism is the subordination of someone on the basis of their sex (Crisp & Turner, 2010). Females are exposed to prejudice in the workplace, sports, relationships, and even in the military.…

    • 1541 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Women In Non-Combat Roles

    • 201 Words
    • 1 Pages

    Today’s military men and women participate in combat roles. The role of women in non-combat jobs has switched to combat careers. For example, women had secondary roles which tried to keep them out of combat. These positions included, nursing, office jobs, supply, transportation and pilots. As our military expanded more women joined and their choice of professions changed.…

    • 201 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Women In Combat

    • 752 Words
    • 4 Pages

    As General Dempsey argues, “I have to believe the more we treat people equally, the more likely they are to treat each other equal – when you stop viewing men and superiors- they will stop treating the women as inferior” (Brown). There is no better solution to solving the sexual tensions than eliminating them altogether- by ceasing to view women as the inferior gender, the idea of women being solely sexual beings is eliminated and replaced with the fact that all people, regardless of gender, have the ability to be a superior soldier on the…

    • 752 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Forum 7 Reply Post 2 Another informative and interesting post. Organizational culture is a powerful force in any work environment, particularly, a negative culture. Destructive organizational values take time, adverse motivations, undesirable behaviors, and antagonistic agreements to become entrenched. Complex networks up and down the chain of command can then create a protectionism of the system, making dismantling harmful conduct exceedingly difficult.…

    • 454 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ever since the beginning of time, any type of battle or war was perceived as a man’s responsibility. Woman were told that they were too weak to fight in combat. However, in recent years, thousands of women step up to the plate every day to join the military. Woman should be allowed in combat because it is about capability- not gender, and men can be equally incapable as women.…

    • 299 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Women in the United States of America are affected by gender inequality the majority of their life. Though our country has made great strides to correct this injustice, still the United States has failed to direct its focus on programs and institutions that show an imbalance in gender fairness. A hot topic in recent years has been the push for gender equality in the armed forces. There is no doubt females have less opportunity than males in the military; opportunities that would allow female individuals a growth in their careers. The limited military occupational specialties (MOS) offered to service women affects their career choice and jeopardizes their career potential.…

    • 277 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Where according to a ban in 1994 by DOD, women were banned from serving in “combat operations” “such as the short-range artillery, Special Forces, and Infantry.” However, being a current member of the U.S military; I observe that during the process of ever joining the military, we take the sacrifice and choice to serve our…

    • 535 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Should Women Serve in the Military? In the military there are certain standards that have to be kept up and met. A commanding officer doesn’t want to see another petty officer disobey or fail to follow commands. Male soldiers have always been used as the ideal fighting machine, but in recent studies it has been shown that women could possess the same potential as men.…

    • 1032 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Women make up about 14 percent of our military today, that’s about 200,000 ladies risking their lives for our country. (History) They have many jobs, such as nurses, gunners, and engineers. People have finally recognized the important roles women have in the military by allowing them to play a part in ground combat. The idea of women fighting alongside men is heavily debated.…

    • 745 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Women serving in the military is a topic that people have strong arguments about. Should women be allowed to serve in the military? Should women have the same rights to serve as men? Are women even able to perform equally in armed forces? (1).…

    • 269 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Perhaps the most important argument for maintaining gender equality at every level is that it’s necessary to truly enable women to have successful careers within the military”(the muse). The armed forces need to treat everyone equally no matter what gender. Women are allowed to be on the front lines if they choose to. No one can force someone to do something they don 't want to do either. Everyone has to pass the same recommendations to be in the armed forces and on the front lines not everyone wants to be there , if that where you want to be put the effort forward.…

    • 1006 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Critics argue that women integrating into male combat units would also develop a sense of intersexual cooperation. “By opening infantry, artillery and other battlefield jobs to all qualified service members regardless of sex, the military is showing that categorical discrimination has no place in a society that honors fairness and equal opportunity,” (New York Times). Putting an end to gender discrimination would result into a plethora of opportunities and increase our numbers, though it would not be as effective. Allowing women in active combat roles reduces combat effectiveness: the negative correlations between physical readiness, common male instinct of protecting women and females biological inconsistency to perform on the field. Women should not serve in active combat roles for the greater good of our…

    • 738 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Should Women be allowed in Combat? Woman should be allowed in combat for many reasons. First of all allowing woman into combat situations would make our military more effective by putting talent into sections that were frowned upon before, it would help our forces become more modernized, putting women into combat situations would not break tradition because women have served in every war since the revolutionary war, and would put ability above gender. Allowing woman into combat situations would allow our combat units to be more effective in many different ways. Women who choose to become active combat soldiers, are unlikely to shirk their duty by becoming pregnant after a call-up as these women have willingly joined the service…

    • 1520 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays