According to Urban Dictionary, gender neutrality is when one “avoid[s] giving roles to genders and sexes in schools, the workplace, places of worship and other institutions” (Urban Dictionary). In the United States military, 15% of its soldiers are female, but there are still restrictions in specific occupations in the military that prevent women from qualifying for the job, one of those positions is direct ground combat. Since 1994 women have been prevented from serving in direct combat positions, but recently the pentagon has announced they will be retracting this act, some believe the retraction of this act will help further strengthen our military while others claim that some women have already been working in these positions. As a result,
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United States army general Martin E. Dempsey recalls many women serving in combat positions, specifically when he told his story of “his arrival in Baghdad as a commander of the 1st Armored Division in 2003. During his first foray out of the forward operating base, he said he hopped into an up-armored Humvee…’I asked the driver who he was [and] where he was from.’...’I slapped the turret gunner around the leg and said ‘Who are you?’ She leaned down and said, ‘I’m Amanda” (Panetta). In the year 2003 an army general was working along side with a female soldier who was doing her job in a combat position. Her presence on that mission made a lasting impression on the general which resulted in him now supporting the efforts to open combat positions to all women/ genders. It is said that “the department and the services will extend opportunities to women in a way that maintains readiness, morale, and unit cohesion and preserves warfighting capability, Dempsey said, to uphold the nation’s trust and confidence. ‘We’ll also integrate women in a way that enhances opportunity for everyone. This means setting clear standards of performance for all occupations based on what it actually takes to do the job” (Panetta). With the current efforts that are being made by the military to expand job opportunities to women, they will still maintain a high expectation for all candidates. Therefore by helping open opportunities to women, the military still keeping the ‘playing field’ fair for all potential candidates. In summary, this article supports the new opportunities for women and believes it will uphold to the current standard of which they sit
United States army general Martin E. Dempsey recalls many women serving in combat positions, specifically when he told his story of “his arrival in Baghdad as a commander of the 1st Armored Division in 2003. During his first foray out of the forward operating base, he said he hopped into an up-armored Humvee…’I asked the driver who he was [and] where he was from.’...’I slapped the turret gunner around the leg and said ‘Who are you?’ She leaned down and said, ‘I’m Amanda” (Panetta). In the year 2003 an army general was working along side with a female soldier who was doing her job in a combat position. Her presence on that mission made a lasting impression on the general which resulted in him now supporting the efforts to open combat positions to all women/ genders. It is said that “the department and the services will extend opportunities to women in a way that maintains readiness, morale, and unit cohesion and preserves warfighting capability, Dempsey said, to uphold the nation’s trust and confidence. ‘We’ll also integrate women in a way that enhances opportunity for everyone. This means setting clear standards of performance for all occupations based on what it actually takes to do the job” (Panetta). With the current efforts that are being made by the military to expand job opportunities to women, they will still maintain a high expectation for all candidates. Therefore by helping open opportunities to women, the military still keeping the ‘playing field’ fair for all potential candidates. In summary, this article supports the new opportunities for women and believes it will uphold to the current standard of which they sit