The Gender Issue in the US armed forces

Although the military service is considered as men's occupation, more and more women are applying for military service. American army today has most women soldiers, more than 356 000, or 16% of all count. In 2009, 57 women in American army had the rank of a general or admiral, which is twice the number from 1990. Congress passed the Womens Armed Service Integration Act in 1948, which established a permanent but separate womens corps in the military services. However, active involvement of women in the army and on the battle field wasn't occurred without some problems. Besides faced with sex discrimination, one of the biggest problems was raping by fellows soldiers. Every third woman who participated in a war mission was raped, while 99% of them were at least one a subject of harassment. According to the research conducted in the American armed forces, women soldiers in Iraq were more afraid of people they shared food with then the Taliban's. American leaders have put much effort into policies intent on keeping women out of combat. Americas leaders are simply discriminating against women. women are inferior and would impact combat readiness because they cannot emotionally or physically perform in a combat environment. Others would justify the policies saying that women are a distraction and a complicating factor for men in combat. Still others view and justify the policies because they believe that it is morally and ethically wrong to send women, whom they believe are designed for nurturing, into combat. Many of the primary arguments against sending women into combat are not based on facts; they are based on opinions and misconceptions. The first argument that women are inferior and cannot perform in a combat environment is unsubstantiated. Women are mentally disciplined and emotionally strong enough for the rigors of battle. There is a misconception that because men are statistically more violent than women that they are better suited for the battlefield. Rather, it is more important to have an individual with mental discipline and emotional stability on the battlefield than to have one who is merely violent. Women have proven themselves throughout society to be mentally and emotionally formidable by routinely performing highly stressful jobs such as doctors, lawyers, chief executive officers of Fortune 500 companies, paramedics, firemen, and policemen. Women have also proven their capacity for violence and ruthlessness by the fact that there are 2.1 million women in American prisons serving sentences for violent crimes. Men can be equally as emotionally stable or unstable as women. It is difficult to determine the exact number of cases of depression since men often decline to seek help, but it is estimated that men suffer from depression at approximately the same rate as women. In November 2008, Ann E. Dunwoody was the first woman in U.S. history and uniformed service history to achieve a four-star officer grade of a general, which is a highest grade anyone can achieve in the U.S. army. Last year two women were awarded with the Silver Star, and the researches have showed that a great deal of women were awarded with medals of honor.

Israel, where women are obligated to serve in the army. In this country, military obligation for men is three years while for women is two years.