Women's Protective Units (YPJ)

Formed in 2013, the Women's Protective Units (YPJ) has become infamous in western countries for a few reasons.  Some, like the Terrorism Research & Analysis Consortium (TRAC) know them as a terrorist organization.

Retrieved from TRAC website at: http://www.trackingterrorism.org/group/ypj-womens-protection-unit

Business Insider also posted an article featuring the YPJ in an August 2015 edition "6 Female Military Units You Don't Want to Mess With".  David Nye, the author, gives a brief history of their formation but really hooks his audience with a fun fact that the women soldiers have a psychological effect on ISIS fighters because they believe that they will not go to heaven if they are killed by a woman.  Soon after, Facebook and Twitter lit up with pictures of these "kickass" terrorist-killing women.

retrieved from #YPJ profile on twitter

The Kurdish Project takes a deeper look at the women who face rape and murder if they are captured, but continue to fight alongside their fathers and brothers against members of ISIS.  After the Gulf War, the Iraqi Kurds were able to establish an autonomous government because of a "No Fly" zone established by the American military over their territory in northern Iraq. This government eventually led to two warring political parties that tore their new independence apart until 1998 when a treaty ended the civil war. In 2003, the Kurdish military Peshmerga assisted the American military in overthrowing Saddam Hussein's regime.  Essentially, this small but proud nation has lived their entire recorded history fighting a war.  It is no surprise that women will take up automatic rifles to fight for their independence.

retrieved from: http://thekurdishproject.org/history-and-culture/kurdish-women/ypj/

Women in the Israeli Defense Forces

   During the War of Independence in Israel in 1948, women were drafted alongside men into combat positions. Shortly after the war they were no longer allowed in combat, but many continued to serve in the military as trainers.  The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) has always earned my respect in terms of discipline, loyalty and training.  Currently, women are allowed in both gender integrated combat units as well as all-female combat units like the Caracal battalion. What caught my attention about units like the Caracal battalion was the alternative approach to integration of women into previously all-male units.  What lessons can the American military leaders implement in 2016 to smooth the transition of women into ground combat units?

  

   IDF Women Recruitment poster 

   1948

   retrieved from IDF Women Facebook page

                                                   

    Critics of Defense Secretary Ashton Carter's decision, such as Elaine Donnelly- president of the Center for Military Readiness, often cite the study conducted by the University of Pittsburgh for the United States Marine Corps to demonstrate how all male combat teams outperformed the gender mixed combat teams in 69% of their ground combat tasks (Donnelly, 2015).  These results carry the implication that gender mixed units facing greater risks in ground combat than their all-male counterpart units, and in turn national security will face greater risks (Kovach 2015).  Others, like retired Army Lieutenant Colonel and author Robert Maginnis, believe that additionally the already serious problem of sexual misconduct and assault will only increase as women join infantry units.(Maginnis, 2013).  Could an all woman infantry unit, like the Caracal, provide an alternative template for bringing willing and able women into combat positions?  Moreover, are these units successful in the IDF?  What is their experience like?

                     

IDF Women Officers

Brauner Teddy

1950

retrieved from Natonal Photo Collection: http://147.237.72.31/topsrch/datafile/wwwm1690.gif

Women of the IDF

Ophir Haglili

December 2011

The name for the Caracal Battalion comes from African desert cats whose gender differences are barely distinguishable.

Family of Caracal cats in the Portland, OR Zoo

September 2011

Articles/Books referenced:
"Deadly Consequences: How Cowards are Pushing Women into Combat" Robert Maginnis. (2013).

"Marine Corps Study Says Units with Women Fall Short on Combat Skills". Gretel Kovach. (2015).
retrieved from:
http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-marines-women-20150912-story.html

"Obama Ignores Sound Military Advice on Women in Direct Ground Combat". Elaine Donnelly. (2015).
retrieved from  http://www.cmrlink.org/content/home/37726/obama_administration_ignores_sound_military_advice_on_women_in_direct_ground_combat

Women in the American Military

Veteran Portrait Project

This portrait sends a powerful message of the duality of being a woman and serving in the military.  For me, it mean suppressing my feminine side until years after I left the military.  To be taken seriously in the military,  I had to hide the undesirable aspects of my nature (i.e. being emotional or too sensitive, nurturing or "coddling"). Others noticed the double standard when it came to speaking your mind in an assertive way. In men, it was a sign of confidence and leadership, in women it was seen as a flaw that needed to be corrected.  

Not all men who serve behave in this manner, but there are many leaders that continue to perpetuate 

an unhealthy culture for women in the military.  The question that I wish to answer with this research is how this culture will be affected by the new decision to open combat positions up to women. I will continue to explore this topic through news articles and broadcasts of women in the American military, along with video interviews as I meet other women in the military.

"Jordan Robinson"         

November 2015             

Stacy Pearsall

I feel like Stacy Pearsall captures the personality of these men and women in her portraits.  Many of them recapture the good times that I had in the military when I look at them, and it reminds me that despite the flaws that I would like to see addressed, I had a great experience in the military.  It completely changed who I am and how I looked at the world.  I went places that I would never have seen otherwise, and those visits gave me some serious perspective on my own life here at home.  This is an experience that I believe everyone should have the opportunity for, man and woman, homosexual and heterosexual, and so on.  

         

"Robin Robinson"

November 2014

Stacy Pearsall

"Madeline Bobbit"

June 2014

Stacy Pearsall

                   

Introduction

     Over the last year, I have been following the political and cultural discussions surrounding the decision to allow women into combat positions.  By the time Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter announced his decision to allow women into all combat positions in the military with no exceptions, I gathered over one hundred articles with opinions from all sides of the debate.  Initially, I was interested in this topic because of my background in the Army, but over time I began to take interest in the way the our politicians were influenced by social pressures from both advocacy groups and  journalists. Susan Douglas illustrates how the media affected the feminist movement of the 1960's by giving it momentum through its condescension of the ideology.  Are our military and political leaders influenced in their decision-making by both professional journalists and anonymous/editorialized social media commentators?

     While I collected digital clippings on this issue, I noticed that somewhere along the way I stopped trying to form my own opinion.  I can see validity in opening combat positions to women, especially when you consider the fact that women leave the service mid-career at twice the rate as men (Shalal, 2015).  Supporters like Major General Marcia Anderson attribute this to the lack of upward mobility for women in the military (McGregor, 2014). Major General Anderson and others believe that combat positions in the military are parallel to profit and sales positions in corporations that quickly promote workers to senior leadership positions.  Integrating women into these positions will give them the opportunity compete for a larger presence in military leadership than the current 14.6% of field grade officers and 7% of general grade officers.

     Conversely, I know how difficult it was to prove myself in the military to some of my male peers.No matter how much experience I racked up walking the streets of Baghdad, some of the less tactful young men in the infantry would suggest that as a woman, I was out of place in a deployment zone. Critics of integration, like Marine Corps Captain Lauren F. Serrano, believe that this patronizing behavior will be the least of a woman's worries should integration be forced onto an infantry filled with young men fresh out of high school.  This is a genuine problem facing our military as we move forward with this historical decision.

I am interested in continuing to examine this from an international perspective as I seek answers on how to integrate women into our military in a way that will allow them to flourish.

References:

"Women Do Not Belong in the Military" - Capt. Lauren F. Serrano, (2014).  https://www.mca-marines.org/gazette/2014/09/why-women-do-not-belong-us-infantry

"Pentagon Promotes 'Lean In' Groups to Boost Women Leadership in the Military" - Andrea Shalal,  (2015). http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-military-leanin-idUSKCN0RL18M20150921

"Getting More Women into Army Leadership" - Jena McGregor, (2014). https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-leadership/wp/2014/06/03/getting-more-women-into-army-leadership/