She’s always a woman to me

A case for recruiting women in combat units, with some exceptions

Kartik Bommakanti Delhi

With debate raging over whether women should be permitted to serve in combat units, the issues animating the debate sidestep some critical concerns. Rights groups advocate the principle of equality of opportunity, while opponents of women serving in combat billets see it as immoral and socially undesirable. The latter have principally couched their positions in oft-repeated stereotypes and anachronistic arguments about the social trauma the country would suffer in the event women were captured in battle. The former, while making a substantive case for an expanded role for women in the military, ignores military considerations. The terms of the debate need to centre on the principle of equality of opportunity and combat efficiency. Equality of opportunity cannot trump national security. On the other hand gender-based stereotypes and archaic arguments about women’s societal role cannot be used as a pretext to deprive women legitimate opportunities to serve in combat units where they are physically capable of performing tasks assigned to them. The key is to find an optimum balance in the tradeoff between the social imperative of giving women equal opportunities and the compulsions of combat efficiency and its consequent impact on national security. Given the roles performed by women in the armed forces today, the scope for career advancement is very limited. Inhibiting factors are limited service tenures and a general social ambivalence towards the prospect of women serving in combat units. Expansion of the role of women in our forces offers them the scope for mobility through the ranks. That begs the question, should all combat units be open to women? Yes, with the exception of submarines, the special forces, and frontline ground combat billets such as armour, infantry and artillery. 

Empirical evidence suggests that the physical limitations of women preclude service in frontline ground combat units. Three years ago the Israeli army conducted a physical evaluation among a pool of military age women and men to determine the feasibility of allowing women to serve in ground combat units. Notably, the test found that men had the endurance to cover a distance of over 55 miles as compared to 32 miles for women. Largely because the oxygen level in the haemoglobin of men is 10 per cent higher than it is among women. Women, the test found, could carry 40 per cent of their body weight whereas men could manage 55 per cent of their body weight. This is because men on average weigh 33 pounds more than women. It is estimated that military age women (aged 20-30) have approximately the same upper-body strength and lungpower as a 50-year-old man. Significantly, it punctures a widespread myth that the Israeli army deploys women in its ground combat units. Israel has not deployed women in frontline ground combat units since 1948.