It's time to allow women to be full and equal in the military.
A long time ago I wondered if the Equal Right Amendment might someday pass, giving women this opportunity, this equality. We still need the ERA; but this is a huge improvement.
From Think Progress
Secretary Of Defense Lifts Ban On Women In Combat
By Aviva Shen on Jan 23, 2013 at 3:21 pm
In a surprise move, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta removed the military ban on women in combat on Wednesday. Lifting the ban will open service on the front lines to thousands of women. Some Republicans have opposed putting women in combat because of alleged physical inferiority to men.
According to the Associated Press, the move was recommended by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and overturns a 1994 rule banning women from being assigned to smaller ground combat units. Smaller exemptions to the rule were passed in 2012, but the new decision opens up 238,000 positions where women were formerly banned.
Women have been traditionally barred from serving in ground combat units, such as infantry, artillery, armor or as special operations commandos. However, women have been serving in combat roles for years as well, as recent conflicts have blurred the lines of combat and non-combat duties. While the ACLU last year sued the Pentagon for the right for women to take up positions on the front line, and the Marines recently began allowing women to serve as officers, the timing of Panetta’s announcement comes as a surprise.
Ya gotta wonder how those brave rapistcontractors and soldiers will act if they have their asses handed to them by a female combat veteran. Prolly be something along the lines of "Teh combat masculinizes the feminazis!"
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ReplyDeleteSad to say but this type of action is what it might take to ensure that pay is equitable. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act of 1963 but the latest statistics released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Tuesday show that women in the U.S. still made a little more than 82.2 cents for every dollar men made in 2011 ... I gotta think that female soldiers will earn the same pay and benefits as their male counterparts.
An interesting question - I know there were pay disparities because of the kinds of jobs women were doing and the limitations because of reduced advancement to upper rank.
DeleteIf women aren't receiving equal pay, I'd hope someone passes legislation that guarantees it for those women. I think it is just one more aspect of the right wing war on women that the conservatives will not sign equal pay legislation, or raise minimum wage levels either.
But then conservatives have shown themselves to be pro-big money, anti- ordinary people in every possible way.
McCain has been all over the map on so many things, I don't think he is even relevant any more, on much of anything.