Today, departing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is expected to officially lift the ban preventing women in the U.S. Marines and Army from serving in combat roles.
While Panetta will inform Congress of the policy change today when making his official statement, the ban’s lift will not be immediately noticed. Rather, the Department of Defense will enter into what is called an “assessment phase,” in which each military branch will identify positions not currently integrated for both genders, then construct a timetable appropriate for the integration.
“This says the capacity of your service isn’t determined by your gender,” former San Diego State Student Veteran Organization President and former U.S. Marine Tess Banko said. “It’s determined by your capabilities, by your unique talents.”
This announcement by Panetta will reverse a policy from 1994, which prohibited women in the U.S. Marines and Army from serving in thousands of military jobs, which often stopped them from moving up in rank. SDSU Womyn’s Outreach Association Vice President and sociology junior Kaia Los Huertos said that while she’s very happy about the announcement, she’s under no illusion that this decision will solve the problem immediately.
“Women are given more legal equality, that doesn’t mean thoughts surrounding women serving on the frontlines are going to change right away,” Los Huertos said. “That’s the way social change works; it may take another 50 years before this is considered socially acceptable.”
In addition to reservations society may have about women fighting on the frontlines, some military positions may still be limited to men. According to CNN, during the military’s assessment period, positions may be determined because of the physical requirements of the position to be “closed” to women, although any position remaining male-only require the approval of the defense secretary.
While Banko said most men she served with were hesitant to openly admit gender bias or discrimination they may have harbored, she too felt unfairly judged while active in the marines. She recalled pleading with her commanding officer to let her participate in a sniper indoctrination—the preliminary training for Marine snipers—but her commanding officer told her, “Sorry, but you know I can’t do that.” She was ecstatic when she heard the ban preventing women from participating was lifted.
“There was one point that I felt like I was judged more on my gender than my capabilities,” Banko said. “Some men even told me, ‘You can give birth, you don’t belong in combat.’”
The Joint Chiefs of Staff recommended unanimously to Panetta that this ban be lifted, but some still speculate on how Panetta’s successor will feel about the decision. Panetta announced he would retire at the start of President Barack Obama’s second term.
“I personally have had friends in the military who basically heard that women aren’t as strong as men, they aren’t as smart as men,” Los Huertos said. “They just aren’t given the chance. We have to work twice as hard to get there. Then we have to work twice as hard to prove ourselves again.”
The ban lift is monumental regarding gender equality in the military; however, there have been many catalysts leading to this decision. The most notable of these include 14,500 jobs previously reserved for men made available to women, the Obama Administration consistently pushing for increased involvement of women in the armed military and the lifting of a ban preventing women from living with combat units.