Gender Inequality In The Military Essay

Gender inequality is a hot and sensitive topic nowadays, and rightfully so. Women have been campaigning to get equal rights to their male counterparts for centuries, and even though we’ve made long and successful strides towards this goal, there are still some problems that still exist. The military is one of these examples.

The military is known for its strictness and traditional values. Growing up in an air force/army household, I would know. Part of these “traditional values” entails letting the man earn the money, especially in a physical violence-heavy role like an active military member, and the woman stays home to run the house while he’s away. There are obviously traditional values that challenge this, but nevertheless. The military

According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, 1 in 5 women and 1 in 71 men is raped at some point in their lives (Center). And although preventing sexual assault in men is equally as important, one cannot ignore that 91% of victims are women, and 8% of these assaults occur at the woman’s workplace (Center). In the military, it has been reported that 25% of women have been sexually assaulted. In 2007, the Human Rights Watch wrote an article on the story of Juliet Simmons, who was drugged and raped during her service. Despite keeping up positive performance evaluations and passing her tests, a psychological exam defined her as having a “Personality Disorder, Unspecified”, and honorably discharged (Watch). Because of this, she has not been able to rejoin the military, since it is very difficult to join the military once you have been diagnosed with a personality, anxiety, or depressive disorder (Military). In another instance, Amy Quinn reported being raped by a Navy technician. Her confidentiality was somehow breached, and she began being verbally harassed by her peers. Eventually she was told the only way to fix her problem was to be dishonorably discharged. Later, she was rejected time after time by potential employers because she could not be hired with having a history of a “personality disorder”