Introduction
Over the past, the military and natural sciences have been overly male dominated fields. However, tireless and lengthy legal and professional advancements have borne fruits because women are single top growing subgroup in the military profession. For instance, Pentagon expressed its commitment to lift the ban, which would see more women in the combat role; nonetheless, underrepresentation of women in the forces is still significant as indicated by Eager (2014). Therefore, the essay will investigate on capability and role of women on the battlefield frontline considering that technology and other factors have changed the role of officers in wars. On the light of the fact that there are high gender discriminations in the military, it will investigate on both the direct and implied cases of discrimination. Moreover, the military has come under stringent scrutiny over its approach and reversion of justice in sexual assault cases involving its officers. As such, the paper will probe in the cases, and the consequential changes adopted to offer justice to the afflicted victims. Agreeably, gender diversity aims at complementing each other limitations, thus, the essay will highlight on the strengths brought by women in the military.
Despite the fact that both genders are at par in STEM studies at basic entry level, as the level of education advances, the number of female decreases drastically as discussed by In Carlson (2015). Therefore, the study seeks to explain whether women in STEM are less enough to represent a gender gap. Similarly, the study will evaluate job availability for women in STEM as well as the premiums offered to both genders in this field. It will also sample the careers by gender in the STEM degrees. Finally, the essay will draw conclusions based on the findings of the entire study.
Women on the frontline
The recent trends in the military have given women opportunities to serve in the front-line combat services such as the special operations services. Moreover, continued advancement by the legal equality proponents will allow women to be included in the Navy SEALs and the Army’s Delta Force. Similarly, there is a notable presence of women on the Navy submarines and in Army artillery units. However, reports confirm that the absorption of women in this post might take longer than anticipated. There is also the implementation of working solutions to increase the number as well as the performance of women on the frontline. For instance, extra pre-training would increase their capacity while it minimizes the cases of injury among the women officers.
Modern technology has revolutionized military services, that is, technical and operational expertise, as well as skills such as decision-making, are more applicable as shown by Serena (2011). Hence, body strength that is synonymous with male officers has become arbitrary over time. The military has maintained that they will not compromise on the standard of the unit to accommodate female officers, which has reduced the number of women in the service. Thus, to counter this and grow the number of women in the military larger number of women should be encouraged to turn up during the recruitment of the officers (Sheppard, Malatras & Israel, 2010). Similarly, to counter the number of women who leave the service there should be a review of the military structure to incorporate female officer’s needs. This will help women officers to match their male counterparts.
Gender discrimination is well and alive
Gender discrimination in the military is real from both the inside and wider society. The illustration discussed will provide enough evidence to this fact. Firstly, there is widely held believe that the military naturally suits men and any woman in this field have to overstretch to meet the minimum requirements. Besides, the limitations experienced by women leaves them more susceptible to injuries than men (Larichev & Moshkovich, 2013). This discourages women who have ambitions to serve in the military as well as frustrating the efforts of the few women who join the service. Secondly, men officers have preconceptions that women reduce the troops’ effectiveness; this dampens their morale and cohesion of the unit members.
In other instances, alarming cases of women harassment and resentment of the female military has indicated that gender discrimination exists in the military forces as indicated by Iskra (2010). Similarly, failure of women who had undertaken crucial military test has led to the generalization of the female incapability in the services. Additionally, there was an unfair application of test results to marginalize women on the account that few are capable of serving in the military. There has been discrimination citing that the facilities in use by the military have to undergo modification to suit women need. Apparently, the women inputs would not justify the anticipated modification expense. Finally, the restrictions that are not relevant to the service are widely viewed as a tool to discriminate against women to secure the commander posts in the military.
Safety and sexual harassment
Despite the fact that both male and female military is at risk of rape when captured by enemies, the abuses are more prevalent among female hostages. Similarly, sexual harassment perpetrated by the troop members within the US military affect both genders. However, the cases skew more towards the women forces. Often, the cases of sexual harassment go unreported to avoid the resulting retribution as clarified by Terry (2013). Surveys also attribute insignificant reporting of sexual assaults to the fear that be serving of justice would not materialize. Thus, the survivors of this harassment experience depression and stress. If there is no professional intervention, the victims turn to alcohol and substance abuse, which limits them from securing a job after discharge of duties in the military. Women post-traumatic stress is higher among the military veterans than in men. The root-cause of this stress is military sexual trauma, which implies females are vulnerable targets of sexual assaults by their fellow male officers. Fortunately, surfacing of the past sex harassment cases has facilitated significant changes in their handling. For instance, there is a recommendation of assigning such cases to a different command chain from the one it occurred. Besides, agreements to scaling down the evidence standards will speed up the investigations and prosecutions. This will make the military a friendly field for female because of their security will assurance in both in the short and long run.
Women in the combat would strengthen the military
Factually, diversity offers a lot of inputs in a project owing to the varied personality, a wide choice of problem-solving techniques as well as an extensive pool of talents. Impliedly, women in the military would not only strength it operations but would also inject new kind of thinking. Enlarging the applicant base would bring in women who are focused and less likely to leave the service as opposed to the all-volunteer program (Lockwood et al., 2010). Therefore, women contribution, in certain areas that men are not conversant with, would increase the national security (Cook & Bakker, 2012). For instance, delicate jobs as well as matters requiring sensitivity favor women. This would allow diplomacy and consequently solve conflict within a relatively short time. Moreover, women rate higher than men does in interpersonal skills, which will enable the military officers in gathering intelligent information from the target areas due to induced responses (Cherp & Jewell, 2011). For example, women have been quite vital in collecting information in Iraq where previously men had made little advances as shown in Institute of Medicine (U.S.). (2013). Studies have proved that women in a military drastically heighten the group intelligence as they fare well in reading people’s emotions. Social sensitivity is very valuable input in the military profession for effective identification terrorists who camouflage among the masses.
Women in the STEM a gap among gender
The underrepresentation of women in the STEM field has proved a hard nut to crack throughout the decade since it has remained high throughout as illustrated by In Henriksen, In Dillon and In Ryder (2014). Yearly surveys by the American Community Survey have shown that despite the fact that women account for almost half of the total workforce they rate poorly in STEM professions. More particularly, several findings have shown that women presence in engineering job is lowest of all the STEM jobs; this represents a significant gender gap. Several factors have contributed to this trend (Aström & Murray, 2010). Firstly, the culture has pointed female to specific careers such as business and literature while discouraging them from venturing into natural sciences jobs. Consequently, female with a high score in mathematics has avoided STEM careers while their male counterparts pursue these careers regardless of their education achievement. Secondly, women are more conscious of the family responsibilities, which takes up their time, and they end up quitting the STEM field since it is time-consuming.
Women in STEM jobs
STEM premiums and gender
STEM degrees and careers by gender
The degrees in the STEM field are varied and inclusive. They range from all types of engineers, mathematicians and statisticians, computer scientists as well as financial analysts among other careers. The study has shown that female in STEM careers tend to pursue social sciences, biology, and medical-related jobs, which translates to 58% and 48% respectively. However, the number drastically drops in the engineering (13%), computer and courses that rich in mathematics (25%) as stated by Hughes 2015.
Conclusion
The study has confirmed that active inclusion of female in the military will not only achieve social equity but will also boost both the military efficiency and effectiveness. Moreover, the investigation indicates that women should participate in the frontline services to gain the experience and apply their skills. Gender diversity in the military will make the military approaches peaceable, diplomatic and more objective as conflicts will settle more quickly. Additionally, gender diversity has brought change to the military sexual assault approaches and redefined equality in a male dominated job.
The study has also shown that there exists a wide gender gap in the STEM careers stems due to culture and rigid structures. However, women unique experiences and varied way of thinking in the STEM field of study are vital. Moreover, the study has shown that women are more attracted to non-STEM jobs for the sake of their families. Finally, the research has shown that mentorship and creation of enabling environment would bridge the STEM gender gap.
References
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