Week 7 - Gender and the Military

            Unfortunately, I do not know anyone that has been a part of the military, so I cannot comment from personal experience how gender played into a military position. In general, though, the military is an extremely male-dominated society. Joining the military is widely considered a very masculine thing to do. For any woman that joins that world, she often feels out of place and has to work particularly hard to prove that she can keep up with the men. There was some discussion of lowering the physical standards of soldiers to accommodate women. But most people in the military argued against this, saying the standards should be kept consistent for all. It will be harder for women to meet the standards due to natural differences in the human build. Nonetheless, most felt that all the soldiers should be on equal grounds, physically, without considering genders.

            Being married to someone in the military is hard, no matter who it is. The person who is not in the military will likely have to travel from base to base, trying to keep a career while taking care of any children. The person will also be waiting for his or her significant other’s return, hoping that the person will, in fact, return at all. Additionally, the long distance puts significant strain on the relationship. Media like TV shows and movies like to use the idea of a military wife, but rarely do you see a military husband. The classic military wife has a woman at home, trying to get by while worrying that her husband will never return from the military. The military husband, conversely, would be a man who stays home while the wife goes to the military. We hear stories about military wives with decent regularity, but military husbands are nearly invisible. Perhaps that is because society believes a man should be able to take care of himself and stay strong all on his own, while a woman needs comfort and friends to get through the tough times, as per the traditional gender roles.

            The media presents male soldiers as brave souls who are there to defend their country. There’s nothing unusual about a man joining the military, and in fact he is often lauded for his decision. On the other hand, a woman enlisting is an oddity, and the media will often portray her as almost an outcast. Many will highly question her decision, and wonder if she is “tough enough” for the military. If the media depicts a woman in the military, she is often striving to be better than her fellow men, so that no one can question if she’s “man enough” for the job.