Weathering the Storm

The recent article in Vogue depicting women in Iraq and Afghanistan leaves an unpleasant taste in the mouth of any female with wishes of being a mother. It's an unthinkable dilemma: being forced to predict your own future and decide whether you should forgo the armed forces in the chance that you could have a child and still be asked to leave. Although it is impossible to rate every situation, one fact is clear. Women, like it or not, are going to work HARDER for equality than men. Why? Because we started out as less than and are in a sense taking the majority from those that always had it. Is it worth it? Absolutely.

Soldiers are faced with tremendous physical obstacles, but until women have gone to war, there has been less emphasis on the emotional ramifications. Some may think this is because women can't take living in a conflict zone, but that is untrue. Men are just better at hiding it. I have many family members (all male) from a military background. Do they have some emotional issues attached to the horrible things they have seen in other countries? Absolutely. Women on the front lines have opened up a whole new field of understanding.

Furthermore, a woman at war is sorely missed at home. It is often said it takes a whole village to raise a child, but it becomes apparent just how much of that village is made of mothers when a few are overseas. Hopefully this also means that men are stepping up to be two parents. What is truly sad is the case of Alexis Hutchinson, a single mother faced with the choice of fulfilling her duties overseas or risking arrest by preventing her child being released to foster care. That is an example of an extreme discrepancy in our system. Let's face it, women are the ones having babies and sadly, are often taking care of them. What kind of career system punishes a woman for being a responsible mother? In this type of scenario, females and soldiers and equality will never see the light.

I have mentioned this in previous articles, but the fact remains that although career equality and social equality are possible, physical equality is not. It's heartbreaking to read of women purposely not washing their hair in fear that the smell of a "Clean American Woman" will mean sexual assault or trafficking. There should be an increased focus on self defense and perhaps added weaponry such as mace. I am not familiar with the military's response to these issues, but I have a feeling they are less substantial.

These women deserve nothing but our unflinching support, as do any soldiers. They are not failing mothers or irresponsible. They are providers, making the tough decisions necessary to create a better life for their family when they return home. If that isn't deserving of equality and respect I don't know what is.