Women in Combat vs Women at War

“There are years that ask questions and years that answer.”
― Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God

On Thursday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced the end of an era when he said that women would no longer be barred from combat positions in the military.  There has been a lot of talk about what will change.  Women have been on the front lines for more than two wars, engaged with the enemy and have in fact, lost their lives over the span of these past few decades.  Women have seen combat, but the official ban was lifted, and that counts for something.  It counts as we look at the possibility of a military career for women.  It counts if we’re looking at a Defense Department that is now moving more in sync with reality and the natureof war.  This change matters if you are looking at the long game of women’s equality.  Where I hope it will matter most, however, is in the military’s response to the overwhelming number of women who are raped while serving their country.

It is a statistic that should make you sick to your stomach: a woman in the military is more likely to be raped than a civilian woman.  One in three military women has been assaulted.  Compare that to the national statistic of one in six civilians, and your head will start to hurt.  Who is attacking women in the military?  More than half of the assaults reported were military on military.  According to The Huffington Post, a servicewoman was nearly 180 times more likely to have become a victim of military sexual assault (MSA) in the past year than to have died while deployed during the last 11 years of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.

From that same article:

According to the most recent report by the Pentagon's Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office, 3,192 sexual assaults were reported out of an estimated 19,000 -- roughly 52 a day -- between Oct. 1, 2010, to Sept. 31, 2011. The department estimates that only roughly 14 percent of the assaults were reported. The majority of sexual assaults each year are committed against service members by service members, SAPRO reports. While MSA does not affect only women, the office characterizes the "vast majority" of victims as female junior enlists under the age of 25, and the "vast majority" of perpetrators as male, older (under the age of 35) and generally higher-ranking.

Why is this problem so rampant?  Why aren’t you talking about this over cocktails at a dinner party?  Well, like rapes on civilian women, these rapes go largely unreported.  But for an added bonus incentive to would-be rapists in military fatigues, you will likely not be punished.  Story after story comes out of the barracks about these women, who suffered the worst abuse at the hands of fellow soldiers only to be ridiculed, persecuted, and ultimately relieved of duty while their attackers remain in good standing with the military. 

If you have the stomach for it, I would recommend the documentary “The Invisible War.”  There are a lot of parts that could be triggers, however, if you have a history of your own to consider.  No one asks for this, but I find these cases particularly heartbreaking.  Don’t forget: these are women who are also serving their country.  Who are also bravely fighting, and must also work very hard to stay safe from enemy attack.  This is not what they signed on for and this should not be their fate.

If you are comfortable with the language that says that there is an American war on women, this is another frontline.  If you are willing to say that, women have seen bloody combat for years.  Our human decency has also seen the causalities.  But thank you, Mr. Panetta for trying.  Maybe there’s another, more secret policy of rape culture in the military that we can phase out for good, too.  Will this be the year we finally answer that question?