Australia Will Open Combat Roles to Women

LaShonda Williams
Blog # 5
October 2,2011


Australian women are finally allowed to stand beside men and fight in front line combat roles. This will make Australia one of few countries that are allowing women to fight in combat and special force units. Defense Minister Steven Smith proposed dropping the restrictions in April after a series of military scandals. One extreme scandal involved a male cadet at the Australian Defense Force Academy, showing a video of him and a female cadet having sex via Skype without her knowledge. The move was also supported by Prime Minister Julia Gillard the country’s first female leader. Mr. Smith states that from this point on, a person’s role in the forces will be determined not by their gender but by their ability to perform. Women already played a huge role in the Australian military which sent 2,000 troops to fight in Iraq. As of August, 335 women were serving on the overseas operations. Military say’s that about 93 percent of positions are open to women under the current policy but many combat roles have remained closed. However under the new plan those restrictions are dropped. Australia now joins Canada, Israel, and New Zealand as countries that have no restrictions on were women can serve.
The social issue being addressed is that women should be allowed the same rights as men to serve where ever they choose to. No part of the Armed forces should be shut off to women just because they females. Women in the United States are also restricted from joining certain parts of the armed forces such as combat roles, including infantry, and special forces. This shows that women still have not gained all of their rights in the United States and surrounding countries. Governments always talk about change but never seem to implement any. Women who are in armed forces are already in danger so they should be allowed to decide which part of the forces they would like to join based off of their skills and abilities to perform task. If a woman has what it takes there is no reason as to why she shouldn’t be allowed to fight for her country.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/28/world/asia/australia-will-allow-women-to-serve-in-frontline-combat.html?ref=women