Cover Story
by Emily Kurtz
1812
First record of women at sea--war of 1812. U.S. ships' logs show women serving as contract nurses.
1938
Naval Reserve Act allows for enrollment of qualified women.
1942
Public Law 689 includes the Women's Auxiliary Reserve, later known as Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service.
1948
Public Law 625 Women's Armed Services Integration Act, allows women to enter the U.S. Navy in active or reserve status. Women can only constitute 2 percent of total force.
1967
Public Law 90130 eliminates the 2 percent ceiling on enlisted women.
1978
Navy begins Women in Ships Program.
Source: http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/people/women/winhist.html
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Women in the military lack necessary strength
Sharon Medley worked on a Navy supply ship. -Sharon Medley, photo
"I can't pick up a man and throw him over my shoulder and haul him out of a space that was flooding where he was injured," former Petty Officer 1st Class Sharon Medley said. "And I don't know of many women who could."
When Medley, a Multnomah Biblical Seminary student, first joined the U.S. Navy 11 years ago, she thought she could do just as much as any man could do. She now believes the Navy has made a mistake in enlisting so many women in its ranks.
As of June, 2003, 54,814 women were in active duty in the Navy, according to The Women's Memorial website. Another 17,827 were in the reserves. In the U.S. military as a whole--including the Army, Marine Corps, Navy and Air Force--212,178 women were on active duty, and 149,811 were in the reserves. Women account for 15 percent of active-duty military personnel.
At age 32, Medley joined the Navy shortly after going through a divorce. "I didn't have any real skills or education to speak of," she said. "I thought to myself, 'Well, if I don't try now, I'll always wonder.'"
Once on board a ship, Medley's views on women in the military changed drastically. While working on deck one day, she and other co-workers were assigned to carry 25 cans of regular and non-skid paint from the sixth deck to the 02 level, approximately eight ladder wells up. "If you can picture a regular ladder with steps, that's what it's like on the ship," Medley said.
Each 5-gallon can of regular paint weighed 50 pounds. The non-skid cans of paint weighed 90 pounds. "There's an instruction in the Navy that says women cannot lift more than 50 pounds," Medley said.
The women assigned to carry the paint refused, leaving one man to carry all 25 cans. Medley helped, but said she had to use both hands to carry one can while the man picked up a can in one hand and carried another over his shoulder.
Medley used this example to illustrate one of the main problems with having a large number of women in the military: The majority of women do not have as much physical strength as men, a fact many people have trouble accepting.
Although a few women are as strong as men, both Medley and Air Force Staff Sgt. Blaine Bronson said this is uncommon. Medley said, "The fact is the military relies on strength to a great degree."
Staff Sgt. Bronson, a Multnomah Bible College student, said: "It's not discrimination; it's a matter of physical capability."
Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Turner of the U.S. Army said, "It's not that women can't serve, but as far as the physical demands, it would be more difficult for a woman than a man merely because of body types."
The last ship Medley served on was a supply ship that provided other ships with food, fuel and other necessities. Medley recalled two women complaining that their loads were too heavy. The women said they needed a man to help them.
"If they had stuck a man in there," Medley said, "not only would that man have had to do his job, but he also would have had to do the job of two other people."
Other incidences where women could not do the job because they lacked the necessary strength occurred often on the ship, especially when doing fire control.
Time cannot be wasted, Medley said. "The faster you can do the job, the better and safer it is for you and the crew. If you've got a P-100," a portable engine-driven pump designed for fire fighting, "and it takes three women vs. one man to carry it up a ladder or to take it where it needs to be, one, it takes you triple the man- power; two, it takes an additional amount of time to get there. And that's dangerous."
When fighting fires or wars or in other emergency situations, all the crew is involved, regardless of where they work. "When all hands are on deck, all hands are on deck," Staff Sgt. Bronson said. "Big hands, little hands. You gotta do it."
Having such a large number of women decreases the military's efficiency in regard to strength, Medley said.
Another weakness Medley sees with having a large number serving in the Navy is the numerous relationships that occur onboard.
While on duty, she worried that the people involved in relationships would not do their jobs in critical situations but would focus instead on saving those they were dating.
"Instinctively, we try to protect, and we don't have time for that," Staff Sgt. Bronson said. Even when soldiers are not in relationships, he said, being in combat with women can have psychological impacts. "It's kind of like sticking up for your little sister when you should be about other business."
Medley found that women also use their looks to get men to do their jobs for them. Not only does this decrease the amount of work that is done, Medley said, but it also hurts morale, especially for women who aren't as attractive as others, and men who watch women don't do their jobs.
She does not think that the military should eliminate all women in their ranks. She said women are very efficient at some jobs. Staff Sgt. Bronson said these vital jobs are in support roles such as supply, mechanics, electronics, air traffic control, medicine and logistics.
Sgt. 1st Class Turner, who has been in the Army for 16 years, said women bring a different dynamic to the military, an important dynamic that was lacking when the military was completely male.
Medley said the military needs to look seriously at the impact of so many women serving. "You don't need to find these things out after you're in a war, and you're getting your butt whopped because half of your crew is women, and they can't do the job," Medley said. "That's not the time to find out.
"I hate to put us back in the 1920s when women couldn't get jobs just because they were women," Medley said. She believes a place for women in the military exists but said military leaders need to be realistic about where that place is.
Retired Air Force Master Sgt. Stephen Glass said, "The underlying objective of the military is to defend and protect the United States, which means to be ready at a moment's notice and to, if necessary, inflict destruction on an aggressor."
For Medley, the bottom line is whether women serving is beneficial because the military is all about security for the country. "You can't undermine that to please some people's egos," she said.
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