Women in the armed forces?

I found the ongoing controversy about whether there should be women in the armed forces a bit ... amusing.

A career politician lashing out at something a career soldier said, and the politician implying that the soldier doesn't know anything about the army and should leave policy to the politicians.

Well, OK, it didn't happen quite like that; but the above is what it sounded like to me.

Gender equality is a funny notion. Especially when people start taking the equality part a bit too seriously. If we were all equal then there wouldn't be any debate over equality, would there? Everyone would think the same way, behave in the same manner, and do exactly the same things.

Prejudice is perhaps a better word. Making decisions about a person's worth or capabilities or shortcomings based on a generalization.

But here too we hit a wall. Generalizations can come in handy. "Indians live in India", would not be completely accurate, but making that kind of assumption about an Indian is perhaps valid (till he tells you otherwise).

Here we come across the gender based generalizations - "women are physically weaker than men". Is that always true? Certainly, women weight lifters and wrestlers might be physically stronger than many men. But a few exceptions do not invalidate the usefulness of the generalization. The trick is to decide how much is a "few", how many are "negligible". "Men refuse to ask for directions"? "Women can't keep secrets?"

One wonders how many of the strident female voices shouting for equality would be willing to take over all the roles of men. Being the sole bread winner, putting up with a nagging spouse, er... come home drunk and beat the spouse and kids, etc.

Jesting aside, I see so many women who prefer to live in comfort off the earnings of their men, and perform the "household" chores like a dutiful housewife. Interestingly, most men don't even have that choice.

Should women be "allowed" to join the armed forces and participate in combat? I don't know. It would be a fearsome sight indeed, a line of ladies charging down the hillside with guns and war cries. On the other hand, I can see how a handful of females in a million strong army could pose problems. In our jargon, they would be corner cases and would need special handling.

Case in point - call centre cabs. They apparently have rules about a girl not being the last person to be dropped off. Corner case with special handling. For safety's sake. Why don't I see anyone protesting this? Don't women have the "right" to be treated as any other poor geek and be dropped off at the nearest traffic light? What happens if the whole cab is full of girls? What happens if the cab is full of girls and one man?

Gender equality? Would the girls at work accept being hit on the back like I do with the guys? Would they stay back till 1 o'clock in the night to finish off some code like the guys do?

I would suggest trying to improve the participation of women in the normal work force before hitting out at the army. And reservations for women are NOT what I mean!

To be very crude about it, men have proved over millenia that they are stronger, faster, more agressive, perhaps dumber (at least dumb enough to accept orders without question) and hence thoroughly suited for fighting each other. If women want in on the fighting, they should prove themselves (that means more than being shrews at home). The question of treatment of women PoWs is still open.