Combat Soldiers & Clergywomen: Problematic Equality

[cbayer]

http://www.religiondispatches.org/archive/sexandgender/6785/combat_soldiers___clergywomen__problematic_equality/

January 24, 2013
By MARY E. HUNT
Mary E. Hunt
Mary E. Hunt, Ph.D., is a feminist theologian who is co-founder and co-director of the Women's Alliance for Theology, Ethics and Ritual (WATER) in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. A Roman Catholic active in the women-church movement, she lectures and writes on theology and ethics with particular attention to liberation issues.



I was saving my enthusiasm for welcoming women into combat roles for the day when Roman Catholic women are ordained validly and licitly as priests. I am equally ambivalent about both.

Celebration of another barrier overcome is tempered by the fact that I oppose combat as much as I oppose sexism. Likewise, I reject a hierarchical, clerical priestly model of the Church as much as I reject exclusion of women from its leadership caste.

In both cases, the change on paper reflects what has long been the case. Men on the front lines do not fight modern warfare as women wait to feed and nurse them when necessary. Today’s military is an integrated force with units doing what needs to be done without looking under their fatigues for signs of gender.

The rules against women in combat served mostly to keep women from advancing up through the ranks; because they did not serve an official combat tour of duty, women were ineligible for certain promotions. Legal action forced the policy shift. Old canards about women being weaker go out the window when some best their brothers in training and at the service academies. Besides, the emphasis on teamwork means that brute strength and a sharp brain will get the job done.

more at link

[dimbear]

1. It's simple why we have women in combat and none as Catholic priests. The government

answers to the people.