Women in War

The group who presented on Women in War did an excellent job with their presentation, and I thought that they picked out great articles for the reading, articles that had a huge impact and discussed some of the biggest problems for women in times of war.

Of the three articles, I was particularly struck by the NPR article, “Reported Cases of Sexual Assault in Military Rise.” It is an issue that strikes very close to home, especially for people who have family members, including women, who serve the military. It was a painful article to read, and exposed the pain that women in the military suffer when they must face attacks both from the enemy and from the people they live, eat, and work with.

One section of the article showed the hopelessness some women feel after they experience sexual assault from a fellow platoon member:


"It's humiliating. It's degrading. Who's going to believe you? Especially in the military, when you never know who knows who," Ketora said. "In my rank I was only a lance corporal."

Of her attacker, she says, "He's the guy everybody hoorahs and gives a pat on the back. Everybody loves him. He could never do anything wrong."


There is definitely a problem with higher-ranking officials taking advantage of those who they have authority over; by implementing reporting systems that allow victims to speak with outsiders who have no ranking, the U.S. military can help the women who serve the U.S. a great deal.

I think that perhaps women in the military feel marginalized, even though they do make up a large part of the U.S. military today. When a group is marginalized, it becomes easier to harm them while justifying it in some way, whether as joking around or just “boys being boys.” But I believe that we are making strides, and the article definitely indicated that. Higher report rates show that women in the military feel more comfortable reporting sexual assault incidents and can get better medical and psychological care. Hopefully, the U.S. will take even larger steps to ensure that all the members of its military are well-taken care of and feel secure.