Comments on Feminist Finance: More Job Discrimination From Uncle Sam

I would say that we should insist on having women-...

2008-05-19T20:51:00.000-05:00

I would say that we should insist on having women-in-combat in places like Iraq and Afghanistan (as opposed to simply stationed in places like Germany) to help show the native populations that women have worth and that we, Americans, respect them, so they should, too. Even if we don't...

One thing about being in the military that impress...

2008-05-14T02:12:00.000-05:00

One thing about being in the military that impresses me after having experienced civilian life is that everybody knows what everybody else is paid and it's not geared to gender. A female PFC with 18 months active duty is making the same base pay as a male PFC with 18 months active duty. From there they can also calculate what else each soldier might be earning based on the local housing allowance and any special status each soldier may have such as jump status and various kinds of hazard pay. There are a few kinds of extra pay that women can't get due to not being allowed in certain military specialties, as you already noted, but the pay information is still public, is published in the Army Times, and seems to have been posted up everywhere on military bases. Unlike in the civilian world where discussion of pay rates is often grounds for dismissal, nobody in the service is under any illusions about how their pay compares to other military servicemembers. It may seem like a small thing to you but compared to civilian life it's a pretty good deal.

The other thing is that while prejudice does somewhat get in the way of women being promoted under certain conditions, as long as you're lower enlisted (under E-5 in most cases), you get promoted to the next rank because you served the requisite amount of time. It's possible to be flagged and denied promotion if you're physically unable to perform your duties or if you get in trouble, but that doesn't happen to most soldiers, regardless of gender.

So... it's weird. A lot of discrimination goes on, but on the other hand the military is in some ways less discriminatory against women. Go figure.

Before you blame the military, bear in mind that e...

2008-05-05T09:37:00.000-05:00

Before you blame the military, bear in mind that even if every single individual in the Department of Defense was completely egalitarian in regards to sex, they still couldn't integrate combat squads because current policy on females in combat is dictated by legislative fiat. Thus, the US military is actually being more progressive than Congress says they should be. They do it out of necessity instead of principle, yes, but either way they're handling it better than Federal law technically allows them to.

This policy does seem especially muddled consideri...

2008-05-03T14:09:00.000-05:00

This policy does seem especially muddled considering that, as Bush said in 2003, "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended." Still, thousands of military personnel have died, both men and women, since then, because they are killed by roadside bombs and other non-traditional ways of combat.