Essay Sample: African American Women in the Military

African American Women in the Military Today

African American women are a renowned gender that has exhibited their prolific roles and duties towards serving during war despite their non-combatant consideration by other ethnic races and tribes in the military. Normally, most cultures acknowledge male gender as the more superior and combatant people to offer fighting and leadership service during the war. However, African American women have received holistic recognition in fighting at the side of men in provision of military service. In the American public combat, women are not only seen as leading in a war just like men but also performing other duties such as nursing and giving first aid (Barbee, 1993). Initially, women were regarded as inferior leaders of the war by the society. This has provided very bold controversial perspective of people about the roles of African American women as leaders in the military (Orr, 2002). In the contemporary society particularly in the United States of America, the rate of women recruitment in the military departments has significantly increased (Royster, 2000). As such, many states such as in the western armies also been seen expanding the positions of women in the military.

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On the other hand, some cultures have perceived women to be of unstable gender that is not fit to provide administrative roles in the military. The military is considered sensitive for women incorporation. This could be related to a recent study that portrays women as the gender with more casualties during military combats. As a result, they have been less appropriate for weapon infantry. In other quarters, women have also been perceived to be slow in their operations, ostensibly due to their tactical motion in operating weapons. This disqualifies them from being effective leaders as compared to their male counterparts in the military. The biological processes that women go through have also been used against them in their pursuit for military leadership. Some pundits are of the view that pregnancy can deny a woman a chance to exercise effectively. Based on these observations, it clear that there are several odds against women joining and being effective leaders in military ranks. While some of these reasons could have some elements of truth, majority of them are perceptions. With the right perception towards women can be effective leaders in the military. They have succeeded elsewhere.

References

Barbee, E. L., & Little, M. (1993). African-American Woman. Theorizing Black feminisms. The visionary pragmatism of Black women, 182.

Orr, S. T., James, S. A., & Prince, C. B. (2002). Maternal prenatal depressive symptoms and spontaneous preterm births among African-American women in Baltimore, Maryland. American journal of epidemiology, 156(9), 797-802.

Royster, J. J. (2000). Traces of a stream: Literacy and social change among African American women. University of Pittsburgh Pre.