On Women in Frontline Combat<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Caroline Lewis
 
 
            The issue of women in frontline combat is once again in the news. On one hand, it appears to be fair to allow women the same positions as men. But on the other hand, placing them on the frontlines of battle is a little disconcerting. There used to be protections for women in combat, such as disallowing them from being sent to the frontlines. However, in 1994, the Defense Department under President Clinton abandoned that rule. Allen Carlson observes that, "no other nation has ever put so many women in or near combat."[1] Now, why, do nations generally prefer men in combat rather than women? And furthermore, why do they deem it a good thing for women to stay home?
 
            The answer to this question is more than just "that's what they did when my mama was growing up." It goes back to a fundamental issue that all nations face in a time of war: demographics. Following the First World War, thousands of men throughout <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Europe were killed, creating a huge inequality of the ratio of men to women. You see, following most wars, there is an unequal ratio of men to women. Yet there are generally enough men and women to bear children and keep the generations going.  If you put all your men and your women out on the frontlines, then you may run the risk of exterminating your whole country. Now this would happen in an extreme case. Granted, there are enough women in this country that are not on the front lines of combat who can bear children in order to keep our country's demographics on a pretty good ground…maybe.
 
            The problem arises in that our own country is in the midst of demographic change. We are already facing the impending doom of what some have called a "demographic winter."  While many people tout the problems of "overpopulation," the truth is that in the past 30 years fertility rates have dropped worldwide. In America, today, birthrates are lower than they were in the Great Depression, even. [2] Thus, the question that remains is, "if we truly are in a demographic crisis back home, why are we sending our women to the front lines?"  
 
 
 
 
 

Caroline Lewis is an undergraduate student at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, pursuing a degree in History. She is also an intern with "Point of View" radio talk show, a nationally-syndicated live radio program which focuses on issues and current events from a Chistian perspective. 

[1] Perkins, Tony. "No Sign of Retreat on Women in Combat." Tony Perkins' Washington Update.  May 12, 2008.

[2] Kurtz, Stanley.  "Demographics and the Culture War".  The Policy Review.  The Hoover Institution.  February and March 2005.