Issues Women Face in the Military

The military is an important institution to explore because it effects women’s lives in numerous ways. As an employer, the military has the power to both empower and oppress women like many other institutions. Although the military has given women leadership positions, it has also been the source of vast sexualized violence and harassment. In 1991, more than one hundred Navy officers sexually assaulted dozens of women without one conviction. Five years later a series of sexual assaults occurred at the Aberdeen Proving Ground that led to charges against a dozen Army drill instructors. These are just two of the cases of thousands of reported and unreported cases of assault that occur every year. In this way, the military presents itself as an example of an institution that plays out the power struggle between men and women. This is a dangerous problem because the military has a large influence on the workings of the state. The policies in the military often reflect many of those in the government.