Combat Ban Wrong Move, NOW President Says

May 12, 2005

NOW President Kim Gandy criticized a House Military Personnel Subcommittee action on Tuesday that would prohibit women from serving in support units that assist in direct ground combat. With little prior notice, the measure was brought up as an amendment to the 2006 defense spending bill by House Armed Services Committee Chair Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and passed along party lines.

"We are not fooled by this Republican-led effort that supposedly would 'protect' women in the military — it is just another poorly veiled attempt to keep servicewomen from advancing to higher positions in the military," Gandy said.

Although NOW opposes the ill-advised war in Iraq, and urges the Congress to act quickly to bring home both our daughters and our sons, this ban is not a positive development for women. This broad prohibition would deny women access to thousands of positions currently open to them and would constrain their promotion to higher ranks.

Army leaders sent a letter to Congress on Wednesday criticizing the legislation, stressing that women are serving magnificently in a wide range of roles and noting that armed conflict now often has no clear front lines. According to the Washington Post, Gen. Richard A. Cody, Army vice chief of staff, said that such a prohibition "will cause confusion in the ranks and send the wrong signal to the brave young men and women fighting the Global War on terrorism."

A reorganization of the Army, beginning last year, established new "mixed-sex" forward support companies designed to be placed with combat battalions in order to more efficiently provide supplies and perform maintenance duties. Congressional Republicans assert that this change violates a 1994 military policy that bans from women from being in contact with direct ground combat units, but Army sources say that they have adjusted the re-organization to comply with the policy.

Democrats, including Reps. Loretta Sanchez (Calif.) and Cynthia McKinney (Ga.), were critical of the amendment, saying that it could worsen recruitment at a critical time for the Army and that it amounted to discrimination to bar women from serving the battlefield.

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