The reality is that there is absolutely no intelligent, logical, sensible reason for women not to be in combat roles with the technological style of warfare that abounds today.
There are political, patriarchal, religious, and misogynistically stupid reasons to preclude women but they all belong in The Museum of Natural Idiocy next to chastity belts, urban legends, homophobia, promise creepers, senile senators, proselytizing preachers, and military machismo. The antiquated concepts that fill the closed minds of the "brotherhood of the sword", - the military establishment - with its tailhook mentality and its martenetistic attitude - have created a brain-lock that has polluted everything from the Congress to the media.
First they squawk and squeal about the strength issue - well that was disproved years ago by several studies including these:
Army researchers came up with a new study that concludes that, when a woman is correctly. trained, she can be as tough as any man.
English: The Medals of Honor awarded by each of th...
Project Morpheus: Sony's Virtual Reality
Photo of Mary Edwards WalkerThe report by the US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine at Natick, MA was led by senior analyst Everett Harman. "You don't need testosterone to get strong," Harman concluded. Through a regimen of regular jogging, weight training, and other rigorous exercise, more that 75 percent of the 41 women studied were able to prepare themselves to successfully perform duties traditionally performed by males in the military. Before training, less than 25 percent of the women were capable of performing the tasks. All but one of the females were civilian volunteers, and none had previously adopted a routine of strenuous physical activity. The women included lawyers, mothers, students, and bartenders. Several had recently had children and thought the training would put them back in shape. They were unaware that their performance might eventually be used to topple one of the last citadels of bias against...