The Trivialization of Gender and Its Impact on Combat Effectiveness

Military leaders grappling with the transformation of the military must have an understanding of the ideology behind the drive for complete gender integration of the military. Its essence is not fairness or equity, as is commonly suggested, but rather the trivialization of gender differences. The claim that to the contrary gender does matter is remarkably resistant, even after twenty-five years of an aggressive program of gender integration. If true, the reality of gender provides a basis for a rational and legitimate continuation of war fighting as a gender specific activity. Thus, despite changing social imperatives and the demonstrated performance of women in the service the central issue remains - are combat organizations better served by gender integration and the attendant trivialization of gender? In order to bring fresh perspective to the issue, principles of complexity theory are applied to the question. In this context, it is evident that disregarding the essential nature of gender differences and their impact on relationships adversely effects a combat organization's ability to deal with the stress and chaos of war. The paper concludes that unrestricted gender integration is not in the best interest of the military or the society that it serves.