Something that continues to astonish me is how other guys I meet still bother to tell me all about how women are naturally unsuited to fight in a war and shouldn’t be allowed to. Moreover, that having women in a military unit would be a distraction to the men. Apparently, the sound of bombs exploding through the area wouldn’t be enough to detract men from staring at their female comrade's ass.
My guess is that anyone who is well enough versed in history would know that there are plenty of examples of women demonstrating both bravery and ferocity. So, when a friend asked me my opinion on whether or not women would be useful in combat I said it’s not a matter of opinion. It’s a matter of historical fact. Here are my top examples:
1. Celtic Warrior Women in Britain
The ancient Celts who inhabited Britain before the Romans took over lived in gender equal tribal societies. For every male warrior, there’d be a female there just has brave and just as ferocious. The most famous was Boudica, queen (more equivalent to chieftain) of the Iceni tribe, who led a rebellion against the Romans. She led her warbands from the front and fought with them side by side. While her forces were eventually defeated, she succeeded in destroying an entire legion and sacking two major cities.
2. Women in the Haitian Revolution
In 1791 on the French colony of St Domingue, the only successful slave revolution in history took place. The Haitian slaves, with the help of Polish mercenaries, overthrew their French masters and established the island nation we know today. This was made possible largely because of the women slaves who made up %30 of the Haitian fighters. Like their male brothers in arms, the slave women were tough, organized, and evidently very effective at combating the French forces. Notably, Sanite Belair who served as a lieutenant in her husband's force. When captured by the French, she courageously refused to wear a blindfold before being executed by decapitation.
3. The League of Women in the Irish Rebellion
In Easter week of 1916, the Irish rebellion took hold of several key positions in Dublin with the intent of establishing an Irish republic free from British tyranny. Of the 1,250 rebels, there were 200 women combatants who played a crucial role in withstanding the onslaught of 16,000 British soldiers. Many of these women were part of the Cumann na mBan (the League of Women) and were proficient in the use of small arms and guerrilla tactics. A lot of these women acted as snipers and some even volunteered for a near suicidal demolitions mission. During the conflict, every key position was garrisoned by both men and women. According to an article in the Irish Times (The Forgotten Role Of Women In The Irish Rebellion), one group holding Boland's Mill had a commander who refused to allow women to join him. Apparently, they didn't hold out as well as the rest of the rebel force.
4. Soviets in World War Two
Any half decent historian will tell you that it was the Soviet Union who played the biggest part in winning WW2. And the Soviets had very few issues about letting women into combat roles. Over 800,000 Soviet women served against the Nazis. 89 of those women were decorated for their heroism. They were fighters, flyers, techies, field medics, and snipers. Lyudmila Pavlichenko was a Ukrainian graduate student in 1941 when the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union and she immediately volunteered for front line action. She became one of the most famous snipers in history with 309 confirmed kills, 36 of which were enemy snipers.
5. Rukhsana Kausar
This one is incredible. In 2009, in a small village in northern India, a band of armed militants armed with AK-47’s burst into the house of an 18-year-old girl named Rukhsana Kauser who had escaped from them two months prior. While hiding under the bed, her parents were ceased by the militants who started bashing the parents with their rifle butts. Rukhsana and her brother burst out from underneath the bed. Her brother, Eijaz, struck the militant commander with an ax while Rukhsana grabbed another militant by the hair and smashed his head against the wall and then hit him with an ax. She then picked up an AK-47 and shot the commander in the head, then threw another AK to her brother and then the two of them engaged in a four-hour gunfight with the militants that drove them away. When interviewed, Rukhsana said, "I thought I should try the bold act of encountering militants before dying."
If all of these examples don't convince you.....well then I'm at a loss for words. I mean, how many men do women have to kill before you realize that women are just as combat effective as men?
I'm not trying to serve some sort of feminist agenda. I've written this because if I'm in a war, I want as many soldiers as possible with me, regardless of gender. That also extends to most things in life which require a team effort. If women are expected to be citizen's of their country then at the very least they should be allowed to defend their country.
