Women in Combat

                           Ref: En.wikipedia.org (1995) Xena - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xena [Accessed: 9 Mar 2012].

            I was recently reading about the Pentagon’s decision to allow women to fight closer to the front lines in combat, creating approximately 14 000 more jobs for women in the military, though not completely opening the field for women (Greene, 2012). To be honest, while I knew there were likely social obstacles for women in the military, I didn’t realize we were still structurally inhibited from certain parts of military action.

            After reading and thinking about this I heard Rick Santorum, GOP candidate, announce he did not support the Pentagon’s decision as women's emotions could get in the way or men may feel the need to act chivalrous on the battle front (Greene, 2012). This really blew my mind because, apart from being just plain sexist, it completely structured gender in a binary definition.

            In Anthropology, we study and acknowledge the fact that gender is culturally negotiated and is the result of an intersection of different cultural identities, beliefs and values. To prove Santorum wrong (for my own satisfaction) I started to look for examples of recognized female warriors in the archaeological record, which did not fit the strict gender norms Santorum outlined. Hey, if they could do it, why can’t we?

            In my search I came across Alexis Jordan’s paper I Am No Man: A Study of Warrior Women in the Archaeological Record (2009, pg. 94-111). Jordan does an excellent job of breaking down the “various female warrior manifestations” (2009, pg.95) cross-culturally and giving examples. The cases she acknowledges include women born into elite statuses, “appendage syndrome” (where a woman replaces or is an extension of an elite male), “honorary male syndrome” (woman takes on male role in community), and “symbolic warriors” (monarchs such as Elizabeth I, etc.) (Jordan, 2009). Women were filling all of these roles throughout history as combatants, acknowledged by their communities.

            Jordan then breaks down how these women were identified in the archaeological record through grave goods, historical records, trauma to the remains, etc.. A complete breakdown of this analysis and examples she provides may be found through the reference provided. This provides the physical evidence for women in the role of warriors/combatants.

            Overall, Jordan shows that in many instances throughout history and in the archaeological record, women are found in the role of warrior, and often seem to be celebrated in that role. This does not necessarily mean that they identified as male or female in terms of gender, but were socially recognized as capable in the warrior role regardless of sex. Somehow they seemed to manage without their feelings getting in the way, so why, Mr. Santorum, can't women today?

            Some talking points that arise out of this for me are: What are your thoughts on female warriors in the archaeological record? What are some examples you can think of? What obstacles and issues are raised when looking for evidence of females in combat? To what extent do western value systems permeate research into gender differences in regards to combative roles?

References:

1. Chicago Tribune News (2012) Santorum Says Emotions Too Strong to Allow Women in Front-line Combat: GOP hopeful responds to Pentagon announcement of expanded role of women in combat. [online] Available at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-201202131152usnewsusnwr201202100210santorumfemalesfeb13,0,589786.story [Accessed: March 9th, 2012].

2. Jordan, A. (2009) I Am No Man: A Study of Warrior Women in the Archaeological Record. Field Notes: A Journal of Collegiate Anthropology, 1 (1), p.94-111.