United States needs to choose American women over Saudi relations
Paul Sampson
Rocky Mountain Collegian
FORT COLLINS, Colo.
Being a woman in the military has never been easy.
In 1847, during the Mexican War, a woman named Elizabeth Newcume fought — dressed as a man — against Indians. She served 10 months before her superiors realized she was a woman and booted her out. It took an act of Congress to pay her the money she'd earned.
Women in war have come a long way since then. During World War I, women were allowed to enlist and do secretarial work to "free a man to fight." Today, they work everywhere men do except in front-line combat units, Special Forces and submarines.
But even where they can serve, things aren't always equal. Just ask the Air Force's highest-ranking female fighter pilot.
Lt. Col. Martha McSally filed suit this week to overturn military policy regarding women in Saudi Arabia. Female troops there cannot leave base unless escorted by a man, can't drive and must wear a head-to-toe garment called an abayas. McSally says the policy is discriminatory and violates her religious freedom by forcing her to adhere to another religion instead of her own.
The military takes a different view. It says the policy is important to protect women from being harassed and to keep from offending their Saudi hosts. The second reason certainly has merit — some Saudi Arabians want their government to expel U.S. troops from Saudi soil. Offending the local population can only make things worse.
"You don't want to move into a country and do the ugly American thing like we're in charge here," said Army Lt. Col. Jackson Self, a Colorado State University professor of military science.
Yet Self, who has served in Saudi Arabia, empathizes with American women in the country. "They can't go out to eat at some places — they have to stand outside and be served through a window," he said.
"Men can go inside."
"Every woman I knew there complained about it," said my brother, Air Force Tech Sgt. Scott Sampson, who also did time in Saudi.
Men don't have it so grand there either. Want to read your Bible? You can't unless it's small enough to fit in your pocket. Want to have a beer or read "Playboy?" Forget it. Want to wear a short-sleeved shirt in the hot Saudi sun? Not if there are tattoos on your arms.
But as restrictive as the rules are for men, they are worse for women. On one flight line where my brother worked, the men were allowed to wear T-shirts. Women couldn't take off their jackets.
After work, men could wear a tank top while playing basketball. Women couldn't show their arms. And that was on the base, not in town.
Cultural sensitivity is one thing. Oppression is another.
Some people claim military policies favor women over men. For example, they don't have to do as many push-ups and can wear their hair longer. Thus, they reason women in Saudi Arabia should suck it up and take one for the team.
The problem with such logic is this: Allowing women to meet a separate physical standard acknowledges they are different. Forcing them to live by Islamic regulations suggests they are inferior. That's something no American woman should have to live with.
The defense department should change its myopic policy pronto. Until this nation's servicewomen are treated equally in Saudi Arabia, they shouldn't be stationed there unless they volunteer. The government needs to show McSally and the rest of its female troops at least the same respect it gives the Saudi government.
This column first appeared on Dec. 6, 2001 in the Rocky Mountain Collegian, the newspaper of Colorado State University. It is reprinted here courtesy of U-WIRE.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Viewpoint Stories for Monday, December 10, 2001
