In America, the UK and the rest of the globe, women have continued to be counted among men in career where some men dared not think of entering:
The Armed Forces
A Report Says “In the U.S , women in the military have not only engaged in combat but are awesomely taking down conmen who try to rip people of their benefits. These women have put their lives on the line in defense of their countries, but for Donna Noble (not real name), a 20 –year old American Navy veteran, who traveled the world and raised a child while in the service, and learned that not only do things kinds of suck for ladies in uniform, these problems show no sign of changing anytime soon.
It’s easy for someone to scream and say, “well, you should know that this career is not a baby sitting job, but wait, women in the military are said to be doing a whole lot of baby sitting-this time of their bosses, at least in America and in Nigeria and parts of the UK! it’s not news!
Someone quipped: “women shouldn’t be in combat because they don’t have the iron toughness that we all know flows from the penis”. “We can’t promise to change that person’s mind, but there are reasons to convince them that women deserve to be in any profession they choose.
In America and the rest of the world, women in the armed forces are expected to perform sexual favours to get ahead. It’s not long after a women joins that she learns that some of her superiors see her as less a soldier and more of a potential date-and by “date” says one anonymous respondent, a Nigerian Amazon, “we mean “concubine”.
She is kind of a wife, too, if the relationship goes an extra mile and her promotion, demotion, or if she would maintain the status quo, depends on how well she performed her ‘conjugal roles!
The report says:
After an inspection of her performance as part of a maintenance program, Noble was told that the Inspector could promise her a better review if she went to dinner with him. Then she found out that other women on her team were told the same thing-about the same inspector. She and the other women ended up refusing, and not only did their review suffer, it was made clear they weren’t team players (we are assuming he didn’t put “team player” in innuendo quotes in his report but who knows).
“They still have this mentality of being mighty, dick –swinging warriors”, Noble says”, And have the right to rape and pillage” and if you find yourself about to say, “she has a job around at bunch of testosterone-filled alpha males, what does she expect!! Just stop and listen to what you’re saying.
Does she not have the right to be in any male dominated profession? For Noble, she says “You have right to be in this profession but don’t consult your designated military evaluator. We know what he wants to evaluate”.
Reports say 15 percent of women in the military have been pressured for sexual favours, and the government accountability office assumes the number is a lot higher with many women deciding not to report their harassment or assault because of how much of a joke the process is.
Jamie Livingstone, a six –year Navy veteran went public with a accusations that her commanding officer would hold basic paperwork necessary for her job hostage until she performed sexual favours for him. She was lucky, in that she managed to get that guy prosecuted, but unlucky in that other men were happy to step in and continue the abuse. see? they’re being team players!
In Nigeria and some other African countries, including South Africa, Uganda and neighbouring Ghana, women in the armed forces live purely ‘sneakish’ lives, marrying in secret, having babies in secret and excluding their family lives from work order, unlike their male counterparts whose family lives are part of work life and ethics.
A female police officer in Nigeria said: if you are a woman in this profession, you are married to the job and not to any known family or man. Of course, we get married, with an understanding among your bosses whom you would have properly ‘settled’ for several years on the job. You must have acted as wife to them before you truly become wife to another. And when you become pregnant, you let them know and they help you cover up in your period of weakness and nursing your baby. Life goes on! With secrecy that is even official, and most information on the development of women in the military shrouded in mystery, understanding the role, status, and treatment of women in the military becomes an integral issue, a cause of concern for gender advocates. It is also for many a cause of concern whether there should be a presence of women within institutions designed for national war-making.
“The issue is all about gender inequality not allowing women ply their trade in whatever job they care to”. Amber Toor, a Benue-based women’s rights activist stated.
A male soldier once said, and it went viral on the social media: “How can she claim equal rights when she doesn’t have to do as many push ups as I do?”, in framing of men’s opposition to women’s equality in the military.
In the military, pregnancy is a source of bias, in appraising a woman’s performance pregnant women were viewed as overly emotional, often irrational, physically limited and less than likely to carry out serious tasks.
Although these ‘rules and regulation” are not under any legal framework, yet they are a subtle reminder that in the serious work of the armed professions, women are still mere appendages to beautify the offices, and to make temperate the male libido, where necessary, not another good job where women grow by merit. This, for gender rights activists, is a punch in the gender -bridging pipe!
