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https://theconversation.com/how-the-us-war-on-woke-and-women-risks-weakening-its-own-military-capability-255710>
"With US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s “proud” cancellation this week of
the military’s Women, Peace and Security (WPS) program, the “war on woke” has
found its latest frontier – war itself.
Stemming from a United Nations Security Council resolution in 2000, the WPS
initiative aimed to increase the participation of women in public institutions,
including in the security sector and in peace-making roles.
The WPS agenda aims to better understand how women, men, boys and girls
experience war, peace and security differently. It increases operational
effectiveness and supports the underlying goal of gender equality, described by
the UN as the “number one predictor of peace”.
In the military context, it emphasises the need to increase the participation
of women and to better protect non-combatant women in war, particularly from
the prevalence of conflict-related sexual violence.
The decision to end the program as part of a wider war on diversity, equity and
inclusion seems to assume national security and military power are incompatible
with the promotion of racial and gender equality.
In other words, it assumes certain types of people aren’t really cut out to be
“warfighters”. And it asserts that anything other than basic skill (such as
weapons handling) undermines readiness and ability in warfare.
History and the available evidence suggest both ideas are wrong.
The archetypal warrior envisaged by Hegseth and others is one who relies on
very traditional concepts of what constitutes a warrior and who that might be:
not female, definitely not transgender, ideally also not gay.
Recent bans on transgender personnel in the US military, the removal of
mandatory mental resilience training, and the “disappearance” from US museums
and memorials of the records of the military contribution of women and
minorities, reinforce these ideas.
The ideal soldier, according to the new doctrine, is straight, white,
physically fit, stoic and male. Yet people of all stripes have served their
countries ably and with honour. "
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
