A new report from the United States Army Special Operations Command has found that women in special forces face blatant sexism.
“The research team captured a significant number of overtly sexist comments from male service members primarily focused on an aversion to females entering the field,” the report said. One male soldier told researchers that “females have no place on a team. It’s an unnecessary wrench in a perfectly functional system in the name of ‘political correctness.’ This trend is another factor that has systematically blunted the tip of the spear.”
In 2015, all combat positions in the Army were opened to women. Today, there are about, 2,300 women in Army special forces units, about 8 percent of the total. Some 40 percent of all women in the special forces reported in a survey they had been impacted by gender bias. Later focus groups hinted that the percentage was probably much higher but many women were reluctant to acknowledge the sexist behavior in fear of it impacting their career path.
In addition, 44 percent of women in the special forces said they had problems with ill-fitting equipment that negatively impacted their ability to do their jobs.
Gen. Jonathan Braga, commander of U.S. Army Special Operations Command, stated that he was disappointed by some of the findings in the report. The general stated that he is “committed to addressing these issues with candor and transparency. We have got a long way to go to change the culture.”