All Men are Created Equal
Within the military there are clear gender stereotypes that have existed for woman who
serve inside any branch of the military service. In order to look for ways to create solutions for
these issues, leaders had to get away from the stay-at-home spouse’s way of thinking.1 This
should not occur in today’s military with all the advancements that have been made for women in
the military. Now let’s look at the issue at hand. G.I. Jane, a recent graduate of Virginia Military
Institute, has applied for an officer position in a unit that routinely engages in direct combat.
Because Jane is female, her application is denied under Army Regulation 600-13. Jane rightfully
has the right to be upset that her application was denied under this rule, as this clearly violates
the Biblical equality principle.
When you have a law that targets a specific group of individuals for any type of favored
or presumes treatment it violates the Biblical equality principle. The Army used their policy
based off the Secretary of Defense Les Aspin Memorandum which stated that “women can be
assigned to all positions for which they are qualified, except that woman shall be excluded from
assignment to units below the brigade level whose primary mission is to engage in direct combat
on the ground.”2 But now the Army took it one step further by stating; Army’s assignment policy
for female soldiers allows women to serve in any officer or enlisted specialty or position except
in those specialties, positions, or units (battalion size or smaller) which are assigned a routine
mission to engage in direct combat, or which collocate routinely with units assigned a direct
combat mission.3 As you can see, the denial of Jane’s application clearly is in violation of the
1 Emma Moore, Women in Combat: Five-Year Status Update,
https://www.cnas.org/publications/commentary/women-in-combat-five-year-status-update, (last visited Apr. 10,
2022, 5:30 P.M.)
2 Aspin (1994)
3 Headquarters, U.S. Department of Army (1992, P. 1)
Biblical Equality principal because she was not placed on a level playing field solely based on
her gender and was not treated as an equal individual. These differences of equality can be seen
from the very beginning when God created man and women each different from each other but
both judged equally as seen in the Bible; “You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall
hear the small as well as the great; you shall not be afraid in any man’s presence, for the
judgement is God’s.”4 Even though these distinctions are made throughout the Army, the roles of
women have begun to make faster strides within the U.S. Military branches than that of our
society as a whole.
When you look at this specific gender issue from a Biblical worldview you can easily see
why Jane is justified on her position about her application being denied to serve within a combat
unit in the U.S. Army. Jane should be judged based upon her skill level and on her merit during
the application process in order to be treated fairly. Anyone can see that Jane was not treated the
same based off of her gender. God specifically says about gender “There is neither Jew nor
Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in
Christ Jesus.5 God believes that all mankind should be treated equally no matter who you are
because he loves us all equally. You can see this type of thinking from the highest court in the
land starting in the 1960’s. The Supreme Court has specifically applied the Equal Protection
Clause to strike down many, but not all sex distinction cases.6
Even though the courts have started ruling this way, God does guide us in scripture about
judgment, “So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. Therefore, let us not pass
judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide never to put a stumbling block or
4 Deuteronomy 1:17 (NKJV)
5 Galatians 3:28 (NKJV)
6 Herbert W. Titus, God, Man, and Law: The Biblical Principles 117 (6th ed. 2018).
hindrance in the way of a brother.”7 I believe that allowing women to serve in these types of
units goes back to the men’s role of wanting to be the “protector” and not wanting women to be
in battle but in the home. This in its self-cause’s debates in today’s society because so many
women are wanting to have the same roles as man to show that just because they are a woman it
does not limit them to do the same thing men can. But, in today’s society we see way to often
that we are judgmental on the different sex and for some reason men still feel they need to keep
the women safe. If we look at this way of thinking then you can see why you can think this
decision was just but in reality, it is not just it is unjust.
Now, in 2015 the secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced that the Army would
integrate women into combat jobs and training previously not allowed such as infantry, calvary,
and Special Forces.8Even with this change was made within the Army there is still a bias within
the Army about how the standards are being conduct. Some feel that things should not be
changed to lower the standard because one gender. Many feel that until you remove the two
standards then there will never be an even playing field.9 Even though these changes have
happened within the Army to allow individuals such as Jane to apply for the programs I still feel
that because of the standards still being applied women will still end up being excluded from
these roles within the Army.
After reviewing the different Army policies and memorandums about this topic of gender
equality, there is still seems to be a very clear objection in the gender roles to allow the change at
the senior levels throughout the Army for the inclusion of women completely. Once G.I. Jane
7 Romans 14:12-13 (ESV)
8 Elizabeth M. Trobaugh, Women, Regardless: Understanding Gender Bias in U.S. Military Integration, Joint Force
Quarterly 88, https://ndupress.ndu.edu/Publications/Article/1411860/women-regardless-understanding-gender-
bias-in-us-military-integration/ (last visited Apr. 10, 2022, 6:45 P.M.)
9 Elizabeth M. Trobaugh, Women, Regardless: Understanding Gender Bias in U.S. Military Integration, Joint Force
Quarterly 88, https://ndupress.ndu.edu/Publications/Article/1411860/women-regardless-understanding-gender-
bias-in-us-military-integration/ (last visited Apr. 10, 2022, 6:50 P.M.)
put in her application for a position within a combat unit and her application was denied under
Army Regulation 600-13 it was certainly not fairly reviewed, and because of this action it
violated the Biblical Equality principle we have learned about. Even though the policies and
standards of the Army continue to evolve tremendously in today’s society, we will never see the
same equality principals that are within the Bible, but at least these types of opportunities are
being afforded to individuals like those of G.I. Jane.
