International Comparison of Women's Participation in the Military Service in the U.S. And Korea

Abstract

In this paper, an international comparison of women’s participation in the military service in the U.S. and Korea is made. In the U.S., the role of the modern warrior becomes more gender neutral than at any time in the past. In fact, a more relevant and interesting question may be how and where women can best serve in the new wars that require technical competency and non-traditional military operations such as peacekeeping, humanitarian intervention, and the business of post-war reconstruction rather than whether women should be fully integrated into the armed services. Women’s participation in the Korean armed forces will be increasing because socioeconomic structure is gradually moving toward more opportunity for women in the labor force and economic equity between genders. Although there is still resistance to changing the gender roles within the family and in the society, military utilization of females can contribute to forming a new military culture in the sense that women may contribute to narrowing the distance between the military organization and civil society.