Commander Mom
March 9, 2010
IN 1991, the then Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Frank Kelso, expressed the view that women shouldn’t serve on warships. “There is a delicate balance between equal opportunity for men and women and maintaining combat effectiveness of our forces,” he said.
Adm. Kelso is long gone. Those were the olden days. Now women serve in high ranking positions and the average crew is more than 10 percent female. Not all women in command are as mean as Captain Holly. Here is a Time magazine story from 2000 about Commander Kathleen McGrath, whom by all accounts was well-liked. She has since died of lung cancer.
The temperament of women who assume the helm can never in itself be sufficient argument for or against women in command. There are other more profoundly disturbing reasons and they are apparent in this profile of McGrath. For one, McGrath is not a normal woman. I don’t mean that in a disparaging way. She just does not typify the dreams and aspirations of most women. Notice this about why she was attracted to warships.
After sailing out of Yokosuka on a visiting frigate, McGrath was more determined than ever to serve on a warship. “It was a lot more fun, like driving a sports car,” she says. “They go fast, handle better, and they’re sexy and glamorous.”
A culture that glorifies women in masculine jobs exalts the traits and inclinations of the abnormal woman.
Notice that Cmdr. McGrath’s husband retired early to become a stay-at-home dad. That may have worked perfectly well for the McGraths, but it is not a model that should be promoted by our major national institutions. Most women don’t want a man who keeps house. The McGraths did not have children of their own, but went to Russia to adopt two unrelated children. There again, in promoting women in leadership, the Navy is encouraging the pseudo-family, an institution that cannot keep the Navy afloat.
Finally, notice this comment by one of the men under McGrath’s command:
“I’ve never worked for a woman before, so I’m not really sure what to expect in combat,” says Personnelman First Class Arnell Ramos. “Being a majority-male organization,” he says, “most of us would prefer to take orders from a male officer.”
Both men and women, as has been well-documented, prefer men in charge.
