This question pretty basic: “What is a woman?”
One of our present Supreme Court Justices, Ketanji Brown Jackson, during her confirmation hearing found this question unanswerable as she muttered, “I am not a biologist.”
On the other hand, Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, essentially answered that question as the NYT headlined, “Hegseth Mandates Uniform Fitness Standards for Combat Roles.”
That same NYT story suggested a Marine example. In one test, male Marines must do 3 pull-ups or 34 push-ups in two minutes.The fighting ladies strain to complete one push-up or eke out 15 push-ups in two minutes.
The NYT also cited a 2021 West Point op-ed written by Major Kristen Griest, the Army’s first female infantry officer and second female Ranger.
Kristen’s op-ed was titled, “With Equal Opportunity Comes Equal Responsibility: Lowering Fitness Standards to Accommodate Women Will Hurt the Army—and Women.” In it, Kristen argued that lower standards for female soldiers “not only jeopardized mission readiness in combat units but also reinforced the false notion that women are categorically incapable of performing the same job as men.”
To my way of thinking, by his actions, Hegseth answered the question that Justice Brown Jackson could not, or would not.
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