Fundamental Gender Differences in Warfare

Fundamental Gender Differences in Warfare
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Fundamental Gender Differences in Warfare
Indeed, men are more suitable to fight during warfare than women since they are physically stronger, heavier, taller, faster, and more prominent. They have an inherent hierarchy, male bonding, aggression, and territoriality. Warfare institution illustrates the primary differences between men and women. Just like the history of warfare, research findings support that men are more suited to combat than women to a large extent. In addition, societies and entertainment war movies reflect men in battle and very few women to none are engaged in war. This paper highlights the differences between the two genders regarding their involvement in warfare.
Gender asymmetry exists in warfare institutions due to the diversity that generally includes men fighting in wars but excludes women. Battlefields are exclusive for men, with less than 1% of total combatants being women (Malešević, 2010). Women are excluded from the actual combat since they often provide a different kind of support during wars. For instance, women in many societies offer emotional support or cook food for their men during warfare. They can also act as spies against enemies to inform their men of their opponent's moves. Therefore, women do not engage in actual fighting but rather play supportive roles in warfare. Malešević (2010) reported that 99.9% of several million soldiers in combat forces around the globe constitute men. Therefore, warfare is gender exclusive since women are nearly universally prohibited from fighting.
Warfare requires several capacities to enhance its success. Fighting requires an excellent sense of orientation, such as engaging in long-distance navigation, recognizing objects and shapes, reading maps, and demonstrating complex mathematical reasoning (Malešević, 2010). Based on empirical research on cognitive capacities and brain function, men have better quantitative proficiency, spatial orientation, and imagining objects in space. In contrast, women have better verbal skills, accuracy and speed of perception, and attention to detail (Malešević, 2010). These empirical findings prove that the gendered character of warfare is founded on solid biological differences since men possess the capacities required to combat. For instance, as portrayed in fiction, warfare entails planning and navigating around places with long distances and complex maps. The heroes in those fictions are portrayed as intelligent men with the capacity to read maps and navigate such long distances while fighting to prevent defeat but enhance the war's success. Furthermore, the team leaders of the combat groups, primarily men, are portrayed to have complex reasoning skills that enable strategic planning for the success of their fighting. Therefore, biological and cognitive differences in genders significantly explain why men are involved in warfare more than women.
Societies provide basic training for war to thousands of men but exclude women from the training. Dyer (2004) noted that societies offer training to men from martial cultures rather than those from...