She’s all that By Khayla biscoe Last February, 60 female recruits arrived at the Marine Corps’ all-male training site in San Diego, where they attended co-ed boot camp for the first time in the base’s 100-year history. The Corps had been hesitant to embrace the idea of co-ed training, even after combat positions opened for women in 2013. Paving the way for aspiring women marines, they are transforming the process of making new recruits into leaders, combat fighters, logistical supporters and Marine Corps Reserves by learning side by side with men. This news caught the attention of the public and sparked controversy around the women earning a known “masculine” role. The principle that women can’t be successful in a “man’s” setting is as old as human society. The Women’s Rights movement has made meaningful progress, but there is still plenty to change. Whether in sports, technology, entertainment, law enforcement, or any number of other professions, it can seem almost foreign for a woman to be an authority. Let’s hear firsthand from two women who have redefined what it means to work in a “masculine” position.
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The Lexington Line • S/S 21 • vol 7 • no 2
