Lawsuit challenges combat exclusion for women

Article here. Excerpt:

'A team from the University of Virginia law school is suing the Pentagon for excluding women from combat units on behalf of two female Army reservists who say their careers were stymied by the policy.

Command Sgt. Maj. Jane Baldwin and Col. Ellen Haring both argue in the lawsuit that they have been shut out of promotions and desirable jobs for which they were otherwise well qualified either because they were banned by the exclusion policy from serving in those units, or because the combat exclusion prevented them from getting vital career experience.
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The Supreme Court last addressed combat exclusion issues in 1981, when it ruled that sex discrimination in Selective Service registration was constitutional because women were unable to serve in combat units. Coughlin noted that combat has changed dramatically over the past three decades, and even the Defense Department has acknowledged that women today have often been placed in combat situations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Everyone seems to agree, including the Pentagon, that the combat exclusion policy needs to be revamped,” Coughlin said. “We believe it should be scrapped altogether.”'