The US attempt to equalize women and men in the army has failed. This is reported by The Telegraph with reference to the Pentagon’s statement.
For the sake of creating a gender-neutral army, the American armed forces introduced the same physical fitness tests for all. To pass it, the military had to score at least 360 points out of 600 possible – they were given for completing the maximum number of exercises. Among them, for example, deadlifts, running two miles (approximately 3.2 kilometers), chin-ups, and so on.
However, a recent Pentagon study found that about 65 percent of women failed this test. The same figure for men is 10 percent. In addition, men could score about 100 points more than women.
In the regular army and the active guards reserve, such tests were to be passed twice a year, in the National Guard – once a year. Now the army wants to conduct an independent review to see if the test is really not suitable for all military personnel.
At the end of January 2021, women in the US Army were allowed to walk with their hair down and paint their lips. The policy overhaul came at the behest of former US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, who in July 2020, in the light of protests against extremism and racial inequality, issued a statement to loosen hair requirements.