Stereotypes and Reality: Working Relationships Between Muslim Men and Western Women

Abstract

The value of female advisors is becoming more significant as operations continue in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Army led the way with all-female squads less than a year after the start of the Iraq War with Team Lioness, a group of some 20 women. The Marines quickly followed suit and inserted Female Engagement Teams (FETs) in Afghanistan in February 2008. Both Iraqis and Afghans responded well. According to a former Washington Post military correspondent, Female [advisors] are extended the respect shown to men, but granted the access reserved for women in other words, the culture is more flexible than we've conditioned ourselves to think. Smaller teams consisting of three female Marines and a female interpreter, Iraqi Women's Engagement Teams (IWETs), go door to door in Iraq to determine what issues are significant to the women of the country. Author Thomas Ricks for Foreign Policy comments, The main barrier to more intensive and extensive use of the [female] teams seems to be the inflexibility not of Afghan men but of U.S. Marine and Army officers.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 31, 2010
Accession Number
AD1019724

Entities

People

  • Anne-marie Contreras

Organizations

  • Air Command and Staff College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Afghanistan
  • Air Force
  • Deployment
  • Doctrine
  • Education
  • Foreign Policy
  • Helicopters
  • International Security
  • Iraqi-War
  • Middle East
  • Military Advisors
  • Military Hospitals
  • New York
  • Security
  • Students
  • Training
  • Universities

Readers

  • Gender and Food Studies
  • Maritime Combat Support and Expeditionary Logistics.
  • Military History of the United States in the 20th Century.