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Female Soldiers Sue to Lift Combat Ban

Say they shouldn’t be barred “solely on the basis of sex.”

Two female soldiers filed lawsuits on Wednesday to have the ban on women in combat lifted, claiming that being barred from combat “based solely on the basis of sex” is unconstitutional. The Pentagon tweaked its eased female soldiers’ restrictions in February, but the new policy still bars women from combat. According to the plaintiffs, Army reservists Command Sgt. Major Jane Baldwin and Col. Ellen Haring, the policy “restricts their current and future earnings, their potential for promotion and advancement, and their future retirement benefits.” Women make up 14.5 percent of active-duty military personnel, and more than 800 women have been wounded and more than 130 killed in fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.