I am no less valuable than a human being that produces sperm. I should have the same opportunities and disadvantages which are applied to anyone else in our society regardless of gender. Religious convictions, personal qualification, education and social/familial responsibilities are up to each and every individual to weigh in their decision-making processes but if females are ever to be considered "equal to males" then they must be able to make all the same decisions regarding their lives with the same determining factors that any male uses. Please note that I said ‘any’ male and not a specific male.

 and…

regarding Mary Wells statement: "One almost became president of the United States…"

Not a snowball’s chance in hell.

The citizens of the USA are not ready to elect a female president and won’t be until you see female presidents in popular tv series and science-fiction movies. A black man as president of the USA required over 2 decades of Hollywood Star-Trek writers dedication to the abstract quality of equality before the majority of voters stopped laughing at the very idea. In the USA females are a uterus but at least we are a bit above some other areas of the world: those were female are viewed with less worth than a goat.

As a Female Veteran I was not allowed to be involved in ground combat, air combat, or on a ship except if it was in port.  We were stuck in the office, in the garage repairing equipment/cars/trucks/planes, We could march in parades and help to enlist other females. We were in the hospitals, and only in battle situations as corp-men/corp-women and doctors. 

Times have changed and women are finally being able to do the work they have the talent and will to do.  There is still a lot of prejudice in the military towards females, but were over coming that everyday.

When I joined the biggest challenge to a female recruit was to avoid the male recruiters and the other men who had it in their pea brains that we joined for their enjoyment.  We got hit on at least five times a day, and male recruiters were the worse, as soon as you got your green I. D. card you were fair game, even the married ones would chase after new recruits, and boots (fresh out of boot camp). Some would even threaten a promotion wouldn’t happen if you didn’t comply.

Thank God that has changed, because now you can report them and know something will actually happen to them for even trying ANYTHING. Back then it was still the GOOD OLD BOY routine. 

That was the only thing about being in the Navy I  hated.

Until you’ve been in the Military you have no idea what it really is like.  By the time I left Active Duty women were able to do so much more then when I joined.  I’m proud to have served and would do it all over again in a heart beat.

I was raised by a Marine father who had no son’s and that was one of the major reasons I joined in the first place.  To make him proud of me and carry on the family tradition (5 generation, but I was in the Navy, Marines were to marry not join, lol, they look so go in uniform, lol)

There are very few things a man can do that a woman can’t and we show them that every day as we continue to proceed to prove were just as good if not better at the job.

I am a female Vietnam-era veteran. I was a Korean-language trained soldier in the US Army Security Agency, reporting directly through NSA. We (myself and many other females) were not only stationed in a "combat zone," but were expected to perform just as our male counterparts. We had no problem with that. Why would we? We trained along side them. We were just as capable. Technically we were not considered "ground combat" troops. But because of our mission, intercepting North Korean military communications, we were often placed directly in harms way. Because we were also ‘techinally’ spies, we did not have the same Geneva Convention protections as ground combat troops should we have been captured. And that was in the 1970s.

The point I’m trying to make is, we’re already there. Remove the artificial semantics and allow women serving in combat roles the same respect and treatment we do the men in those same roles.

As others have said, why is this even a discussion in this day and age?

This seems familiar…

but yes, women should be able to kill and to be killed in the most terrible ways, too.