James Culbreth (Group 3)
Dr. V. Hobbs
Advocacy Paper
March 29, 2013

Pregnant Women and Leadership Positions

The topic of Equality places a huge line of division between the American people. It causes people of privilege to feel attacked when society decides to “level the playing field”. It makes the unprivileged feel constantly under attack by the government as well as those people of privilege. There will be three subtopics used to argue the fact that Commanders should select pregnant women for leadership roles. The first subtopic will discuss Article 14, paragraph 1, of The United States Constitution. The second subtopic will explain how today’s unequal treatment of women goes against the American way (past and present). The final subtopic will discuss the contradiction regarding America’s role as a global defender of women’s rights. In the late 18th century, the British colonies located in America felt unfairly governed by the British Parliament, even though they were paying their share of taxes. This gave birth to a rallying cry of “Taxation without Representation”, and eventually led to the start of the American Revolution. The American Revolution would lead to the development of The United States Constitution which was written for two reasons. The first was to create the three branches of the United States government, and the second was to define the basic rights of all American citizens. The constitution has been amended on many occasions over the last 235 (plus) years, but it is still the document which defines the branches of the United States government and the basic rights of American citizens. Article XIV, paragraph 1, of The United State Constitution, states that. . . All persons born or naturalized in the United States. . . are citizens of the United States and. . . No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge or deprive any person of life, liberty. Yet, some authority figures actively choose to pass women over for positions of leadership simply because they are pregnant. They do this despite the fact that women make-up nearly 15% of all active duty military personnel, and nearly 18% of all personnel in the Reserve forces. (Women's Memorial Foundation) This action goes against everything the American Revolution stood for. Throughout history, The United States has been seen as a shining light for freedom and opportunity. It has