Just saw Barnaby Joyce (leader of the National Party) on camera saying he would feel uncomfortable about shooting a woman. in context of potentially opening up all front-line positions in the ADF to women. But surely he is not planning to go to war with Australia, and if those the ADF does engage in combat with, surely this is to their advantage?

He also said he wouldn't want to see a lady shot, but those don't seem like very good arguments to me. Why should the military career paths of women be limited according to whether men are comfortable with their choices?

Nor do I agree with implicit putting of women on a pedestal to be protected. That sort of reasoning mainly benefits men and social conservatism, enabling the policing of whether women are sufficiently worthy of their pedestal and punishing those judged to fall short of the standards set for them by men.

It seems all about what men are comfortable with as a debate, and what men decide on behalf of women, rather than what women might decide or want for themselves, or see themselves as capable of. But I suppose that is what it is about, getting men to realise and accept women as equal partners in all areas of life, rather than possessions or unhuman idols to guard.

Whether an opposition politician would feel personally comfortable shooting a woman should have no bearing on whether women are barred from work they are willing and capable of doing.