"He tried to explain that the reason women were barred from Seals school was because Congress thought it was too dangerous for women. Jobs which were deemed as too dangerous were done as such because they didn't want to loose child bearers."
That is the most backwoods, inane, ignorant answer I have ever heard. OI. I'm embarrassed. I'm ex-navy myself.
There are a multitude of reasons why woman aren't allowed in combat situations, and none of them have to do with child bearing.
(A) Our society has always placed a higher value on female life do to the European Chivalric roots our forefathers had. Women did not do the fighting, women were to be treated with respect and cherished. With this higher value comes greater repercussions on the male populace when a female is injured or killed. There is a greater hit to the morale of the men of a unit when a female is injured or captured. There is more of a need to cover that female in the unit by the males, and that can lead to not paying attention to their own combat sectors, leading to the death or injury of team members. Everyone has heard of Jessica Lynch, but what about the several male POW's that the Iraqi's captured?
(B) This one will probably end up getting me flamed, is the fact that women place a much higher emotional attachment to sex than men do. The issue of rape is much more psychologically devastating to woman than men. I'm not saying that men can blow it off, I'm saying that it doesn't hit nearly as hard. Most of the cultures find sex between men as repulsive, so raping a man is far down on the list of torture techniques used. With a female combatant, this is not true. That threat is always there. And that leads me to my next point.
(C) Inter-unit romances and pregnancies. It is expected. But a combat unit must be ready and work as a cohesive unit, and cannot with the mixture of romances within the unit.
(D) Women (generally) are not as physically strong as men. Not sexist, just biology. Since women were allowed in military positions, the physical requirements for them are considerably lower than their male counterparts. This is extremely important to be able to carry full packs the miles needed to hike to positions. While they are not as strong, their pain tolerance are much higher than the typical male, and have a better hand/eye coordination. This is one of the reasons pilot spots were opened for women.
(E)(with regards to SEAL training), the female monthly friend. A sharks ability to sense an ounce of blood in the ocean is amazing (one park per one hundred million). Missions cannot be planned around the menstruation cycle of a female combatant. This is a minor, but valid reason. Missions are planned with regards to acceptable risks.
Ironically enough, most of these arguments are also used to keep the homosexual community out of the military. I don't say that they are right, just reporting the facts, ma'am.
I am NOT saying that some women aren't capable of carrying their own weight (figuratively speaking). There were over 40k women serving in Iraq, and the USMC awarded 23 woman the Combat Action Ribbon for fighting along side their male counterparts. I served with some woman that could kick my butt and not break a sweat. But the rules are based on a majority. There would be several woman that would attempt the training, feel unfairly treated, turn it into a political game, and get the training adapted to suit their needs, and not the needs of surviving special forces missions.