News that women are to be placed on the front line of the infantry is creating waves among the British public and military men. This is an old commitment to liberalise the Marines so women can be in hand-to-hand combat by 2017. This may be the acid test of gender equality and we must take note as things British are usually copied here.

My niece, a retired general in the army medical corps, is no cage fighter — most women are not. The British public is divided with strong support from women in the Air Force and Navy. The buddy system among men is also strong but askance; so when at Baghram base will a woman cover my back with the same force as a man; will she whine when wounded, take a bullet for me; slit the throat of the enemy; fight manfully and die quietly without compromising the mission? Many Marines from active nations need reassurance on these issues.

Here we want more women in Parliament as men have not prospered us, but we are not sanguine that women in mortal combat can win the day. My sister, you opt for a body bag to prove what? Our women have achieved as steel riggers and top advisors. They are decorated and at international conferences talk of empowering girls and women is old hat as they are way ahead. Anti-woman sentiment is rampant in Asia, Arabia, Africa as culture and law keep females down, but their focus is not ours. Girls from Muslim families in the West join ISIS to fight with an AK-47 or blow themselves up to be equals. Muslim men are incentivised to die by the promise of 64 virgins in heaven, but what is the reward for females?

Some jobs have been gendered by physical demands. Over millennia has male fighting tweaked our DNA and predilection to hand-to-hand combat? Not so for females. Boys fight from birth; fist fights punctuate a school day and they graduate to street brawls. Today social engineering projects here erode manliness and fighting spirit of boys while girls are getting aggressive. Men are stronger than women — nature, nurture, both? Yet all men are not a match for each woman as some females are massive, though a wiry man may be a better fighting machine than a female with substantial avoirdupois. In history a man fights to death; not so a woman, as rapine is normal and women are kept alive to provide sexual sport for troops — is it in their DNA to not fight back as only men are killed or enslaved as ISIS does today?

Except for the castrati man’s best loved activity from Sun Tsu to Patton is war, not sex; sex is spoils of war. We have no martial tradition, no culture of fighting for country, and this hurts us as our men live in a movie fantasy exacerbated by illiteracy and they love to kill. The State refuses to arm householders and so we are all in harm’s way.

The rules of war are relentless; men are trained to kill by men who have killed and know the gurgle when blood meets a rush of oxygen from collapsing lungs — not pretty! Women join our military as a career, but some of our males join the British or US forces as they want to fight! Not women! Females are front line in the Navy and Air Force as aerial combat may be more in sync with their mental and emotional stengths. A frigate, destroyer or aircraft carrier and its weaponry may be managed equally by a man or woman. But in the Marines, gender superiority, instinct, strength, raw violence is clear and is the last service to be genderised. The old USA film spoof with Goldie Hawn is not like the realistic

G I Jane with Demi Moore. Women may handle any job here since we do not check for the Geneva conventions. In Asia, Africa, Europe, America, or Arabia where wars are still hot you join the army to fight. Ironically, the first female head of the Jamaica Constabulary Force and the Jamaica Defence Force may be in the ranks right now.

The downside to female Marines is? To carry 60 kilos of kit-rifle, handgun, ammo, food, water for days. The cost to get a few female Marines may not be worth it. We know rape is a heinous crime; yet how many women fight off a rapist to death? Is there a collaborative gene? Is the fight or flight instinct disabled? Women in close combat means lying in a trench for days, scouting for enemy; do No 1 or No 2 on spot; stalk the enemy and slit his throat with a military poinard. Women are mentally tough, but can manage calculated killing? Men have always killed in war, so your father and his father fought, took a bayonet in the chest so male war tales are family tradition and bounded duty. A British Marine is bolstered by history and training. Can women cut it? Our women? Could their England team beat their male rugby team? Would our Boyz lose to our female team? Risible! Some also say concern for a female comrade’s welfare may distract a Marine and impair his killing efficiency in war.

Jamaica has a record of female excellence. They beat males in school, academia and occupy most middle jobs. The final public service job to be desexed is that of member of parliament and minister. Portia may not be the best leader ever, but she is an icon so women relate and emulate. One female PM may not be enough, but the next one may get us to prosperity. We had ample resources and no global recession for over 40 years, yet none of the males — Norman Manley, Alexander Bustamante, Donald Sangster, Hugh Shearer, Michael Manley, Edward Seaga, P J Patterson, Bruce Golding, or Andrew Holness — delivered. Political activists praise favourites who came close; but all failed. We have suffered for 53 years; can we not wait another decade to see what females in charge can accomplish?

Granny says the longer we are poor the closer we are to prosperity. We have been poor in the hands of male MPs and ministers, so let’s elect more women and by 2020 they may be a majority in parliament. Fair is fair, we lost four decades on old boys; give women a chance! What do we have to lose? A soldier on the front line is a sticking point for women in nations that do war. Frankly, an equal opportunity to lose your life in war by the hand of a man could not be a preferred option for a female, as the same happens daily in civilian life here. Jobs in the military which require focus, meticulous attention may go to a man or woman. For a job requiring killing in close combat I choose a man; yet to watch my back in an organisation I choose a woman, as in the proxy fights with corporate enemies she is a tigress. Women must now step forward so we can elect some good ones. Have a conscious Christmas, my friend!

Dr Franklin Johnston is a strategist, project manager and advisor to the minister of education. Send comments to the Observer or franklinjohnstontoo@gmail.com.