Female Pushup Standards in the Army

When the roles suitable for women in the military are discussed, pushup standards are often a point of debate. The pushup standards are quite a bit lower for women than for men. I personally think this factor is over-rated and mis-interpreted.

We should first ask ourselves--is push-up capability a Bona-Fide Occupational Qualification (aka, BFQ)? Or is it, like a college degree, more of a proxy or marker for some more general indicators of suitability? I would submit, for 90+% of military assignments, it is the latter. Being able to do a goodly number of pushups is an indicator of:

• general physical fitness
• discipline (maintaining one's fitness)
• mental toughness

All of  which are important in the military environment, much more so than the absolute number of pushups a soldier can perform.