Only single women should be accepted for a career in the armed services and their duties should be in administration and back up duties. No women should be allowed on board ship, neither should they be trained as fighter pilots. This business of equality is all about making a point until it all goes wrong and then we see the spectacle of a mother wearing a headscarf and smoking a fag after having written a grovelling apology. The two sailors alongside her were as bad.
Female service personnel should finish their career and then start a family as many women do in civilian life.

H Kennard , Peasmarsh, England

The western world is coming to an end in its total lack of perspective about children and parents and grandparents. The human brain has evolved to its present capacities since the time of the multigenerational transmission process started in agrarian times.
Now we have lost all of the insights that former generations have had and we send mothers to war.
The human brain is regressing into the same level as that of other primates - in front of our eyes!

Eva Sternberg, Gothennburg, Sweden

Somebody should teach Jill Kirby to spell before she appears on the UK Home page.

Ian, Solihull,

It's no different to fathers "going on active service, separated from their children". Unless women are special, should be treated differently and kept in the 'HOME' country. I don't believe you could not see that one coming. What's this; goad the readers time?

Phil, x, W Yorkshire

Why are Mr and Mrs Turney's childcare choices of relevance in this debate? There are different models of childcare for different people. Some women are very maternal with strong parenting instincts who adore being around children. Other women (me included) have less interest in parenting and have a more cerebral or active focus to their lives. Equally I'm sure there are plenty of men with no interest in children whatsoever while there are other men who love being fathers to their children and would do it full-time if they could. Some might argue that more women are oriented towards childcare than men but that still doesn't create a hard and fast rule for all.

Why create black and white rules for parenting? Why does Jill Kirby think she knows Adam Turney's thoughts? Leave the couple and their childcare responsibilities out of this. The whole point of feminism was to give people more choice on how to structure their lives: the Turneys are a good example of this in action.

MB, Edinburgh,

And so the whinging begins; If you want equal rights for women then have them. Don't want them only when it suits you and things are good. If the sight of a highly pressurized woman on TV causes you concern then so it should. But she wanted the job she got it, exactly the same as the men with her. And undoubtedly they are under as much pressure as she. "Ah, but no it’s different for a girl." WRONG! Pressure is pressure some deal with it well and some don’t. Gender is not a factor. If you think it is then the system is wrong and she shouldn’t be in harms way. Oh but is that a none PC, antifeminist thought or just sense?
Debate starts again then…crack on.

Keith, Newcastle, England

This article is nothing but speculation, there has been no evidence to the effect that, in this instance, being a mother has harmed the efficiency of her unit or how they have been treated in captivity. The authoress should be very careful to differentiate opinion from fact; in this instance the piece is highly opinionated and is based on a subjective reading of the situation. Jill Kirby does a disservice to professional journalism in the way she imbues so much symbolism and meaning to Turney's motherhood and ignores what has actually been happening.

Also, it would seem that the flip-side of her argument implies that a man's life is worth less than a woman's: that male soldiers' lives are relatively more expendable. Such a view is outrageous; no person's life should ever be weighed as more or less valuable than another's. Tread carefully with your arguments!

Laurence, London, UK

Ahem . . . are we any less comfortable with the prospects of daddy being killed on active service?

Is this reverse sexism?

Stevey B, Luton,

The great shame is that NONE of these servicepeople were valued.

Who left them - in 2 boats - in a position without backup?
What was HMS Cornwall doing while the taking of hostages was happening?

DavidN, Melbourne,

A mother should have exactly the same rights and duties as a father. No more, and no less.
Of course a mother will be unhappy if her circumstances or her job make it necessary for her to leave her child with somebody else, even if that person is her spouse or partner. But a father ought to be no less unhappy in the same circumstances, and should receive the same level of sympathy or castigation, depending on how necessary the decision was.
Perhaps only childless people should go to war.

Ros, Upminster,

Michael Gilhooly, your argument doesn't stack up.

Ask a father with an absent wife (for whatever reason) how he feels about placing his toddler into the hands of a stranger. Believe me, the feelings are exactly the same.

Paul, Rochester, UK

Excellent article , but , please seperated , Surely new proof readers should be order of the day ! !

Courtenay Gwynne-Jones, nR bRISTOL, G.B.

Women have played a significant role in our armed forces since the first world war and i have no problem with that.

I am not comfortable however with their planned presence on the front line. I don't believe it is fair for them or their colleagues and to be honest i dont believe it is necessary.

andy, Lyon, France

The media is forever claiming that women are oppressed but the fact of the matter is that a woman's life is valued more highly than that of a man's. Always has been, and it seems it still is today.

Where we are heading is towards a society where women can claim they are just as able as men, yet when it suits them claim special privileges.

The images of this woman wearing modest clothing are not disgusting, as some people are saying. If you want to see disgusting, remind yourself of the photos of the men at Abu Ghraib.

Darren Blacksmith, Brighton, UK

We confront very basic human instincts when we seek separate a mother from her young child for any substantial period. Ask mothers how they feel about having to place their infant or toddler into the hands of a stranger at nursery because of the inordinate economic ( and social ) pressures to do so. Of course it is lunacy that this poor lady, soldier and mother is in a war zone, captive. Only a bizzare political correctness could argue that it is acceptable.

michael gilhooly, harrogate, uk