Women In The Military

Throughout our nations history, women have fought in each American battle that American men have participated. Though they did not wear uniforms, women were hired to fill multiple positions during the American Revolution, yet received little acknowledgement for their services in the history books. While it has been a slow process, there are now more opportunities than ever for women to serve in our nation’s military; however there are still positions women cannot legally hold. It is baffling that today’s military would still restrict positions to one gender, deeming women ineligible to fight with men in direct combat. Though all military branches are working toward dropping the segregation tactics, the Marine Corps gained a strong lead in equality
Since the Revolutionary War, women have served mainly as nurses, cooks, and support staff. It was not until 1901 that women were able to formally serve in the U.S. military under the Army Reorganization Act. Under this act, Congress established the Army Nurse Corps and in 1908 the Navy Nurse Corps, both of which fell under the Medical Department (James, James, & Boyer, 1971). During World War II, more than 400,000 women served at home and abroad as mechanics, ambulance drivers, pilots, administrators, nurses, and in other non-combat roles (“Women in the military,” 2008). In 1943, Congress signed off on the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve and made the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) temporarily apart of the regular Army. By the end of World War II, approximately 543 women died in the line of duty, and another 84 others were captured and held as prisoners of war (POW) (Kamarck, 2015). According to Janowitz and Moskos (1979), there were two major factors throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s that led to the expansion of the role of women in the U.S. military. The first came after the end of the draft and beginning of the All-Volunteer Force in December of 1973. The military had a difficult time recruiting and retaining qualified males, leaving them no option but to begin recruiting women. Second, the women’s equal rights movement led to demands for equal
Panetta announced the end of the 1994 Direct Ground Combat Definition and Assignment Exclusion Rule for female service members (Roulo, 2013). Secretary Panetta announced that all service branches would conduct evaluations that would work to eliminate unnecessary gender-based barriers to military service to ensure that the best-qualified and most capable service members, regardless of gender, can carry out the mission. These evaluations are to be completed by 1 January 2016. Once the results are in, and the ban fully lifted, all military occupations will be open to women. Those who believe they should be exempt would have to get approval from the defense