Diversity for Women in Armed Forces. Social Sciences Research Paper

Assignment 4.1
SHONA D. WEST
ENG 212
Instructor: Dr. Jonathan M. Lampley
24 August 2019
Diversity for Women in the Armed Forces
The history of women struggle for equal rights in the United States has been a long and arduous journey. Beginning at a time when ideas about the place of women in society were brought from the old world to colonial America, women did not even have a right to their possessions if they got married. Nonetheless, as a result of the determination and uncompromising efforts by some very strong and brave women who would accept nothing less than the same rights granted to men by the constitution, the face of the United States changed forever. As with the overall struggle against differential treatment in the U.S., women have equally faced immense obstacles in the Armed Forces where diversity issues have lasted for decades. Since the Revolutionary War, through to World War I and World War II, women have been instrumental in the successes of the U.S. Armed Forces. Despite the remarkable achievements in women inclusion in the military over the past seven decades, there are fundamental gaps in the way they are treated compared to their male counterparts, especially from the perspective of diversity management and the applicable policies.
The beginning of World War I in 1914 ushered a new era in which women were allowed to serve in uniform in the Navy Nurse Corps and Army Nurse Corps. Similarly, World War II provided women with an opportunity to serve in evacuation camps, troop transports, and field hospitals among other settings (Congressional Research Service, 2019). However, women were excluded from veterans or retirement benefits. For many years, the military was seen as a masculine organization. Such attitudes hindered the full integration of women in certain occupations within the Armed Forces. Several months after the Pearl Harbor attack, female divisions within the Marine Corps and the Coast Guard SPARS were created in addition to the establishment of Women’s Army Corps (WAC) (Congressional Research Service, 2019). At the same time, women roles expanded to include air traffic controllers, pilots, and airplane mechanics. However, combat roles remained inaccessible to women.
The passage of the Women’s Armed Services Integration Act in 1948 permanently anchored the place of women in the Armed Forces but Pentagon proposed that the proportion of women in the enlisted force would be 2% and only 10% of officers will be women (King, 2013). The Equal Rights Movement in the 1960s and 70s influenced further policies that relaxed the eligibility for benefits and training among women in the military (Congressional Research Service, 2019).
Similarly, the 1990s saw major expansions in military roles for women including serving in combat aircraft and combat vessels. Amidst other challenges of sexual harassment and assault, women have persistently pushed for the removal of all restrictions and to allow them to serve in combat roles. In January 2014, the Department of Defense (DOD) repealed the rules that restricted women from participating in ground combat. According to Congressional Research Service (2019), one year later, the Secretary of Defense issued a directive for the military to m...