Women in the Military

No question, work gives women empowerment. It is a tool that provides power to leave unhealthy relationships and abusive marriages. It allows them to make better decisions around reproductive planning and to provide for their families. Women have fought their way up the corporate ladder and occupied positions on what had been once thought “men jobs”.
But what has happened to women in military positions? What about their participation and security while in service? Although I believe this is a pervasive subject that requires far more research, nevertheless I do want to stimulate your interest and honor this area of opportunity for women by promoting women participation in the Army and looking for ways to keep them safe.

Vanessa Guillen

One of the stories that motivated me to write about how women have struggled to incorporate safely into the military is that of Vanessa Guillen. We heard the stories, and there are too many questions unanswered around her disappearance and murder and the story behind it just gives us the chills (Diaz, 2020). It is suspected that amongst the adversities that she had to face was that one of being sexually harassed by her supervisor, afraid of retaliation, she found herself with the inability to pursue a claim. Like her, many women in the military face inequality and are subject to sexual harassment. Could what she went through be part of how gender still represents a disadvantage especially when at service?

Women have served in many roles throughout history in the military as spaces opened for them. Their participation at the beginning was not easy, like every opportunity that has become to be in history, it was achieved through struggle and breaking boundaries and here I want to share briefly a little of history about it.

Brief history

American Revolution (1775–1783)

The American Revolutionary War took place from 1775 to 1783. Women’s participation was as nurses, seamstresses, and cooks in camp. Some adventured to served in combat either with their husbands or disguised as men, while others operated as spies. They were needed to help make soldiers’ life more tolerable.

Civil War (1861–1865)

Women continued to provide casualty care but more awareness was raised as they stepped in into less traditional roles. Many had to take responsibilities of farming, family care cooks, and clerks as more men went into battle.

Spanish-American War (1898–1901)

In the middle of an epidemic of typhoid fever, the U.S. military recognized the need of having caretakers like trained nurses and a certain familiarity with military ways, on call. This led the Army to establish a permanent Nurse Corps in the Army Medical Department and the first one ever in 1901.(Peceny, 1997).

World War I (1917–1918)

It wasn’t till World War I that the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps allowed women to enlist. Before this point of history, women were barred from voting or serving in military combat roles. The war as an opportunity to serve and gain more rights. Around 80,000 women enlisted and volunteer (Clarkson, 1923).

World War II (1939–1945)

In 1943, the Air Force created Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASP). Where 40,000 women served in the U.S. Army and the Women’s Army Corps (WAC) performing critical jobs such as military intelligence, cryptography, and parachute rigging. Over 1,000 women flew aircraft for the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP). Their purpose was to free male pilots for combat roles during the War (Krylova, 2011).

The service of these women helped propel the passage of the 19th Amendment, June 4, 1919, guaranteeing women the right to vote.

1948

The Women’s Armed Services Integration Act of 1948 was created, it gave women permanent status in the Regular and Reserve forces of the Army, Navy and Marine Corps, and the newly created Air Force (Law, 1948). Margaret Chase Smith played a significant role in passing the act as a way of establishing the fact that she was keen on ensuring the wellbeing of the women enrolled in the armed forces. The act provided equality between the male and female gender in the military by ensuring that they receive equal pay, had the same privileges and rank assignment was open for both genders.

Korean War (1950–1953)

There were about 120,000 women, give or take, called to serve during the war. They provided healthcare services during the war and also did volunteer work for women’s organizations that engaged actively in war such as the Women Marines, Women in the Air Force, Women Army Corps, and Navy Women’s Reserves. There were women like Dottie Harris, who served in the war after joining the Air Force in her late teen years. Her experience was not so hostile given the time, and she recalls the respect some of her male colleagues accorded her with though not all of them were as warm and welcoming, some even made her feel like she did not belong. It was a robust experience, but she had to adjust because she was doing something that brought utter fulfilment to her life. (Malkasian, 2001).

Vietnam War (1965–1975)

It is estimated that about 11,000 women were serving in the military during the Vietnam War; this is, however, not supported by any form of evidence. Around 7,000 American military women, some located in Southeast Asia as nurses. In the U.S. Air Force female nurses tending to casualties and ferrying them to places, they would receive proper care. Women enlisted in the military during the war faced other hurdles when trying to settle down to start a family, most of them were fully dedicated to their work at starting families was not at the top of their considerations. Just like their men colleagues, they were not exempted from the war-related PTSD, they also faced sexual harassment, and they were exposed to casualties and work stress. (Havens, 2014).

1973–1990

Women’s career in the Army started looking up. There were opportunities everywhere, and women could be trained, recruited, and the number of women in the Women Army Corps increased significantly during this time. This was as a result of the Supreme Court ruling in favour of the female military, equating their benefits to those of their male counterparts. The congress re-evaluated the re-employment rights to allow women to return to their pre-war jobs. The first group of female cadets, in 1980, had a total of 119 women, out of which 62 graduated as second lieutenants. It is in the same year that a female cadet took the top graduate position in the Naval Academy. The Secretary of Defence stamped the Standard Risk Rule that ensured women were not assigned roles in hostile areas, that was in 1988. In 1990, during the first few months, 24,000 women were serving different positions during the Persian Gulf War (Unwin, 2002).

From 2001 to the present

Currently, we have more than 700,000 women who have taken up different roles in the military during and after the 9/11 war. In 2010, Female Engagement Teams and Combat Support Teams were fully exploited to provide both militia and other essential services such as healthcare in Afghanistan. In 2013, women were allowed to direct ground combat after the then Secretary of Defence, Leon E Panetta approved the lifting of the ban (Eden, 2015). In 2016, women received full approval to choosing any military occupation that one would be interested which were formerly not possible.

Women’s participation in the military has been rising, but inequality,
harassment, assault amongst other things are still disadvantages that are faced. These are issues that still need to be addressed socially and politically, we still have a lot of work to do in terms of eliminating gender bias and assuring safety in the different areas of the military for women.