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 make all combat jobs open to women without exceptions.
The background discussed above indicates the existence of serious diversity issues that should be explored from a policy point of view to make practical recommendations. Moreover, it begs the question of whether the policies that enforce equal opportunity and diversity standards have been effective in protecting women from discrimination because of their sex and/or gender. The diversity and inclusion policy that guides the DOD stems from both the Congress and the Executive. For example, the Military Leadership Diversity Commission (MLDC) which spearheads the implementation of diversity in military leadership was created through the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (Military Leadership Diversity Commission, 2011).
In the same year (2011) that the MLDC released its report, President Obama called for coordinated government action (through Executive Order 13583) to ensure that the federal workforce met diversity and inclusion standards. Consequently, the DOD’s Diversity and Inclusion Strategic Plan of 2012 derived from the recommendations of the MLDC and aligned the plan with the government’s strategic plan for inclusion and diversity (Congressional Research Service, 2019). Among the highlights of the strategic plan by the DOD include effective diversity management from recruitment to retirement and the importance of effective leadership in promoting a climate of inclusivity in organizations (Congressional Research Service, 2019). However, the strategic plan neither gives priority to diversity over military readiness nor stipulates targets for the recruitment and promotion of demographic groups that have been historically underrepresented.
Apart from the diversity and inclusion policy, issues of diversity are also covered under the military equal opportunity policy. Equal opportunity refers to practices that ensure nondiscrimination for certain demographic groups. The Military Equal Opportunity (MEO) Program, Executive Orders, and the Constitution provide uniformed servicemembers with means of obtaining their rights (Congressional Research Service, 2019). About the 2015 expansion of the MEO policy, the Secretary of Defense reiterated that “We have to focus relentlessly on the mission, which means the thing that matters most about a person is what they can contribute to it ... we must start from a position of inclusivity, not exclusivity... Anything less is not just wrong—it’s bad defense policy, and it puts our future strength at risk” (Cronk, 2015).
For the Armed Forces to fully achieve its mission, the participation of women must be expanded to levels that will generate positive effects. While giving his testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Commandant General Robert B. Neller of the Marine Corps noted that considering the challenges of the 21st century, America cannot afford to go to war without women (Trobaugh, 2018). Moreover, women are known to contribute significantly to military cohesion, which is a positive attribute that stems from the ability of teams to cooperate and achieve their missions under stressful circumstances. The concept of cohesion in the Armed Forces was reinforced by the 1992 Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces (Herres, 1992). According to the Commission, cohesion is achieved where members of a unit freely share common experiences and values, promote group survival by conforming to group norms, and relinquish personal identity to uphold group identity.
Many of the studies that inform the analysis of the effects of positive diversity in the Armed Forces are behavioral in nature. For example, some behavioral researchers found that units comprising members with similar experiences, demographic characteristics, and backgrounds achieve social cohesion more readily than units whose members have different experiences, demographic characteristics, and backgrounds (Roberson, 2013, p. 181). Social cohesion refers to the degree to which group members like each other, spend time together, feel emotionally attached, and enjoy the company of each other (Congressional Research Service, 2019).
Where levels of social cohesion are high, there are stronger support networks and less conflict, which are the key elements for success in stressful conditions (Ahronson & Cameron, 2007). Th...