Women and Gender Perspective in the Military: An International Comparison by Robert Egnell

Author:Robert Egnell [Egnell, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781626166271
Goodreads: 42310948
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
Published: 2019-02-01T00:00:00+00:00

Notes

Telling the story of the US military’s experience with integrating women and gender from the Revolutionary War until today could easily fill several volumes. Trying to do so in several pages has called for omitting, truncating, and condensing to an extreme degree. Consequently, I apologize up front for any perceived and real inadequacies in relating this history.

Since the writing of this chapter, the US government has enacted the Women, Peace, and Security Act of 2017, which was signed into law on October 6. Perhaps this new law will reinvigorate gender integration efforts. According to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low Intensity Conflict, following the signing of the act, the “Defense Department is advancing its efforts to include more women in peacebuilding and conflict resolution processes following the signing of the 2017 Women, Peace and Security Act.” Chuck Broadway, “DOD Works to Incorporate More Gender Perspective in Operations,” DOD News, March 8, 2018, https://www.defense.gov/News/Article/Article/1461815/dod-works-to-incorporate-more-gender-perspective-in-operations/.

1. Two notable exceptions are Deborah Sampson and Dr. Mary Walker. Sampson served for over a year during the Revolutionary War in General Washington’s army disguised as a man. After she had been wounded, her gender was discovered, and she was honorably discharged. Later, she received a military pension from the Continental Congress. During the Civil War, Dr. Mary Walker served as a field surgeon and became the only woman to receive the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military honor.

2. “The Army Nurse Corps,” WW2 US Medical Research Centre, accessed July 24, 2015, http://med-dept.com/articles/the-army-nurse-corps/.

3. Nathaniel Patch, “The Story of the Female Yeomen during the First World War,” Prologue Magazine 38, no. 3 (Fall 2006), http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2006/fall/yeoman-f.html.

4. Maureen Murdoch et al., “Women and War,” Journal of General Internal Medicine 21, no. S3 (2006).

5. “National Women’s History Month,” US Department of Defense, accessed July 30, 2015, http://www.defense.gov/home/features/2015/0315_womens-history/.

6. Encyclopaedia Britannica Online, s.v. “Women’s Armed Services Integration Act,” accessed July 24, 2015, http://www.britannica.com/event/Womens-Armed-Services-Integration-Act.

7. “1950s: Recruitment,” Office of History and Collections of the Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation, accessed July 28, 2015, http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/rr/s01/cw/students/leeann/

historyandcollections/history/

lrnmre1950rec.html.

8. Kristy N. Kamarck, Women in Combat: Issues for Congress, Rep. No. R42075 (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2015), 4, https://fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R42075.pdf.

9. Department of Defense Appropriation Authorization Act, Pub. L. No. 94-106, 89 Stat. 537 (1975).

10. It is interesting to note that the first legislation regarding the admission of women into the service academies was introduced into Congress in November 1944. Congressman Eugene E. Cox of Georgia introduced a bill proposing a plan to create a service academy for women, a step toward giving them permanent military status (H.R. Res. 314, 1944). The bill never went anywhere. In 1945 Congressman James G. Fulton of Massachusetts introduced a bill to establish an academy for aviators and another for women (H.R. Res. 3403, 1945). This bill also failed miserably. In February 1955 Senator Dennis Chavez of New Mexico introduced a joint resolution to establish a Women’s Armed Services Academy. This too failed. See A. C. Showers, “Rocking the Boat: Women Enter Military Academies” (unpublished paper, University of Colorado at Boulder, April 22, 2008), 3.

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