Gender Issues: Trends in the Occupational Distribution of Military Women.
Abstract
The Persian Gulf War saw the largest deployment of women in U.S. military history Approximately 41,000 women were deployed, or 7 percent of the total deployed force. Partly because of women's performance in the war, legislative restrictions on women's occupations were lifted. In 1991, Congress repealed the restriction on women flying in combat roles, and DOD implemented this change in 1993. In November 1993, Congress lifted the ban on the assignment of women to combat ships. In January 1994, the Secretary of Defense announced a new assignment policy for women. This policy states that "servicemembers are eligible to be assigned to all positions for which they are qualified, except that women shall be excluded from assignment to units below the brigade level whose primary mission is to engage in direct combat on the ground." In addition to this direct ground combat exclusion, the Secretary also permitted the services to close positions to women if (1) the units and positions were required to physically collocate and remain with direct ground combat units, (2) the service secretary attests that the cost of providing appropriate living space for women is prohibitive, (3) the units are engaged in special operations missions, or (4) job-related physical requirements would exclude the vast majority of women. No jobs are closed to women because of job-related physical requirements.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 1999
- Accession Number
- ADA367853
Entities
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office