New Opportunities for Military Women: Effects upon Readiness, Cohesion, and Morale

Abstract : The role of women in the military has steadily been increasing since the early 1970s. The most recent changes occurred between 1992 and 1994, when both legislative and policy changes expanded opportunities for women. Congress has taken a keen interest in this process, and the House report for the Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1997 included as a special interest item a direction to the Secretary of Defense to evaluate the performance of the military services in integrating women into occupations previously closed to them. The report also asked for an assessment of the effects of this integration on readiness and morale. The study has three components. The first determines how each service implemented the guidance to open new skills and organizations to women. Each service interpreted the guidance differently, and it is important to understand those interpretations before assessing the progress in implementing the congressional guidance. The second component assesses the progress of what we refer to as gender integration. In this component, we determined the extent to which the services carried out their interpretations of the congressional direction. The third component assesses the effects of gender integration on the readiness, cohesion, and morale of units. To complete the third component, we relied on a series of visits to military units. We visited 14 units, chosen to provide the broadest possible view of the effects of the policy changes. We used three techniques during field visits to gather information about gender issues and their effects on readiness, cohesion, and morale. We interviewed commanders and other senior leaders, conducted a series of focus groups with unit personnel, and administered a survey to focus-group participants and other unit personnel.