Defending America in Mixed Company: Gender in the U.S. Armed Forces

MARTHA E. MCSALLY is Professor of National Security Studies at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies.After more than twenty-two years of active duty, she retired from the U.S. Air Force as a Colonel in August 2010.She was one of seven women ½rst selected to become ½ghter pilots after Congress repealed the restriction in 1991 and the Department of Defense changed its policy in 1993.She was the ½rst woman in U.S. history to fly a ½ghter in combat and to command a ½ghter squadron.Her military awards include the Defense Superior Service Medal and the Bronze Star.May all our citizens be soldiers and all our soldiers citizens.-A toast by Sarah Livingston Jay, the wife of John Jay, at a ball celebrating the end of the Revolution (Fall 1783) 1Women have served as volunteers in the defense of America since the birth of our nation, often driven by necessity or the ½ght for equal opportunity, but always limited by law or policy grounded in accepted gender roles and norms.Today, women make up more than 14 percent of the active-duty military force; since 2001, more than 255,000 have deployed to Operation Enduring Freedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom, in which more than 130 have been killed and almost 700 wounded. 2 As of April 2011, despite their exemplary performance in direct combat roles in the air, sea, and on the ground, women as a group are still banned by Department of Defense (dod) policy from being assigned to more than 220,000 of the 1.4+ million authorized active-duty positions-regardless of their individual abilities and quali½cations.3 While every American male is required by law, as a basic obligation of Abstract: Women have voluntarily served to defend America since the birth of our nation, often driven by necessity or the ½ght for equal opportunity, but always limited by law or policy grounded in accepted gender roles and norms.Today, women compose 14 percent of the total active-duty military, and more than 255,000 have deployed to combat operations in Iraq or Afghanistan.Despite their exemplary service and performance in combat, women are still restricted from serving in more than 220,000 military positions solely because of their sex.Women also continue to be exempt from the Selective Service System, for which their male counterparts are required by law to register.Are these continued inconsistencies between the sexes in the area of national defense incongruent with democratic tenets?Have we gone too far or not far enough in allowing or compelling women to defend the nation if required?