The Second World War sparked the most interest for not only women joining the military but as well as starting discussion of new laws allowing women to enlist and serve. However, previously in military history, women were a part of wars for a long time, but they hardly ever got noticed (Lakritz, 2019). Most of the time, their presence went unannounced because most of the news coverage was about the battlefield not behind the scenes. That does not mean their jobs were not important. In fact, they were very important roles to keep the workflow going. Without them in certain positions such as a telephone receptionist; vital communications would not be reported. Without reports getting translated to the correct officials, it could be very disastrous for their divisions and infantry (Lakritz, 2019). When these roles started during the American Revolution, it was quickly realized that women were needed to mend clothing, cook, provide medical help, and do the “lesser important duties”. Uniforms needed to be cleaned or mended, all the men needed to eat three times a day, telegraphs needed to be answered, messages needed to be transported, and there was an unprecedented number of medical concerns daily (Rea, 2020). These positions had many aspects that needed to be attended to by people and women were happy to do it.
When the Second World War came, it created a demand for more soldiers. Thus, making positions or re-creating positions for women to be a part of. Positions that were given to women in World War Two were non-violent positions that men had held such as weather forecasters, nurses, telephone operators, and linguists to name a few (Michals, 2015). This decision was made in an effort to free up men from those types of position and put them on the battlefield where they were needed. Those jobs were considered “fit for women” because they were seen as a “female job” and “what women knew how to do best” (Lakritz, 2019). However, that quickly changed. After World War II, women were expected to leave the military being that there was an understanding that this was only temporary and due to unforeseen circumstances. When it was seen how well women in those positions worked out and how many more men could be on the battlefield, it started a new conversation that has not been had before. Should women be more involved? The army was the first to create a group like this, the WAAC, Women’s Army Axillary Corps was formed allowing only women to join this corps (Regoli, 2015). While this was still temporary for the time being, it brought this to the attention of the other branches and would eventually create more conversations surrounding new groups like this.
Women wanted to be a part of the military so much that they were willing to disguise themselves as a man. The act of a women disguising themselves as a man became known as “cross dressing” (Robinson & O’Hanlon, 2020). Deborah Sampson was the first women to cross dress her way into combat in the late 1700s. She fought under a false name and served for a year and a half before her identity was discovered. This became more common as women wanted to participate in active ways but were not allowed to. There were many feelings surrounding this such as anger, sadness, disappointment, and even happiness (Robinson & O’Hanlon, 2020). While it was taboo to be pleased by this, it was very eye-opening for the military and spoke volumes to civilian women. She became an inspiration and started the steppingstones for women to join the military. This was not an isolated incident.
This was very telling for the military and men of the military. Many factors can be seen through this uproar of women volunteering and that is that women are more than willing to serve their country and put their lives on the line (Regoli, 2015). Within only a few years after the United States victory, in 1948 President Harry S. Truman signed a bill into law stating that women can permanently be in the military and new groups were being formed within many of the branches such as the WAC group, which stands for Women’s Army Corps, the WAVES group which stands for Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service and other groups that include the Marines and Air Force branches (Regoli, 2015).
One aspect of women in the military that has changed is women’s roles in the military. For a very long-time women were only allowed to do “womanly jobs” as aforementioned. Times have changed and today women are allowed to go to battle. They go through the same training as men do and there is no special treatment for men or women. Not only has opportunity opened doors for women with enlisting but women are also breaking historical records with climbing the ladder in ranks, duties, and accomplishments as well. Women are succeeding in the military very rapidly (Rea, 2020).
In the early days, women were in the military as nurses and in the healthcare industry because women were seen as more caring and comforting than men were. Taking care of people was like second nature to them and they knew how to fill this role without much training (Lakritz, 2019). Not only were women seen as more consoling but also as patient, calm, and loving which brought a lot of comfort to the men who were injured along the frontlines. In addition, women were cooks and secretaries because it was “easy work” to answer phones and cooking was part of their job duty in civilian life so having
women cook here was second nature to them (Michals, 2015). At the time, these aspects were seen as a positive. Some of the negatives about women working with the military during this era was that they were put in danger. Putting a woman in danger was seen as a larger risk to mankind than it was for a man, or at least that is how it was thought about during that era. Other
negative thoughts about women in the military were that it was thought that there was a greater need for a woman at home to take care of the children and be a housewife. In addition, pay and benefits were not equal and compensation was not a perk for women to be in the military (Lakritz, 2020). However, many looked at is as some money was better than no money.
Current day, women in the military have a lot of the same benefits as men do. In general, the benefits of monetary compensation, insurances, and finances have come a long way and are a perk for men and women to enlist (Robinson & O’Hanlon, 2020). In addition, the more people to add to our growing military the better. Having people willing to serve is a help to our military no matter what gender they are. There is power in numbers. There is also spousal support and family support, in both financial form as well as therapy groups have been formed for situations like this (Michals, 2015). The military encourages post-secondary education and pays for it in many cases. That is a huge factor for many people enlisting because when you are discharged many veterans are going back to school and/or do not know what to do with their lives from that point. With having this under their belt from the beginning, it can be very beneficial at some point in their lives to help ease back into civilian life. Most psychological concerns that come from being a part of the military is all the post-traumatic stress that comes from it, which is very real. However, there are also positive psychological feelings that can arise from combat as well. Being in the military can do wonders for someone’s self-esteem (Regoli, 2015). Many people enter the military because they do not have a sense of worth, they do not know what they want their life to look like, or they do not know what they are good at, so they join the military. It can help people feel a sense of purpose in life and a proudness they feel of themselves. However, one of the biggest downfalls to women being in the military is that they are subject to more harassment than the men are. While it can happen to men as well, there is a larger reported rate of harassment and sexual assault with women in the military. While equality for women in the military has come a long way, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. In 1970, the enlistment qualifications became the same for men and women however, in 1994, the Department of Defense banned women from serving in combat (Rea, 2020). With that being said, new laws have opened allowing women to serve in theatre at a battalion level which was thought to be too close to combat for comfort but was ultimately decided that this would be allowed. However, while men are joining at a more rapid pace than women, there are still lots of women that are joining daily (Regoli, 2015).
In conclusion, the role of women in the military has come a very long way since the American Revolution and now the United States has more women in the military than any other nation. The willingness for women to join the military is strong and pertinent. During basic training and on the battlefield, women must prove themselves to be capable and qualified to pass the training (Lakritz, 2020). The leaders and officials will not be shy about telling you if you are not good enough and this goes for men and women. The benefits for women in the military are the same for men however, more and more jobs that were once known as male dominating jobs are becoming acceptable for women and on occasion, women are even dominating the positions. Today, the trend is rising daily, and women are gaining in rank 9Michals, 2015). While there are still more men in the military, the ratio of women in the military in 2020 versus one year prior in 2019 has gained and 2021 has already surpassed that level of 2020. Each branch has their own statistics as well. The Air Force has by far more women in it compared to any of the other branches, while the Marines have the smallest ratio of male to female personnel. However, there are now women in all branches of the military and still making strides.
-Lauren Stauffer