Boothe 1 Savannah Boothe Professor Lori Bedell CAS 137H 16 November 2012 Paradigm Shift The role women

should take in the United States military has been a point of contention since the conception of the United States and the existence of a national defense. Women were constantly constrained by societal stereotypes and were refused an active role in the armed forces, even after proving their capabilities time and time again. Many events had to occur to trigger the allowance of women in the military and to institute a role equal to men. After decades of acting as a supportive role for the United States Armed Forces, the appearance of the gender equality and the ERA movements helped to legitimize a greater variety of roles for women in the military, which has resulted in the current position of females as equal in almost all aspects of the military. Since the beginning of the United States, a national defense has been vital to the fate of the country. The creation of the country itself was the result of a ferocious war, resulting in many war veterans becoming national heroes. The vast majority of these heroes, however, were men. Women were repressed from joining in the fight for their nation because of the convention that their sole jurisdiction was the home. Nineteenth century, middle-class women saw their behavior regulated by a social system, known today as the cult of domesticity, which was designed to limit their sphere of influence to home and family (MacKethan). The Cult of Domesticity was the prominent belief surrounding the proper conduct of women; it stated the core attributes that a woman

Boothe 2 was expected to abide by. These four cardinal virtues consisted of piety, purity, submissiveness, and domesticity. Together, these facets spelled mother, daughter, sister, wife- woman (Welter 152) and restricted women from military work. Society believed that women, as feminine, fragile, and peaceful creatures, were a liability in battle and that the true womans place was unquestionably by her own fireside as wife and mother (Welter 162). Because of this domestic role enforced by society, women found alternative ways to participate in the early wars of the United States. Revolutionary America declared that women were to stay at home, for the home was exalted during wartime as the embodiment of peace (Mayer). Because they were kept from the front lines of battle, women fulfilled the urge to serve by sustaining the home front and tending to the farms and families while their husbands were fighting for freedom, establishing the fact that women were a valuable resource for the nation regarding the war effort. The roles that they found were directly parallel to what society viewed was proper for women; domestic duties that ensured femininity and preserved innocence. During World War II, history teaches that a huge shift took place in the role of women. At the beginning of the war, the United States experienced a deficit in manpower; to fill this gap the country turned to women. However, in filling the shortage, women still were matched with duties that matched womens natural abilities- clerical work and jobs requiring rote attention to detail and small motor skills (About the History), a reminder of the previous centurys stereotype that womens role should be contained to the home. Throughout the World War, strides were made toward integrating women into the armed forces. Instead of simply being a supportive force from afar as in

Boothe 3 previous wars, the US Armed Forces were transformed from essentially all-male to mixed-gender forces (About the History); women were actually permitted to enter and serve in the military. They often served in all women regiments, such as the Army and Navy Nurse Corps, Womens Army Corps, Marine Corps Womens Reserves, and Women Airforce Service Pilots. A vast majority served as nurses, a very stereotypical position, but as the war progressed there were few noncombatant jobs in which women did not serve, including positions that hadnt even existed when the war began- positions brought about by scientific and technological advances to aid the war effort (About the History). Women had been integrated into every service branch and were serving overseas in large capacities by the end of World War II; although they were still restricted from certain combat theaters, they still were provided the opportunity to be a part of the war effort and fight for their country. The volunteering of women had previously met enormous resistance due to the previous generations harsh view that women belonged in the home, caring and teaching the children and tending the household. However, as the war progressed, the view of their role shifted. They were seen as a vital resource for the war effort, both because of the gap they filled in the manpower necessity and because of the high quality at which they performed their duties. President Roosevelt even requested a nurse draft bill in his 1945 State of the Union address (About the History) to recruit even more women into the military. General Eisenhower endorsed the switch; he stated, when the formation of womens units was first proposed, I was violently against it but he conceded that Every phase of the record they (women) compiled during the war convinced me of the error of my first reaction (About the

Boothe 4 History). He then went on to try and ensure that women had a permanent place in the United States military. It appeared that World War II was the key trigger to incorporate women into the military as an indispensable resource. Immediately following World War II, however, the great strides that had occurred for women in the US Armed Forces were retracted because of the new archetypal family that had ensnared American society. The American Dream reinstated and reinforced the belief that women should be a force in the home and women abided by this rule because of the obligation to marry well and appear properly feminine. A feminine ideal of domesticity and maternalism overtook the nation and women generally accepted their fate. The military saw a decline in the recruitment of women and had difficulty retaining them once enlisted (About the History). During this time period, the United States entered the Korean War and discovered it was vastly unprepared. A stronger source of manpower was necessary for the war effort, and because of their prowess in World War II, women were called upon to serve their country. However, far fewer opportunities were available to women than had been available in World War II. They were demoted back to personnel and administrative jobs, as these were more feminine jobs that aligned with the role of women under the American Dream. Womens basic training even included womens classes such as makeup and etiquette lessons (About the History) to ensure that women were not losing any of their femininity by being a part of the military. An Army recruiting pamphlet stated In authorizing job assignments for women, particular care is taken to see that the job does not involve a type of duty that violates our concept of proper employment for sisters and girlfriends. In the military field, for example, women do not

Boothe 5 drive heavy trucks (About the History), further proving the militarys biased view that women have completely different and often subordinate abilities compared to men. Based on societys stereotype, the military placed women in an inferior position and denied them combatant positions; the number of women in the military was at the highest in history, but because of an absence of official policy and directives encouraging the use of women, family-unfriendly policies, high turnover rate and societal attitudes towards womens roles (About the History), serious doubts about the value of military womens programs persisted. The 1970s presented the trigger that transformed the womans role in the US military into the role she can have today. In 1972, two policy issues intertwined to advance womens position in the US Armed Forces: the decision to end the draft and to rely on an all-volunteer military force and the proposed Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution (About the History). Society saw an unprecedented change; the ERA stated that the equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex (Francis). Women were fighting for equal rights in all aspects of American life, and one resultant factor was the part women took in the military. Society became more aware of the womens struggle, recognizing the discrimination that existed in many aspects of life, including employment, wages, and opportunities. Due to the awareness, society became more accepting of women taking on roles that were previously only acceptable for men, and one of those roles was a combatant role in the US military. Although Congress did not pass the ERA, its presence at the federal level ensured that public dialogue focused on equal rights for women and the Department of Defense knew it needed to look at problems of gender discrimination

Boothe 6 in the military (About the History). ROTC programs became coeducational, women moved from what were previously considered their traditional fields into most occupations of the Armed Forces, new job opportunities became available for women in all services, and Navy and Coast Guard even provided coed crews. Weapons training became mandatory for all military personnel, implying that women had secured a combatant role. Other policies made it easier for women to have careers in the military and still provide for their families. Frontiero v. Ferguson ruled that the civilian spouses of military women were to be afforded the same benefits as the civilian spouses of military men and in 1975 the Department of Defense ordered the services to discontinue the practice of discharging women for pregnancy (About the History). The 1980s continued the evolution of the combatant role of women. Caspar Weinberger, the Secretary of Defense under President Ronald Reagan, made an encompassing statement about the decades lengths to fully incorporate women into a combatant role; Qualified women are essential to obtaining the numbers of qualified people required to maintain the readiness of our forces While we have made progress, some institutional barriers still exist This Department must aggressively break down those remaining barriers that prevent us from making the fullest use of the capabilities of women in providing for our national defense (About the History). By the end of the decade, women found themselves major components in combatant zones. Because of the awareness the ERA brought to society, the gender equality movement, and a continually evolving military view, women have been able to secure an equal role in almost every aspect of the military. They have come far from merely tending to the homes and farms while their husbands were away fighting for freedom;

Boothe 7 they have joined the fight, slowly but vigorously proving their worth and being integrated into the Armed Forces. Today, women make up more than fifteen percent of active duty military forces, and are a major part of almost every operation that the military performs. They are no strangers to fighting and they have become a vital asset for the countrys military success.

Boothe 8 Works Cited About the History of Women Serving in America's Defense." Women in Military Service for America Memorial Foundation, Inc. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. <http://www.womensmemorial.org/H&C/History/history.html>. Francis, Roberta M. "History." History. Alice Paul Institute. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. <http://www.equalrightsamendment.org/era.htm>. MacKethan, Lucinda. "Selected Lessons." America in Class. National Humanities Center, Web. 12 Nov. 2012. <http://americainclass.org/the-cult-of-domesticity/>. Mayer, Holly A. "Women and Wagoners: Camp Followers in the American War for Independence." The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. Web. 28 Oct. 2012. <http://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/war-forindependence/essays/women-and-wagoners-camp-followers-american-war-forindepe>. Welter, Barbara. "The Cult of True Womanhood." American Quarterly 18.2 (1966): 15174. Web.